Uncharted 2 Review
Only on: PS3
Release Date: October 13th, 2009
Genre: Action-Adventure, 3rd Person Shooter
Developer: Naughty Dog
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Released about a year after the debut of the PS3, Uncharted 1 hit the market and was instantly declared as the PS3's first major exclusive. The game raked in a critically acclaimed score average of 88 with its refined gameplay and stunning visuals and presentation. Naughty Dog is looking to go above and beyond their previous standard they have set for PS3 development, and raise the bar even higher.
Story
The first game set a relatively solid foundation for the sequel to build off of. The main character being a treasure hunter, there was a lot of possibilities that Naughty Dog could have done with the story. Uncharted 2, unlike the first game, takes place in a wide range of areas as Drake follows the trail to the treasure while obviously fighting through the opposition who have the same goal, but for a different reason.
The game starts off as Drake is inside a train hanging off the side of a cliff. You have most likely seen this in the various trailers of the game prior to the release of the game. This takes place quite a bit later in his adventure, and will serve as a hub for several playable flashbacks that will thoroughly show how Drake got to this point. It all begins with Drake's old friend Harry Flynn proposing a heist to steal an artifact from a museum, with the possibility of it leading to Marco Polo's lost fleet which Drake believes may hold the secrets to the Cintamani Stone and the entrance to Shamballah. With Drake's interest peaked, he obviously decides to go on this long treasure hunt. Helping him do so are some character introduced in Uncharted 1 such as Elena and Sully, and newly introduced characters Harry Flynn, Drake's old love interest Chloe Frazier, and a few other character you meat throughout the story.
Nothing more will be said about the story in detail as it will most likely contain spoilers. There are several twists throughout the story, some more obvious than others, but it keeps the story interesting throughout. As mentioned before, Drake travels to various places all over the world such as Borneo and Nepal keeping it interesting.
Overall, the story progression is well done, and it is just generally better than the first game.
Gameplay
The gameplay is quite similar to what was in the first game, but it has been refined in various different aspects. If I remember correctly, the game has a little more than 20 total weapons. Most of which you will remember from the first game, but there are a few new additions such as the GAU-19, a powerful Gatling gun that hinders your movement making you susceptible to more gunfire, but can take down enemies very quickly. The M32 which is a new grenade launcher in U2 to replace the likes of the M79 in Uncharted 1, and the Pistole which is essentially a shotgun pistol. There are a few other new ones, but for the most part, they will be mostly familiar.
The gameplay itself has been refined however. There is no more awkward SIXAXIS grenade throwing. Now you can either hold L1 to aim, and then push L2 to throw a grenade wherever you are aiming. This is a really efficient and quick way to get a grenade off precisely. You also have the option to hold L2, either behind cover or not, to bring up a arch to get even more precise grenade throwing, but it will obviously take a little more time to line up. I do have a small gripe with the grenade arch. It seems like almost every game does this, and it absolutely annoys me. When you bring up the arch, the camera tracks the very top of the arch rather than where the grenade is going to land, meaning if you try to throw a grenade pretty far, you will not be able to see where it is going to land.
As for the gunplay, it seems to be a lot tighter compared to the first game. It is lot easier to accurately aim the weapons, while also providing some features from the first game such as shooting while running and blind firing. Overall, it just seems to be a lot smoother and feels much more intuitive. Some of the weapons themselves sometimes seem slightly unsatisfying though. The sounds from some of them can often sound weak, such as the AK47, although the recoil on it is pretty intense. Just a small problem that doesn't drastically effect the gameplay.
The other predominant gameplay feature is obviously the climbing. The climbing is fairly limited on what you are able to do considering that the game is quite linear, sort of leaving you disconnected from the experience. The game being linear is fine, but the fact that you can almost never climb up walls that will not progress the story is often a little discerning, especially when it might look climbable, and in some cases looks the exact same as the area that you must climb. Areas that are climbable are often exaggerated with protruding blocks from walls that are often bright colors, but at times finding the correct area to climb up to get to a certain area can be a bit confusing.
Something new that was added was the ability to take a stealth approach to battles. You are often put into scenarios where you come up to an enemy strong hold and the enemies do not know your position. This allows you take out the initial enemies stealthily, but this always ends up in a sequence being triggered where they know you are there, and enemies start to come in waves. Minus one segment of the game, you will never be able to complete an entire segment completely using stealth, and you will have to use your gun at some point. I think this was a nice addition as you are able to also use your climbing abilities for your stealthy approach, allowing you to pull enemies off ledges which is quite satisfying.
Overall, the gameplay has just been generally refined compared to the first game. There are some nice new additions such as the stealth aspect, and the fact that there is no more intrusive SIXAXIS support. A good variety of weapons and excellent pacing will keep the gameplay interesting throughout.
