My Uncharted 2 Review
If I had to pick out some of my favorite Playstation 3 games, I could count on one hand the ones that have stuck with me. Killzone 2, Warhawk, The Eye of Judgement, Uncharted. I get it. I have quirky and strange tastes in games. Uncharted was one of those games I clamored for when it first came out. I was mesmerized by the lush imagery that floated around the internet, awestruck that a game could look as nice as it did and provide a fluid platforming experience. For the most part, Uncharted delivered on what I was looking for. It had its flaws (gunplay is a sore point for me) but it was a game that held me in its grip right to the end.
So with that brief history, imagine how excited I was when I found out Naughty Dog was working on a sequel.
Right from the beginning of the campaign story mode, you’re reacquainted with Mr. Nathan Drake – fortune hunter extraordinaire – and his admirable sense of humor in the face of danger; I think he’s in a constant state of shock, wisecracking at most of the bad things that happen to him. Danger and “bad things happening” are at every turn in Uncharted 2, in almost a frenetic pace in some scenes that I have not witnessed in a game in a long while. Gameplay wise, Uncharted 2 sticks with where it excelled in the original: solid traversal gameplay and a much improved cover and combat system. The melee combat is just as devastating as the gunplay, and equally entertaining to dish out punches instead of M4 carbine ammunition. Some new guns are available for Drake’s arsenal, and Naughty Dog has been kind enough to give you a few different companions throughout the story to provide some co-op style mechanics. Overall the enemy AI is improved, but you’ll still witness both enemy and partner alike stumble around for cover. Many times in narrow areas, enemies crowd together, avoiding cover altogether. Strange for trained and experienced mercenaries to be out in the open, yes?
Visually this game is mind boggling. The intensity of some of the background imagery (mountains, temples, cityscapes) is literally jaw dropping and we can remember on several occassions just stopping and staring at the detail of the world within the disc. Sharp textures, lots of coloring that makes sense; there is no doubt that this is currently the best looking Playstation 3 title on the market. The characters animate very well, facial animations are spot on and convey emotion when needed, the updated polygon count on their models gives an even better look to the previously great looking modelling from Uncharted. The enemy units have very little variety, sometimes whole areas will be filled with the same styled sentry guards or hired goons; not that it was a make or break issue for the title.
The script and audio are great too, watching the behind the scenes footage of how they green screen the voice actors actually going through the motions while having a live mic on them shows some real thought on the part of Naughty Dog’s audio team. With the actors actually performing ‘on stage’, you get that missing ‘real’ feel to a cutscene that most games don’t have. That being said, there are certain situations where the audio seems canned and read directly from a script in a booth (any sequence where Drake boosts a partner to a ladder is common) though it is still delivered well. Guns sound like, well, guns and the world sounds like you’d expect. From walls exploding in the city to the sounds of chickens and little children running around in a Tibetan mountain village, the game scores big in audio points.
A little extra from Naughty Dog this time around, there is a multiplayer mode included, where the standard array of Deathmatch, Capture the Objective, etc. modes all come into play. The biggest catch is that all the traversal gameplay works in multiplayer and you can rip players off ledges by scaling underneath them, or find a new place to hide and destroy incoming enemies from above. There is also a co-op mode as well, it plays similar to the Gears of War “Horde Mode”. The multiplayer uses an unlock/level up system to produce different abilities and skills for your character (more bullets, better accuracy, etc) similar to most shooters today. Nothing too groundbreaking, but its a lot of fun regardless.
Overall, this is one title that any Playstation 3 user should own. Xbox 360 owners should hope for their own version of Drake’s adventure because there are very few titles that can hold a candle to the pace and action of Uncharted 2.
-Austin / rentalgamer.com
