Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Overview

Uncharted 2's Protagonist: Nathan Drake

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves follows up one of 2007's top exclusive PlayStation 3 games, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. It is a third-person cover based shooter which draws influences from older action-adventure movies and games. The game has three main gameplay elements: shooting, traversal, and puzzle solving.

Like it's predecessor, Uncharted 2 follows Nathan Drake on his journey to find a mythical treasure with a link to a historical figure; in this case, Marco Polo. However, this game trades the dense jungle environment for a range of exotic and urban locales, including Borneo, Turkey and Nepal.

Story

Chloe Frazer, a new love interest for Drake

The first Uncharted game focused on Francis Drake; this game focuses on another well known historical figure, Marco Polo, who was said to have documented and recorded all the information from all but one of his voyages. That one undocumented trip was when Polo left Kublai Khan's court and was headed for Venice, commanding a fleet of 14 treasure-laden ships and a crew of 600-plus men. It seemed like a normal trip but by the time he arrived home in Venice, Polo was down to one ship and 18 survivors. He never revealed what happened, and on his death bed, when people were questioning some of his writings, he exclaimed: "didn't say even half of what I saw." This mysterious quote is explored in the game as Drake tries to uncover the truth about Marco Polo's famous journey to Asia. The game focuses on finding a powerful wish-granting sapphire, Cintamani Stone, which, according to Polo's journals, was found in mythical city of Shambhala (also popularly known as Shangri-La). Among Thieves' story takes place in much more varied environments than its predecessor. Jungle habitat (this time in Borneo), well known from Drake's Fortune, returns, but beside it, Nathan visits Turkey, Nepal and Tibet.

The new main enemy of Drake is much more powerful and even more power-hungry than the two antagonists from the previous installment of the series. Serbian war criminal, Zoran Lazarevic commands a private army, trained and equipped better than the pirates and mercenaries from the first game.

The addition of the second female lead and former love interest of Drake, Chloe Frazer, adds tension to Nathan's relationship with Elena and provides drama and a humorous love triangle in the story.

Uncharted 2, apart from having Elena and Sully in the cast, gives many nods to the first Uncharted during course of the game, in the form of Drake's journal entries, conversations with characters and hidden bonuses available after completing the game once.

Story

The game starts off with Nathan Drake in a train car that is hanging off a snowy cliff. He doesn't know where he is or how he really got there. He realizes that he's been shot in the abdomen and that he must get out of the train. After climbing up the hanging train and escaping at the very last second, he starts painfully walking through the wreckage. There he meets some enemies whom he kills and painfully sits down in the freezing snow, getting ready for a long, hard fight.

The game then flashes back. Nathan Drake is comfortably sitting at a bar when his old friend Harry Flynn approaches him. He wants Nathan's help to steal an oil lamp from a museum in Istanbul. Drake at first refuses the offer, but when when learns that there might be a map to Marco Polo's lost fleet in this lamp, he accepts. He travels to Istanbul with Flynn and Chloe, an ex love interest who's working with Flynn. They infiltrate the museum through the sewers and manage to find the lamp. Inside the lamp, they find the map of Polo's lost fleet, fleet that was transporting the Cintamani Stone from the sacred city of Shambhala before getting hit by a massive tsunami and washing up on the shores of Borneo. Flynn then takes the map and double crosses Drake. Flynn also triggers the alarm. Despite Drake's best efforts to escape, he gets arrested.

Nathan Drake passes three months before being set free by Sully and Chloe. Chloe swears that she had no idea what Flynn was planning. Flynn is in fact working with war criminal Zoran Lazarevic and both are in Borneo, looking for the stone. They decide to all go to Borneo as well, with Chloe serving as a mole in Zoran's camp. Once they get there, they discover that Lazarevic is very well prepared. After shooting up some of his men, Drake, Sully and Chloe find an underground cave where they discover the lost fleet's passengers. They realize that the stone was never on one of those ships but find a letter from Marco Polo telling them to go to a city in Nepal (Pokhara) and find a certain temple. They also find a sort of dagger. However, Flynn's men soon arrive, taking the letter. Drake and Sully manage to get away, Chloe decides to stay as to not blow her cover. Right before making their daring escape, Sully tells Drake that he won't be joining him in Nepal as the risks are too high for a man of his age.

Nate arrives at Pokhara only to find that Zoran has torn it apart, going through every last temple. Drake gets some help from the local militia and meets up with Chloe. They decide that whichever temple Marco Polo wants them to find must have the same symbols on it as the symbols found on the dagger. So they decide to stick to the rooftops, ultimately finding which temple they must go to. After an epic helicopter chase, the couple finally find the temple. On the way, they bump into Elena and her camera man. She's investigating Lazarevic, wanting to prove that he's still alive. All four of them enter the temple and after solving a couple puzzles, find a secret room in which there's a map. Drake sticks the dagger into a hole that makes a map appear, indicating that the stone and Shambhala are somewhere in the Himalayas. Zoran and his men find the temple and Drake fights his way out of it. When they arrive in the temple's main court yard, they find Elena's camera man who's been shot. Chloe wants to leave him behind but Drake takes him anyways. They end up getting caught, at which point Chloe points her gun at Drake so as not to lose her cover. Zoran and Flynn come and the camera man is executed. As Zoran and Chloe leave, Flynn is about to execute Drake and Elena when they manage to escape.

