Top 10 Games of 2009 - 5. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
By transience 1 Comments
Uncharted 2 is most likely going to win the most Game of the Year awards from review sites this year. It's well deserved.
The best way to describe Uncharted 2 is Metal Gear Solid 4 done right. It employs the same basic ideas - over the shoulder camera, third person gunplay, stealth - but Uncharted 2's gameplay is far more cinematic and the pacing is at least 4857489347x better. It also loads better and probably looks better graphically, though both are no slouch there. The voice acting is probably better in Uncharted 2 too. Uncharted 2 doesn't have the indepth storyline that MGS4 does, but that's also a plus in some ways since it's not bogged down by it. Uncharted 2 has been praised a lot for its perfect pacing and I have to agree here.
Uncharted 2's gameplay flips between three things - gunplay, platforming and puzzle solving. It's rare that you do one thing for too long. Platforming is really simple, but it feels good to make the jumps. Gunplay is pretty basic Gears of War stuff, but it's so cinematic that it keeps you going. You can check the video above for proof of that. The entire train sequence in Uncharted 2 is probably the best thing in video games this year. It flows so well between gunplay and avoiding obstacles, the scenes are really good, the ending is awesome and it leaves you breathless for a minute at the end.
The problem with Uncharted 2? It's stupidly linear. This is also a good thing because it allows for the cinematic awesomeness, but that means that it's limited in what it can do. The building you're on is about to fall down but it won't do it until you jump off of it. This kind of thing happens a dozen times in Uncharted 2. It's cool the first time, but you can only fool me so many times before I start to say "come on". The platforming isn't really platforming at all, it's finding a spot to start and then pressing the jump button along the linear path it's set for you until you hit the end. It looks cool and feels cool, but there's no depth there. The puzzle stuff's kinda lame too, but I'm not much of a fan of puzzle dungeon stuff so maybe that's just me.
My least favourite part of the game is chapter 20, where a tank is out to kill you. I actually got around the tank but the game didn't like it so it just instantly killed me for going out of bounds. There's more than a couple instances of things like this happening. You hit a spot you're not supposed to go to and then you instantly get killed by guys shooting you. Things like that are just bad game design.
But the pros way outweigh the cons here. Uncharted 2 is on a different level from other action games. It's incredibly well-designed. There's also apparently some kind of multiplayer mode that's pretty cool but hell if I have any interest in that. Uncharted 2 is not my favourite game of the year, but it is probably the most impressive one.