Graphics
Naughty Dog does it again! Uncharted 1 arguable set a new standard for graphics back in 2007, and was often declared as the best looking console game for that time. Since them, other games have given it a run for its money, but it was still generally considered to be one of the best looking games out. With their first game for the PS3 out of the way, Naughty Dog really knew how to optimize the PS3 hardware, and they just blew Uncharted 1 out of the water with the sequel. The texture detail is amazing. They will obviously look slightly low res when zooming in on them just like every game, but from just a small distance away, most of them look life-like.
Not only that, but they never slouch on any aspect of the graphics. They simply went all out. With the fact that Drake travels to various different locations, there was a lot of different details that had to be produced unique to each area, and they really did great. The snow/ice levels look amazing, and just like the first game, the game truly shines on the jungle areas. The segment of the game that took place in Borneo was extremely well detailed and was quite surreal comparing that to the jungles in Uncharted 1 as it truly is on a whole new level. However, the part that I found to be the most eye pleasing was the ruined city in Nepal. The amount of details on screen at once is quite shocking. I don't think there are enough words to express how amazing the game looks, so I will just let screenshots do all of the work.
I must say that this game is the best looking game for consoles ever released, and it seems like it will stay that way for probably a long time.
Presentation
Naughty Dog clearly went for a very cinematic approach, and for the most part, they have succeeded. You most likely always heard advertisements or some other people say that it is like a movie. And in a sense, yes, it really is, but not like MGS4. Uncharted 2 allows you to play most of the cinematic sequences rather than always watching them. There is often transitions between the gameplay and the in-game cinematics which never really make you feel disconnected with the experience.
The developers also did an amazing job in incorporating conversations between characters in the middle of gameplay segments. They are often unique conversations to particular scenarios that might not have anything to do with the story, and there is never any repeated lines which is truly amazing. The chatting between two or more characters can be quite funny and they often feel natural.
In some cases, the like a movie aspect of Uncharted 2 can sometimes be a bit too cliche. Just like how movies actually are, but I think they could have toned down some of it. An example would be the dozen or so times there was a segment that where you grabbed someone's hand when they were short on their jump. Regardless, it isn't anything major.
The pacing of the game is perfectly executed. There is a balanced portion of shooting and platforming sequences, and they are often blended together allowing you to climb areas to pull enemies off ledges, or hang off a sign to use as cover and shoot enemies with your pistol.
The only downfall as far as presentation goes is the bugs. There isn't enough to make this an alarming issue, but I have encountered enough for it to be a nuisance. It is a damn shame too since everything else was perfect. The atmosphere, pacing, and cinematics were great, but the bugs occurred on a semi-regular basis. Most of them seemed to be clipping issues too. Some examples would be when I tried to climb up a wall, I ended up getting stuck in a plant. I got trapped inside a box once, as well as a pillar in a multiplayer game. When climbing with an AI partner, you can occasionally get stuck in mid air as the other character try to climb the same area that you are at, which eventually just causes you to fall to your death. Now I have played through the single player a few times now, and I have had a play through where I only ran into 1 or 2 bugs, while the other was much more often. So it is definitely fairly random on when they occur.
Lasting Appeal
The biggest new addition to keep you coming back for more is obviously the multiplayer. The game has enough maps and gameplay modes to keep you interested for awhile, and has decent of enough incentives to keep playing such as the boosters and unlockables you can get when gaining enough money through playing games.
As for the single player, there are multiple difficulty levels, trophies, extra in-game medals and unlockables. There is enough to keep you interested through a few play throughs, especially if you are a completionist. My only gripe is the fact that trophies are extremely unoriginal. Uncharted 1 was on of the first (if not the first, not sure) retail games to support trophies, but Uncharted 2's trophies are practically the same as the first game's. It is just uninteresting, not to mention the fact that they are really easy. You can get them all in one play through with the exception of beating the game on crushing (since you have to beat it on hard, then on crushing).
Your first play through will most likely net you about 9-10 hours, maybe more depending on how much time you take to appreciate the graphics and design. With some incentives to play through it a few times, getting the trophies as well as the in-game medals, and the added Multiplayer, this game will keep you busy for a decent amount of time.
Overall
I truly feel like this is the best game on the PS3 to date. Now some of you may think that game has been overhyped, but I really believe that it was justified. The game is pretty much a mass collection of everything successful in video games this generation, and is polished beyond the likes of any other game ever released. It is just a truly large improvement over the first with refined gameplay, better story, more variety, much more cinematic, you name it. The game has some downfalls preventing it from being perfect, but the positives outweigh the negatives ten fold.
Positives:
Refined gameplay, no SIXAXIS integration, tighter controls
Best graphics for a console game
A very cinematic experience
A lot of environment variety
Good amount of plot twists
Believable and interesting characters
Added Multiplayer adds lasting appeal
Amazing animations
A wealth of unlockables
Conversations between characters in-game are often funny and feel natural
Negatives:
Climbing is often too limited
Some bugs/glitches
Elementary puzzles
Copy-Paste Trophies from Uncharted 1
Story: 9.4
Gameplay: 9.2
Graphics: 10
Presentation: 9.7
Lasting Appeal: 9.0
Overall: 9.5
On Giantbomb Scale: 5/5