This game is truly beautiful.

As Nate and Elena escape, they decide to head for the trainyard as that is where Zoran is headed as he plans to take a train up to the Himalayas and find the stone. They make it to the train yard just as the train is leaving. They hijack a jeep and Drake jumps onto the train. He fights his way through the train before bumping into Chloe. They argue, Chloe hating Drake because he chose Elena over her safety, that her cover could have been blown and she could've died. Suddenly, a shot is fired and Drake collapses, clutching his abdomen. Flynn appears, happy because he thinks he's finally killed Drake. As Flynn sends men out to finish off a retreating Drake, our hero manages to blow up part of the train, sending him and half the train off a cliff, bringing us back to where the story started. As Drake saves himself from the train wreck, he must fight Zoran's men who've come looking for him and steal the dagger that is in fact the key to Shabalha. After killing everyone, Nathan collapses in the snow, having given up on surviving. When all hope seems lost, a man comes out of the blizzard and carries Drake away.

Just look at that snow...

Nathan Drake wakes up in a small Tibetan village. He's reunited with Elena and introduced to an old man called Karl Schafer. Schafer tells him that he must find the stone but Drake tells him that he isn't interested anymore. The old man sends him on an expedition into the mountains with Tenzin so that Drake can see why he must find the stone before Zoran does. In the caves, Drake discovers yeti like monsters and Schafer's old expedition team, who were in fact SS. Schafer had killed them so the Nazis couldn't get a hold of the stone's powers. On their way back, they discover that the small village has been attacked by Zoran's men and that Karl and the dagger have been taken. After fighting a tank and securing the city, Elena and Nate go after Zoran and Flynn. They make it to a temple. Drake finds Schafer who's been shot. He tells him that he must destroy the stone and dies in his arms. He also finds Chloe. He convinces her to give him the dagger and promises her to kill Zoran. Elena and Nathan find a secret passage to Shambhala which they unlock using the dagger. However, they get caught once again by Zoran's men who force Drake to lead them to the secret city. Once they finally get there, they're violently attacked by blue colored monkey men, guardians of the city who are enhanced with the power of the stone. Before they were the ones dressed up as yetis attacking Drake in the caves. Thanks to the chaos, Drake, Chloe and Elena manage to escape.

As Drake makes his way to the stone, he realizes that said stone is in fact embedded in resin in a giant tree. When they arrive at the tree, they discover a wounded Flynn who detonates a grenade, killing himself as well as wounding Elena. Drake leave Elena in the care of Chloe as he goes to confront Zoran. The evil Russian is at the source of the tree. He drinks its resin, making him invincible. As he tries to kill Drake, our hero kills him by blowing up pockets of resin. As he does this though, the tree begins to die and the city to collapse. He defeats Zoran, leaving him to be finished off by the city's guardians. Drake, Chloe and a dying Elena narrowly make it out of the city alive.

The final scene happens at the small Tibetan village, during Schafer's funeral. It's revealed that Elena survived her wounds and when Chloe asks Drake if he really loves Elena, he answers yes. Sully arrives as Chloe leaves. Sully, clearly interested in Chloe, chases after her, leaving Nathan and Elena alone, ending the game on a romantic note.

Characters

Nathan ''Nate'' Drake

The charming treasure-hunter returns, this time to attempt and beat the insidious war-criminal, Zoran Lazarevic, to the mythical Chintimani Stone. Easy going, with a dry sense of humour, Nathan continues his particular brand of suave, skill and astonishingly lucky impulse instincts to accentuate his ''every-man'' persona.

• Voiced and mo-capped by Nolan North.

Victor ''Sully'' Sullivan

Nathan Drake's long-time friend, mentor and father figure, Sully tags along to help Nate beat Zoran Lazarevic to the prize. But with a much more diminished presence, however, as his age rapidly catches up to him.

• Voiced and mo-capped by Richard Mcgonagle.

Elena Fisher

The chirpy and mild-mannered journalist Elena returns for the long haul to once again duo up with Nate to act as both a damsel in distress, and a supportive ally. The romance sparked between Elena and Nate ultimately begins to blossom as the two once more are forced to endure a seemingly endless stream of perilous situations.

• Voiced and mo-capped by Emily Rose.

Chloe Frazer

An old partner and fling of Nate's, Chloe originally arrives to help Nate scam Zoran; she is quickly thrust into a flickering light, however, as her moralities and allegiances are questioned time and time again across the adventure.

