Uncharted 2 is one of the best games ever.
I completed Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3) on Normal mode. WOWOWOWOW. What an awesome adventure. Everything you've heard is true. This is one of the best games ever! The production values are through the roof. Uncharted 2 basically takes everything that was good from the first Uncharted and ramps it up ten-fold.
The graphics are absolutely gorgeous. I found myself staring at the locations and examining everything. The water effects are some of the finest I've ever seen. The lighting and explosion effects are top notch as well. But Naughty Dog really improved the character models substantially. If you thought the first Uncharted was good looking, the sequel does it even better. The faces have much more detailed textures and they animate even more realistically. There are tons of subtle facial animations when you're watching the in-game cutscenes. The motion capture and acting is also incredibly well done. When you're playing the game, Drake and his buddies responds to everything around him which adds to the realism and immersive nature of the game.
The audio is equally impressive. I played with the 7.1 LPCM option and it's FANTASTIC. Very nice surround effects with lots of ambient noise all around me. The voice acting is pure excellence. If you loved the first game's voice performances, the sequel does it even better. Everyone is perfect including all the goons and grunts you face. They should win an award because without such amazing voice work, I don't think I would've enjoyed the story as much. Btw, the music is also amazing. It's a beautiful soundtrack with lots of really nice ambient tracks. It's on par with any movie out there, imo.
The story isn't entirely original and there are some twists that I can see coming from a mile away, but the way the story unfolds is very well paced with some action-packed moments. Naughty Dog faithfully captured the feel and epic nature of those old adventure serials and the Indiana Jones movies perfectly. All the characters are likeable and their interactions are fun to watch. It's a superb script with plenty of well written dialogue. The characters feel real and you really care about them. Uncharted 2 is a true epic that even movie fans will enjoy. It's that damn good! I loved it.
Finally, the gameplay. Everything has been improved over the original. The melee combat is actually fun this time and easy to pull off. There are a TON of various animations depending on the environment and how you approach an enemy. The stealth attacks are also fun to watch and execute too.The gunplay is more fair as well. Enemies no longer soak up a bunch of bullets anymore like in the first game. They actually die with a few shots but I did notice that headshots are a bit wonky with most semi-automatic guns. Anyways, I had so much fun with the combat that I wish Naughty Dog could somehow implement these fixes to the first game so I would want to replay that game with the improvements from the sequel. Oh well. The exploration is just as good as the first one so if you loved it in the first game, you'll enjoy it just as much here.
Btw, I did encounter a few bugs/glitches which isn't a big deal. One time, Drake fell into the middle of a wooden platform which forced me to restart a checkpoint cuz I could not escape. I also encountered a graphical glitch when I was on a train and the rest of the location didn't load out for 5 seconds so the train was running on the water which was funny looking. And the worst was when my game froze so I had to turn off my PS3 to reboot the game. Weird stuff but they didn't dampen my enjoyment. They only happened once each so it's probably just a fluke.
Overall, Uncharted 2 is a must play for anyone who likes a good action-adventure game. The story is great, the characters are excellent and the gameplay is fun. If you loved the first game, this one is even better. It's awesome from start to finish. Great job Naughty Dog! I want a sequel already! :D
