Summary [9.8 out of 10]

The long awaited sequel to (in my estimation) the best Playstation 3 game of all time, Uncharted 2 picks up with Nathan Drake about a year after the events of the first game and finds him embroiled in a search for Marco Polo’s lost treasure. The story takes you across the globe and offers up all the same awesomeness the first one had and then some. Just like the first time around, the story is compelling, the voice acting is spot on, the action and puzzle segments are perfectly balanced, the controls are top notch, and it is really very funny. Uncharted 2 fixes most of the few problems the first game had and does better everything that one did. Throw in an addictive multi-player and you have a game of the year contender.

This game is THE reason to have PS3.

Editor’s Note: Yes, it really is — this is a funny, fun, action-packed adventure game that is PG-13 friendly and a blast to both play and watch.

Introduction

Games this good don’t come around very often. I bought my PS3 for the first game (and blu-ray) and it blew me away. I played it non-stop that weekend until I beat it and then I started again. This time around, it took me a little longer, mostly because I didn’t have as solid a block of time to tear through it, but it was the same thing. I finished it and popped back in right away. Then I started on the multi-player and became hugely addicted.  This is the game that keeps on giving and there is a ton to receive.

The Great

• Game-play: This is such a nebulous category because it can mean so many things and encompasses so much but in Uncharted 2 it doesn’t matter because the game does everything so well.  In games like this, you often see one aspect done really well where another suffers like the platforming might be tight while the combat suffers or the hand to hand is great but the gun play targeting is terrible. And beyond that there might be too much of one thing and not enough of another like too much puzzle solving and not enough jumping and fighting. And the mechanics of how all this fits together might be faulty. Uncharted 2 is not one of those games. There is a lot of variety here in terms play types and they are all balanced perfectly. You never get annoyed or upset by anything you are doing and the game shifts to something new long before you even think about being bored. For a game that packs in so much the wrangling off all that content is amazing.

• Graphics: If you are the sort of fanboy who has to get into the ridiculous dick waving of the console wars, specifically in the graphics department, Uncharted 2 is serious ammunition. Time and time again I stopped short to look at the gorgeous backgrounds and vistas  and pester my girlfriend with yipping exclamations of ‘Isn’t that beautiful?’ It is easy to get off into hyperbole with graphics and just babble about how pretty it is but the honest truth is that I think that Uncharted 2 looks better than any other game I have ever seen. And that is by a wide margin. There is almost no difference between the cut scenes and the game-play and the level of detail is stunning. The water effects are awe inspiring in their realism and the flame effects are equally impressive. Facial expressions and character movement are very lifelike and go along way in conveying the sense of realism established with the environments and character models. The graphics are breathtaking top to bottom.

• Story: I don’t want to say much about the story as it is filled with twists, turns and surprises. There is more going on story-wise than there was in the first game. Told in flashbacks with glimpses of current evens through playable segments, the story clips along at an even pace and covers a lot more ground. That is is done with a very healthy sense of humor makes the story a joy to play through and is worthy of following through to completion. Even when the events in the story start to wander into more fanciful territory, the game never feels like it is reaching or forcing element in for that element’s sake. Even if the game-play sucked, the story is so good it would keep you playing to the end.  Aside from the story itself, the dialogue is very good and is even funnier than it was in the last game which is really saying something.

• Controls: One of the things I liked the most about the first game was how tight the control was. Whenever I’ve played Tomb Raider or something similar in the past, the controls have felt lose, sloppy and completely unforgiving. In Uncharted, and now Uncharted 2, the controls are not just tight but also very intuitive. You aren’t going to accidentally do something you didn’t mean to here and doing what it is that you want to do is very easy. Games like this are made or broken on their controls and the controls here are flawless.

• Voice Acting: Between the graphics and voice acting Uncharted 2 feels like a movie you are getting to play along with. This is some of the strongest voice work out there and the lines are delivered in what seems like an entirely effortless way. I am sure the actors put in a good deal of effort to make it sound that way but the fact that it doesn’t show in the product is evidence of their skill. It doesn’t matter how well written the thing is or how good it looks, if the characters sound lifeless and silly then whole thing suffers. Uncharted 2 boasts terrific acting and it really ties together a very impressive package.

• Multi-player: I am not a big fan of FPS online muti-player and I was worried that even though this is a third person game it would stick to the tried and true conventions of the FPS shooter and it would turn out stale. It did not. The multi-player, which includes a large suite of game types from a capture the flag type game to death matching both co-cooperatively and competitively. It feels just like you are playing the single player mode but against human opponents.  Because it feels like the single player, you have a whole host of options in terms of your style of play which makes for a very fun and rewarding system. This really is enough content to justify a separate release but it is right here for you on the disc.

• Set pieces: As good as the standard game-play is, there are a handful of truly jaw dropping sequences in which all hell is breaking loose and you have to play through it. It feel like you are in another game’s cut scene and you have to earn a positive outcome. From an intense truck battle to trying to gunfight in a building while it is collapsing, the set pieces are jaw-dropping and exciting.

• Level Design: The layouts of the streets, buildings, caves and cliffs are all so well done that they help to open up strategic options for combat and problem solving in a way you couldn’t in the previous game. You don’t just have cover to hide behind now. You can go vertical and attack from above or below or some combination of all of them. The design is so well done it provides a preponderance of options for the player and that keeps the experience fresh and is one of the reasons that the game never bogs down.

The Good

• AI: For both companions and enemies, the AI here is truly impressive. The enemies don’t just stand there waiting to be shot. They flank and do their best to outmaneuver you making good use of cover and will notice you if you get to close. This is a breath of fresh air from games that give you brain dead adversaries who line up to get shot and let you stand two feet from them without attacking or sounding the alarm. Likewise, the teammate AI was a cut above other computer controlled party members. Your teammates will flank the enemy themselves and don’t just stand there waiting for you to do something. It is a breath of fresh air to have competent heroes and competent villains.

• Weapons: There were a decent amount in Uncharted but there is a better selection this time out and none of them are worthless. I found myself changing weapons often as the situation demanded it and kudos to the developers for making weapons that are actually worth picking up and using.

The Bad

• Uneven Difficulty: Even on the normal difficulty the game is challenging. You are not going to just blow through it without repeating some sequences. That is fine, there is nothing wrong with a challenging game. Sometimes, Uncharted 2 switches from super easy to super difficult all at once. Some boss fights seem nearly impossible while others are little more challenging than a normal encounter, not that THOSE are pushovers either. The game can go from maddeningly difficult to insanely easy with a thin middle ground between them.

  Editor’s Note: True, I had to play on Easy but had a blast doing it — never hit any part of the game that was “maddening” but on Normal there definitely would have been 2 or 3 parts (boss fights) that would have made me want to throw my controller.

• Confusing Pathways: There are times, and this ties in with the above issue, where it is not at all apparent where Drake should be going and how he should get there. While the game is generally good at letting you know what route to take, some times you are left on your own with no indication whatsoever of where to go. Often this situation results in an hour’s worth of frustration ans quite a lot of accidental death as Drake bumbles around trying to make a precise jump or just see if he has the right angle.

Conclusion [9.8 out of 10]

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is very close to perfect. With just a couple of small gripes, Uncharted 2 is fun and exciting from beginning to end and once you finish playing, you will want to start again right away. The first game seemed perfect and that nothing could ever compare. It seems fitting that the sequel would then go ahead and trump the original. It is more of what was great about the first game and less of what wasn’t. This is why you should own a PS3.