• Voiced and mo-capped by Claudia Black.

Tenzin

A reliable guide from a small village in the mountains of Tibet, Tenzin can barely speak a word of English, yet can still express a kind and reliable strength.

• Voiced by Pema Dhondup
• Mo-capped by Robin Atkin Downes.

Karl Schafer

An old and wizened adventurer, comparable to Nate himself during his younger days, Schafer bestows unto Nate important advice that'll help him stray back onto the path he must follow.

• Voiced and mo-capped by Rene Auberjonois.

Jeff The Cameraman

Elena's cameraman for her most recent show as she embarks on a chase after Zoran Lazarevic, who is officially registered as deceased. Jeff is thrust into a situation far beyond him, and unlike the rest of the cast, has little experience when it comes to fire-fights.

• Voiced and mo-capped by Gregory Myhre.
• Though for the multiplayer, Jeff is simultaneously voiced by Steve Valentine, as his mid-gameplay 'efforts' for the acrobatics are the same as Harry Flynn's.

Harold '''Harry'' Flynn

Once a work associate of Nate, Flynn has constantly displayed an appearance of disrepute and ineptitude. Even when it looks like he appears to be on the level, Flynn quickly escalates to the role of supporting villain throughout and is near enough the polar opposite to Drake with his selfish and loose morals.

• Voiced and mo-capped by Steve Valentine.

Lieutenant Draza

Lazaravic's fierce right-hand man, Draza is a beast of a man who proves to be a formidable soldier.

Zoran Lazarevic

A highly feared and ruthless war criminal, Zoran is on the hunt for the Chintimani Stone for what can only be for questionable causes. Unfortunately for Zoran however, he has Nathan Drake to contend with, and Drake will prove to be an ever-threatening presence.

• Voiced and mo-capped by Graham McTavish.

Gameplay

Uncharted 2 includes, apart from third-person shooter mechanics, both free-climbing sections and stealth gameplay. Other changes include improved combat, more "dynamic" fights, the removal of Sixaxis controls, and increased mobility when in cover and firing. Drake will have great transitional movements, making him feel more realistic in motion. The game features much smarter AI enemies, as well as an infusion of stealth gameplay that inspired the inclusion of two new types of AI behavior: “investigate,” and “hunt.” These features are made possible by the enemies' new "cone of peripheral vision". An enemy's reaction will differ depending on how close Drake is to the tip of the cone (the enemy's eyes). If Drake is very far away, the enemy will investigate, and depending on the actual distance, will either brush it off as their imagination, or go into full hunting mode. This can be used to Drake's advantage however. He may pop up and let enemies see him, lure them into a building, shoot an oil barrel and watch the building collapse over their heads.

Where am I?

The clothes that the enemies wear also reflect how tough they are to kill. Light garb will signal easily-foiled foes while those wearing more equipment will be tougher in battle. Drake exhibits different mood sets and his behavior and animation will match them.

The game features traversal gun play, which means that Drake is able to shoot no matter what he is doing or what animation he is in. For example, shooting is possible even while balancing on a log, swinging on a vine, climbing the side of a building, or dangling from a cliff. This also makes the player feel less vulnerable in certain situations like climbing a dilapidated building. Naughty Dog is taking full advantage of the Cell's SPUs, allowing them to produce better environmental effects and animations like speeding trains, exploding trucks, and having a building collapse while Drake is still inside it. There are also more transition animations included to give a greater sense of fluidity.

The game also features multiple difficulties from the get-go, notably a very easy mode for beginner players. This was implemented to offset complaints about the relative difficulty of Uncharted: Drakes Fortune, and make it more accessible to the more casual gaming crowd. The game will however still feature the harder modes seen in the first Uncharted.

The first Uncharted got a lot of praise for its water effects and this time Naughty Dog has put in the same effort in making the snow look realistic. When Drake's out in the snow, he accumulates a layer of snowflakes on his clothes and in his hair, which slowly thaws when he gets back inside under cover. Not only are there new effects for the snow, but similarly, there are new effects for the ice. Ice reflects light in a way that cleverly mimics the sub-surface scattering that goes on inside a chunk of frozen water, and gives it a look of incredible volume and density.

Competitive Multiplayer

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves introduces multiplayer to the franchise, with both competitive and cooperative game modes. As players complete multiplayer matches, they earn cash, which is Uncharted 2's version of experience points. Cash goes towards the player's persistent leveling up progression, which in turn unlocks the availability of multiplayer items, such as character skins, taunts, and boosters. These boosters act as perks for the player, providing things such as increased accuracy, faster reloading, increased ammo capacity, etc. There are two booster slots for the player, each with their own unique set of boosters. whenever a multiplayer item is unlocked, the player can only use it if they choose to purchase it using the cash they have earned.

