Fast Paced Review for Fast Paced Game
The cover art for Uncharted 2 is perfect because even though it is an illustration of the first part of the game, it is this part of the game that let's the player know that they're in for one hell of a ride. From the moment the game came to and allowed me to take control of its protagonist, Nathan Drake, in the crazy predicament that he got himself into, my mouth was hanging agape - literally; that is how I knew that this game was an experience unlike any other because I have never had that reaction to a game before.
The action in this game is non-stop and it is made all the better by the lush graphics, the visceral gameplay and the amazingly well portrayed characters that embody this adventure. By the time you finish the game you'll wish there was more - not because the game was too short - but because it was such a fun game every step of the way.
A lot of new things are done with this game in terms of creating an engrossing world that pulls you in - and the developers have succeeded at every turn at pulling the player into the fiction. There is a part in the game where you are in a building while it is collapsing and you play through the whole sequence; the player never loses control during this scene that would normally have been restricted to a cut-scene. Uncharted 2 has moments like this in spades and each one is more memorable than all of the "stand out" moments in most games combined.
Also, without getting into too much detail, the multiplayer is very satisfying and has a progression based system as well. There are competitive and cooperative modes available for players. I chose to play the competitive mostly, because I found the cooperative to be too easy even on the highest difficulty settings. The multiplayer keeps all of the cover and climbing mechanics that are present in the single-player game and meshes them into the game in a very smart way.
Overall there is no excuse for anyone who owns a PS3 to NOT own this game. This is the kind of game that can be used as a bookmark in gaming's time-line for making advances (both technical and gameplay) in this hobby that many of us enjoy all too much