Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

 Uncharted, a series often compared to Tomb Raider which also gave it the nickname of Dewd Raider. I’ll be honest this game is very similar to Tomb Raider…. There’s just one thing that sets these games apart… TOMB RAIDER SUCKS! Yeah I played Tomb Raider on the PS1 years ago when it was the Hot thing but it didn’t even come close to what Uncharted does for the… “adventure/treasure hunter” genre.
Story 10/10
You are Nathan Drake a descendant from the (IN)famous Sir Francis Drake, you’re an explorer and treasure hunter not above defending his own ass or stealing objects to get to other more important things. You start the game off and Nathan is covered in blood (his own), he is in a train teetering over a cliff and Nathan in his half dead glory has to get his ass out of there. As he does these things (getting out of the train) you get flashbacks as to how he got into this mess. This type of intro made me say “HOLY… AWESOME!” after that you get stuck in a permanent flashback and the game starts off very well from there on. You basically have to steal an artifact for a client and get money… from there on it’s just one complication after another and it’s just pure baddassery! The whole first half of the game is in that one little flashback( don’t worry you don’t go to the present anytime soon) the game just makes you want to keep playing so that you can see how Nathan got in this predicament and you play until the part of the flashback happens. So you get to experience that awesome scene twice! Overall the games story is also very original and gives old legends new twist and it’s just really good and refreshing.
Gameplay 10/10
The first game played a lot like gears of war (cover system) but this game just made everything better, the shooting mechanics are a lot better, they are plenty of weapons and the game pretty much forces you to use as many different ones as possible since you are constantly either running out of Ammo for a certain weapon(you just pick up another) or getting tossed around (in the story) and losing the weapons.
Then comes the platforming segments which have also been refined they are very little of those self destructing platforms and all the platforming elements that where just annoying in the first have been removed or substantially lessened. Probably the biggest addition to the game is a stealth aspect which just makes you think “Do I want to go in guns a blazing or do I want to sneak around and kill everyone quietly”
The stealth aspect while nothing to rival Metal gear Solid are actually very well done, I often found myself using them when outnumbered as opposed to just shooting everyone, not only does it save ammo it also just makes the game not all about shooting. It gives the game nice pacing and it makes the not repetitive. You can do a number of stealth kills, you can do em while hiding behind cover, or a ledge, or any number of things. My only complaint is that sometimes you want to do a section completely stealthy but I couldn’t find any way to do it the enemies just see you sometimes which sucks but doesn’t ruin the game or anything, after all this game isn’t about stealth.

Graphics 10/10
The graphics are simply breathtaking; I have never even seen a game look this colorful and vibrant and have such detail to graphics. I’m so tired of gears of wars gritty realistic type graphics that this game is just such a breath of fresh air. The in game graphics are so well done that when you transition from a cut scene to the actual game you can’t tell the difference. Everything just looks so nice and perfect, the graphics aren’t exactly photorealistic but I believe this is just an art direction NaughtyDog took with this game and while not being completely realistic and not being completely cartoony has a very nice blend of both. If you’re wondering just look at screen shots and stuff you’ll see how everything looks. It’s no crysis but then again it doesn’t have to be it to look pretty and have amazing graphics. Case in point Madworld, Okami, Windwaker etc.
Sound and Music 10/10
Everything sounds great you have music at appropriate times, you have a ton of sounds when you’re in the jungles and it’s simply just everything sounds awesome. The music while forgettable really does set the mode, it reminds me a crapload of movies. The voice acting is just amazing, it’s probably among the best I’ve ever heard of in video game. Everything is just so well polished and I just can’t describe how good everything sounds. I’ll say one thing the sounds get the job done and then some.
Multiplayer 5/10
Sigh if it wasn’t for the fact that NaughtyDog felt the need to add multiplayer this could have very well been an almost perfect game. Sadly the multiplayer isn’t something amazing as the campaign was, the multiplayer is pretty standard, you got deathmatch and different modes and everything and you can level up and get money by doing certain things in the campaign and multi to purchase some skills and skins and what not. The multiplayer feels like a huge after though and I wish Naughty Dog would have just done something better with the resources spend on this thing. Thank God it didn’t hampher the actual campaing. Overall the multiplayer is pretty generic and average at best. The nice thing is it gives you some of the same gameplay that the story gave you so you can play it some more until things get really old that is.

Replay Value 6/10
Honestly thanks to the Multiplayer the game’s replay value does go up a bit, you can replay the story or multiplayer modes to unlock more money and unlock more stuff. Other than that there isn’t much to do after you finish the game.
Buy or Rent/Borrow: BUY!
I’ll be honest I borrowed the game from a friend, I wanted to play it but my friend already had it so I was like why not. Trust me I will be buying this game! If you’re a fan of Uncharted 1 then this is a no brainer if you love COD and are expecting an experience similar to that (online) or if you aren’t going to even touch the campaign then stay FAR AWAY FROM THIS GAME! You do not deserve such a well made game if you are just going to play 5% of it.

Final Score 9/10
The game is just that good! If you like Indiana jones, The mummy or just love awesome action packed adventure movies or games then you will really appreciate what Naughty Dog has done with this game. I feel like this is what most every game should strive for; this game has such High production values that I honestly am mind blown that this game didn’t just collapse on itself. My only complaints are replay value and multiplayer which the game would have been better without.