Character Skins

Heroes:

• Nathan Drake.
• Heist Drake.
• Winter Drake.
• Donut Drake.
• Victor Sullivan.
• Elena Fisher.
• Winter Elena.
• Chloe Frazer.
• Winter Chloe.
• Tenzin.
• Jeff The Cameraman.
• Karl Schafer.
• Marco Polo (skeleton).

DLC Heroes:

• Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Drake.
• Wetsuit Drake.
• Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Sullivan.
• Borneo Sullivan.
• Winter Sullivan.
• Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Elena.
• Wetsuit Elena.
• Heist Chloe.
• Borneo Chloe.
• Rika Raja.
• Cole MacGrath Hero.
• Sev.
• Nathan Hale.
• Zeke Dunbar.

Villains:

• Dragen (Heavy armoured soldier).
• Tetram (Gas mask soldier).
• Sark (Face-mask soldier).
• Lovac (Headphones soldier).
• Vodnik (Balaclava soldier).
• Zorskel (Skull-mask soldier).
• Harry Flynn.
• Heist Flynn.
• Winter Flynn.
• Zoran Lazarevic.
• Lieutenant Draza.
• Genghis Khan (skeleton).

DLC Villains:

• Dead Explorer.
• Skelzor (skeleton).
• Glowzor (skeleton).
• Platzor (skeleton).
• Mac (Eye-patch pirate from Uncharted: Drake's Fortune).
• Prakoso (Yellow tank-top pirate from Uncharted: Drake's Fortune).
• Javier (Pilot mercenary from Uncharted: Drake's Fortune).
• Dutch (Grenade Launcher mercenary from Uncharted: Drake's Fortune).
• Blain (Aviator mercenary from Uncharted: Drake's Fortune).
• Dillon (Shades mercenary from Uncharted: Drake's Fortune).
• Atoq Navarro.
• Gabriel Roman.
• Eddy Raja.
• Daniel Pinkerton.
• Cole MacGrath infamous.
• Helghast Soldier.
• Chimeran Hybrid.

Competitive Game Modes

All competitive game modes divide the players into two teams, Heroes and Villains, with a maximum of 10 players per match (5 vs 5).

• Deathmatch - This is actually a Team Deathmatch mode, where players score points by killing the opposing team. First team to 50 kills wins. Deathmatch also includes variations on the mode. These variations include Sniper Rifles and Pistoles (Where you can only use those two weapons) and Pistols and Grenades (Same as other variation but this time you only use pistols and grenades). You can't search for these types of modes, but when you're in a lobby, the players vote on one map/mode or another. You are not guaranteed to be able to vote on these variations every time you play, but will come up often.
• Elimination - This is a Last Man Standing mode, where players are given no respawns. A player scores a point for the team by being the last player alive in the round. First team to score 3 points wins.
• Plunder - A Capture the Flag mode, but with a "treasure" acting as the flag. Players score a point by bringing the other team's treasure to their base, but the treasure will drastically reduce the speed at which the player can run, and also confines the player to only be able to use their sidearm. First team to score 5 points wins.
• King of the Hill - Players attempt to capture and hold a specific zone on the map. Their score increases as long as they hold that location. First team to 50 points wins.
• Turf War - A Conquest game mode, where players must try to capture and hold 3 different waypoints on the map. The more waypoints held, the faster the team's score increases. First team to 250 points wins.
• Chain Reaction - A variation on Conquest, players start at opposite ends of the map, and attempt to capture 5 waypoints. Players must capture them in order, with one side moving from waypoint 1 to 5, and the other side moving from 5 to 1. First team to capture all 5 wins.
• The Lab - A primarily deathmatch focused mode that was used to test out certain variables, such as restricting the weapon selections to just one or two power weapons and additions. Naughty Dog also reported that The Lab was to help prepare for Uncharted 3's multiplayer, such as weapon-balancing in particular.

Multiplayer Maps

• The Ice Cave - A bristling cave drowning in snow, The Ice Cave resembles a small labyrinthine, complete with multiple pathways and plenty of flanking opportunities. There exist a minor few situated perches for snipers, though they're so exposed and easily overwhelmed that they're often not recommended.

• The Lost City - One of the larger maps within Uncharted 2, The Lost City is an adapted environment taken from the Shambhala chapters during the single player. It still retains its lush and beautiful appearance, with a sun bearing down throughout the map. It is largely symmetrical with a small tower situated in the middle, offering a fair game for both factions. Besides the small balconies on each side and the tower in the middle, there exists a small underground tunnel that stretches beneath near enough the entire map; it offers a somewhat more secluded means of travel, but such a prospectus opportunity creates a wild juxtaposition as players sometimes swarm within.

• The Plaza - The Plaza is the most open of all the maps within Uncharted 2; based at night-time, it features a huge open battleground based within the middle, separated by a symmetrical make-shift base-of-sorts for both factions with a busted tower in the middle with a collapsed floor. Broken down buildings offer up plenty of sniping opportunities and the large open-space that permeates the map offers up a non-stop stream of gun-battles. The Plaza was one of three maps along with The Temple and The Village that was apart of the Uncharted 2 multiplayer beta.

• The Sanctuary - Similar in scope to The Plaza, The Sanctuary is a rather large map, though it differs for being more enclosed. Another cold environment, The Sanctuary gives off a chilling scene with snow draped over most of the buildings present; it isn't nearly as thick as is seen in The Ice Cave, however. This map too separates the main-battleground with two opposing towers, both offering substantial cover and opportunities to make sniper-perches. The entire map is fairly elaborate, offering up multiple routes to go from point A to point B; the middle ground being the most straight-forward, with an underground passage from four different passageways culminating into the map's circular core. In the middle is also a bridge, separating two more towers adjacent to one another, with four corner towers surrounding the entire middle. Plenty of high-ground to take advantage of, leaving the middle-ground sometimes an absolute death-zone.

• The Temple - Trading in the outdoor environments, The Temple is situated within a large, well, temple. It is designed fairly similarly all the same, with two opposing symmetrical entrances for the factions, but this time with two centred battlegrounds. One on a lower level, the other higher, they are both attached to the hallways that each faction gains access to as the match begins and gives the player the choice for which battleground they will storm first. There also small segways to possibly hide in, and the remains of what looks like an upper-balcony residing in the middle of both battlegrounds, giving a solid survey over most of the map. The Temple was one of three maps along with The Plaza and The Village that was apart of the Uncharted 2 multiplayer beta.

• The Train Wreck - Similar to The Ice Cave, the Train Wreck is almost entirely encased in snow, caused by the raging blizzard that flows throughout. The map is mostly on a single level of ground, but is littered with derelict trains that make good use for hiding. There are bits and pieces of small cover littered all over, however The Train Wreck is second to The Plaza for being the most open map of the lot. The blizzard that encompasses the map can still deteriorate players vision and can make long-range combat somewhat unreliable at times; the blizzard varies with its ferocity, sometimes forcing you to rely solely on spotting any enemy name-tags with your reticule. After so often, one of the broken down trains will fall off the cliff edge, revealing an RPG - 7 launcher for players to vie for.

• The Village - The smallest map of the lot, The Village encompasses the Tenzin's own village shown is disary as it was sieged by Zoran. The map itself features a small number of enclosed huts, with their low-height rooftops accessible for some higher ground. Most of the fighting will be fought on equal ground as the map is fairly flat overall; a lot of close-quarters gun-play and flanking to be had. After so long, a tank will eventually barge out of a wall outside of the map and storm its way through the map, attacking anyone it's heavy machine-gun can catch. It cannot be destroyed and should be avoided at all costs as it makes its route. On the plus side, it does also unlock the RPG - 7 launcher within the broken down wall it crashed for players to try and claim.

• The Fort - The Fort was the first post-launch map to be released; it was made available for all, for free, through a mandatory online update for Uncharted 2. The Fort is an adapted environment of a large fort from an Indonesian jungle during Uncharted: Drakes Fortune. It's design is mostly situated as a kind of gauntlet, with each faction spawning on each end of the map with plenty of cover in between; this particular set-up is most agreeable for campers and snipers--especially since FAL assault rifles spawn alongside the players at each side of the map. There is also an underground, and a couple of side passages, though the main frontier is easily summarised to the ground floor action.

• The Highrise - One out of two DLC maps that came with the Survival multiplayer DLC pack. The Highrise covers across the rooftops of Nepal, with scattered debris and broken down buildings to allow plenty of maneuverability and flanking opportunities. There are multiple sniping positions, and because of the height of the map accidental deaths from falling between the buildings are easy to succumb to. Every so often a siren will sound, alerting players that an incoming attack helicopter is on its way. It will periodically shoot down parts of the environment, opening up different passages to travel across, and for extra weapons to spawn.

• The Museum - The other DLC map apart of the Survival multiplayer DLC pack, The Museum is easily the largest map out of the entire cast, almost resembling a labyrinthine with its many corridors, halls and rooftops to traverse across. Because of its large size, The Museum is a haven for snipers, offering plenty of cover and against the night-sky can marginally better players stealth capabilities.

• Flooded Ruins - Also a DLC map, the Flooded Ruins is map introduced via the Uncharted: Drake's Fortune pack, alongside one more map--both taken and adapted from environments from UDF's campaign. Flooded Ruins is set during the parts s apart of the single-player campaign as Nathan Drake and Elena Fisher are attempting to lose Eddy Raja's pirate gang; Gabriel Roman's chopper will also fly overhead during a match much like it did during the campaign. The map consists of a lot of busted down structures amidst a courtyard, with a temple suffering a large gaping hole in its ceiling, residing in the middle. Because of the face-high rubble scattered about, it leaves plenty of opportunities for ambushes and stealth kills - and at the very least a substantial amount of cover for getting around. The Temple offers sniping positions to counter the large sea of ground-combat the rest of the map indefinitely erupts.

• The Facility - Much like Flooded Ruins, The Facility is taken and adapted from an Uncharted: Drake's Fortune set-piece. This time it is set around the time as Nathan Drake is contesting against both Gabriel and Atoq Navarro's mercenaries, but also Spanish zombie-like creatures who were cursed by the evil of El Dorado, The Golden Man. The Facility itself is rather worn down, covered in rust with plenty of loose pipes for players to take advantage with their traversal abilities. The Facility is also fairly large, though not quite as large as The Museum. It features a chasm of hallways, all separated by a German U-boat.

Multiplayer Events

During the course of Uncharted 2's multiplayer when it was most populous, Naughty Dog would introduce certain events for specific holidays. They would most often include an experience multiplier and would sometimes even place pre-set skins for players to play as over the usual cast. All of those skins were completely exclusive to the events and would not be released for download once the events were up.

Thanksgiving 2009/2010

To celebrate the US holiday, Thanksgiving, Naughty Dog implemented a 2 week double experience run for players worldwide. Players were also restricted to only playing as Donut Drake on the Heroes side, and Donut Lazarevic for the villains. Naughty Dog would also do another Thanksgiving event with the same available skins, and a 2x experience increase. The Donut Lazarevic is one of few skins that have never publicly been made available for use outside of the Thanksgivings event.

Christmas 2009

Soon following after Thanksgiving, Naughty Dog initiated the Christmas 2009 Event. Similar to the Thanksgiving event prior, players experience gain was doubled. This time players were restricted to only playing as Default Drake while he wears a Santa hat, and Winter Flynn wearing a paper party-cracker crown around his head.

One Year Anniversary - 16/10/10

The Anniversary Drake skin

To celebrate the one year anniversary for Uncharted 2, Naughty Dog held a 24 hour event, offering a 5x experience bonus and an Anniversary Drake skin for all who participated.

They recorded that over 2.5 man years of game-time transpired across the 24 hour event, with a whopping 1,079,850 games played, 12,376,755 player kills and 49 billions worth of experience accumulated.

Boosters

Cooperative Multiplayer

Alongside the huge host of competitive multiplayer options, Uncharted 2 also brought with it a sizable cooperative menu of modes. It allows up to only three players maximum and none of the modes can be played alone. The unlockable boosters do not apply for the cooperative modes, however there are a separate set of upgrades for cooperative-only. They are all passive weapon upgrades and near enough every weapon in the game has the same three available: increased reload speed, increased blindfire accuracy, increased overall accuracy.

Nate and Chloe fighting together in Nepal.

The host player gets to choose the difficulty level for the co-op game modes, to which there are four: Easy, Normal, Hard and Crushing. Easy - Hard all virtually play and appear the same, with them only increasing the damage/health modifiers for the enemies. Crushing mode, however, actually turns all of the mercenaries undead, with their default face models being replaced with pale white skulls. They still function the same and can be killed through the exact same tactics as in the lesser difficulty modes.

If a player is killed, his teammates are given a short window to revive them before the are permanently eliminated. If all players are killed, the team gets to restart at the last checkpoint. Teams are given 3 retries to complete the level. The same character skins from the competitive modes still apply towards the Arena and Hunter modes, though Adventure is loosely centered around a small narrative and thus has fixed characters for players to control.

Initially both the Survival and Gold Rush coop modes forced players to stick to preset characters. Once the 1.07 update become live, players were allowed to head in with their personally selected profile Hero skins.

Modes

• Co-op Adventure - There exist three maps, all of which play out with a superfluous narrative, largely reminiscent from specific set-pieces from the main campaign.

• Survival - A horde-like game mode, players must survive 10 waves of enemies. Each wave gets increasingly more difficult. All maps from the competitive modes can be applied for this mode as well.

• Gold Rush - Similar to Survival, Gold Rush asks players to transport a golden idol from one side of the map to the other. The players will face the exact resistance as they did during the Survival mode (including which enemies spawn on which enemies), though this time they are infinite and will not stop spawning until the idol has been placed within the box. Once completed, all enemies currently in the map die instantaneously. The box players must take the idol to is also randomised each time. All maps from the competitive modes can be applied for this mode as well.

• Siege - Similar to Survival and Gold Rush, players must defend the marked territory from waves of NPC enemies. Points can only be scored if all of the players are in the marked territory. After each round, the marked territory will change and enemies will become more difficult. This mode is only available if you purchase the Siege Expansion Pack. All maps from the competitive modes can be applied for this mode as well.

Adventure Maps

• Nepal - Characters: Nathan Drake (Default), Chloe Frazer (Default) and Victor Sullivan (Default).

Here Nate along with his trusty adventurin' cohorts, Chloe and Sully, embark across the war-torn streets of Nepal, fighting against a huge swarm of Serbian mercenaries as the trio attempt to locate a batch of golden relics. They'll contend with a multiple variety of mercenaries, including the heavily armoured ''mutants'', as Nate calls them, equipped with massive GAU machine guns. Eventually the three will find themselves at the City square, with the treasure heavily guarded by a squadron of mercenaries. After killing them all, Nate celebrates their find and calls dibs on the large golden idol.

• The Village - Characters: Nathan Drake (Winter), Elena Fisher (Winter) and Tenzin (Default).

Nate, Elena and Tenzin quickly grab word that Tenzin's village is soon to be attacked; just as they arrive, they are quickly ambushed and forced to fight their way through. Finding a hostage tied up, the hostage alerts them of more hostages in the village. The three set out fighting their way against heavy resistance, eventually finding themselves contending against a tank. Thanks to an RPG - 7 stash within the Village, the three destroy the tank and with it scare off the remaining mercenaries, saving the Village.

• The Sanctuary - Characters: Nathan Drake (Winter), Elena Fisher (Winter) and Chloe Frazer (Winter).

Nate along with both of his fiery love-interests must find and destroy the Communication Tower, so as to thwart any more mercenary recruitments. The trio must now clamber their way up the Sanctuary itself to reach to destroy the tower. They naturally must still combat against an army of mercenaries, of all sizes, as they fight their way through. Once they reach the location where Nate will plant the explosive device for the tower, they are ambushed by a huge array of snipers perched on the rooftops way above them all. Alongside the marksmen, many more ground-level mercenaries--including more GAU toting mutants--make their presence known. The three against all odds still prevail; Nate finally plants the bomb and three quickly retreat to escape the blast radius.

Downloadable Content

On November 27th, 2009 a new multiplayer map called The Fort was patched into the game for free. The Fort is based on the chapter 5 level "The Fortress" in the first Uncharted game. (It's debatable whether or not this is actually DLC, considering it is automatically patched into the game with a title update.)

On January 28th, 2010 the "PlayStation Heroes Skin Pack" was released for purchase, and contains 7 new multiplayer skins; Sev and a Helghast soldier from Killzone 2, Nathan Hale and a Chimera from Resistance 2, and Cole (both good & evil versions) and Zeke from inFAMOUS.

On February 25th, the "Drake's Fortune Multiplayer Pack" was released for purchase, and contains 6 new multiplayer skins and 2 new maps based on characters and locations from the first Uncharted game. The skins include Drake’s Fortune Nathan Drake, Drake’s Fortune Elena Fisher, Gabriel Roman, Atoq Navarro, Eddy Raja, and Javier the mercenary. The new maps are The Flooded Ruins (based on the chapter 10 level "The Customs House" in Uncharted: Drake's Fortune) and The Facility (based on the chapter 18 level "The Bunker" in Uncharted: Drake's Fortune).

On April 22nd, the "Siege Expansion Pack" was released for purchase, and includes six new multiplayer skins, two new maps, and a new co-op multiplayer game mode. The new skins include Wetsuit Drake, Baseball Shirt Drake, Prakoso, Platzor, Glowzor, and Dead Explorer. The two new maps are called Highrise and The Museum, based on locations from the single player campaign of Uncharted 2. The new game mode is called Siege, and is much like the co-op Survival mode, except the players have to hold off waves of enemies while defending a specified zone. The only way for players to score points is for all the players to be within the zone. The location of the zone changes after each wave of enemies.

References

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969 film)

In the cutscene immediately following Chapter 4 and preceding Chapter 5 ("Trouble in Nepal"), Nate and Sully are forced to jump off a very high cliff into the water below in order to escape from their pursuers. When Nate tells Sully they have to jump, Sully says, "Hold on there, Sundance - you gotta be outta your mind." This is a direct reference to a very similar scene in the film where the younger Sundance Kid tells the older Butch Cassidy they have to jump off a sheer cliff into a river below in order to escape law enforcement officers who are chasing them.

Apocalypse Now (1979 film)

In the middle of Chapter 12, after Drake uses a zip-line to get down to the train yard, Drake says "I love the smell of train yards in the morning". This is a direct reference to a line in Apocalypse Now when Col. Kilgore says, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning."

Air Force Once (1997 film)

One of Drake's random lines after pushing an enemy off the train is "Get off my train!", a reference to the "Get off my plane!" line from Air Force One.

Install Data

Uncharted 2 does not have any install. Christophe Balestra was quoted simply saying: "Uncharted 2 does not require any install." Although the box does seem to indicate that the game requires at least 1000 MB of hard drive space.

The multiplayer portion of the game does require, as of October 17th, 2009, around 450 MB of space to access. And downloadable content must be installed as well.

Miscellaneous Information

• The original Uncharted used only 30% of the PlayStation 3's SPU power; this time Naughty Dog claim they are maxing it out. There are much quicker and smoother animations and more facial joints for realistic facial expressions. There are also many more enemies on screen and an incredible amount of detail in the environments. Details like fur and cloth are also improved. In short, the new Naughty Dog Engine 2.0 allows for an incredible cinematic experience.
• A "Twitter Events" feature allowed the game to tweet updates about what is happening in the game. One option that players initially had was to post every time a chapter was completed, but was removed when people with review copies of the game complained about the high frequency that the game was tweeting on their Twitter pages.
• The developer's aim was to make the player feel like he or she is in a summer blockbuster movie.
• Players have the opportunity to use stealth tactics but are not obliged to do so.
• Drake is able to make his own cover by, for example, flipping over a table or taking off a car door.
• Enemies have much more advanced A.I. and are able to make their own cover, so if you don't get to the car door first, they will. They are able to do whatever Drake is.
• Enemies have peripheral vision and "investigate" if they see something suspicious.
• Enemies "hunt" Drake if they lose sight of him for more than a few seconds. Enemies also have the ability to climb up, jump over, jump down, jump across chasms, etc, making them much more advanced and mobile opponents than they were in the previous title.
• Players are able to shoot while running, walking, behind cover, and climbing, making gameplay very flexible.
• Buildings can collapse while Drake is still inside them.
• Drake's animations react to moving platforms such as running trains.

Collector's Edition

Fortune Hunter Edition

The Fortune Hunter Edition for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves has another case with an art book, download codes for new gun skins, XMB Theme and various bonuses, and a replica of the Phurba Dagger featured in the game. It wasn't available for purchase, but instead was given away through competitions including some held on the PlayStation blog, PlayStation Home, and the game's multiplayer beta. It is only available to North America.

Europe got a Limited Edition Collector's Box that is for sale. It's in a metal case with different box art and contains the same download PS Store code as the American version.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves was released on October 13th, 2009 and was composed by Greg Edmonson.

1. Nate's Theme 2.0
2. The City's Secret
3. Bustin' Chops
4. Reunion
5. Breaking and Entering
6. Desperate Times
7. Helicopter and Tank
8. Marco Polo
9. The Monastery
10. Refuge
11. Warzone
12. Train Wrecked
13. Cat and Mouse
14. Cornered
15. The Gates of Shambhala
16. Broken Paradise
17. Brutal Combo Mambo
18. Among Thieves
19. A Rock and a Hard Place
20. The Road to Shambhala

Reception

The game was very well reviewed with a Metascore of 96 – the highest for any game in 2009 – and won numerous Game of the Year/Best of awards from various publications. It was also the best selling game of the month during which it was released in the U.S. (at 537K according to NPD), and has since sold over 3.5 million copies worldwide.

Awards

Runner-up awards are not included. Only highest tier is included per category (e.g. Overall Game of Year overrides platform and genre awards).

Giant Bomb's Game of the Year 2009

• Game of the Year (also Users' Pick)
• Best Graphics
• The Northies - Best Performance By Nolan North
• Best New Non-Player Character

13th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards

10th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards

• Game of the Year
• Best Writing
• Best Technology
• Best Visual Arts
• Best Audio

Writers Guild of America Awards 2009

• Videogame Writing

9th Annual NAViGaTR Awards

2010 GAME British Academy Video Games Awards

• Action
• Story
• Use of Audio
• Original Score

IGN Best of 2009

• Overall Game of the Year (also Readers' Choice)
• Overall Award for Visual Excellence (also Readers' Choice)
• Overall Award for Excellence in Sound (also Readers' Choice)
• Overall Best Story (also Readers' Choice)
• Best Multiplayer Game (PS3-specific)

GameSpot's Best Games of 2009

• Best Action/Adventure Game (also Readers' Choice)
• Best Graphics, Technical (also Readers' Choice)
• Best Voice Acting (also Readers' Choice)

Readers' Choice

• Game of the Year
• Best Graphics, Artistic

GameTrailers Game of the Year Awards 2009

• Best Single-Player Campaign
• Best Third-Person Shooter
• Best Story
• Best Graphics

X-Play Best of 2009

• Game of the Year
• Best Animation
• Best Writing

1UP Readers' Choice Awards 2009

• Game of the Year

Editors' Special Recognition

• The "GPU Gods" Award for Most Impressive Visuals

Spike Video Game Awards 2009

• Game of the Year
• Best Graphics

GameSpy – Best Games of 2009

• PlayStation 3 Game of the Year (also Gamers' Choice)
• The Pay Attention, Hollywood Award

GamePro's Best Games of 2009

• Best Storytelling

Yahoo – Best Games of 2009

• Best Overall Videogame

Joystiq's Best of 2009 – #1

Destructoid Game of the Year 2009 – Winner

Kotaku's 2009 Game of the Year – Winner (also Readers' Choice)