One of the Best Sequels of All Time.
The original Uncharted game, released in 2007, was a pretty good game that had a fantastic foundation. Issues with the combat and its longevity of the title kept it from being a home run, but it was an overall good game. I honestly wasn't too much into the hype surrounding it's sequel at first. But then I actually played the game.
Uncharted 2 takes place 1 year after the original, with you returning to control treasure hunter extraordinaire Nathan Drake. He is approached by old colleagues Harry Flynn and Chloe Fisher to help them locate the Cintimani Stone, a sacred treasure said to have been discovered by Marco Polo in his travels to Asia. Drake is joined by old friends Sully and Eleana, the later who served as Drake's love interest in the first game, to find the stone before the psychotic war criminal Lazaravich finds it first.
What follows is a story filled with great action, adventure, and believable characters. The voice acting for everyone is incredible, and the writing for the characters and plot are so good that it rivals Hollywood adventure films. In fact, this game is in the same league of adventure storytelling as the first three Indiana Jones movies and another classic Romancing the Stone.
Uncharted's gameplay can be described on paper as Gears of War cover shooting with Tomb Raider style platforming. Examined closely though, Uncharted separates itself from those two titles in very distinct ways. The action is the show stealer in this game, with modern conventions such as a cover system, regenerating health, and precision aiming. Uncharted creates its own identity in these conventions though with its level design.
Uncharted 2's level design for the gun fights is much better than in the first game, since it encourages you to search for vertical cover spots and integrates the platforming aspects of the games into the shooting. The game is filled with climbable walls in combat zones, and really encourages the player to explore every option, vertical and horizontal, available, as opposed to the last game where pretty much every combat zone had almost no climbable walls and was just you moving from cover to cover on the ground.
The combat is also greatly improved by the fact that enemies are no longer bullet sponges like in the first game. In the previous outing, there were many points where enemies simply just took too many bullets to kill. Here it is much more realistic in how much damage bullets do to opponents and how many bullets you can take from them. Between two to three bullets will kill guys and one or two more will put you into the dying state, making combat more fast-paced and exciting. Finally, the melee combat has been improved drastically, adding a counter system that makes fights much more practical and useful than in the first game, and stealth kills that are actually useful.
The other aspect to Uncharted 2's gameplay is the platforming. This is more Tomb Raider than Prince of Persia though, since you are mainly just climbing up objects and jumping from one to another, as opposed to wall running or anything like that. The game is not very picky about where you jump or the precision of it, its more of a trial to find which way to go rather than how to actually do it. In this way, the platforming can be somewhat easy, since you always know Drake will make his jumps as long as you find out where to jump. However, it takes away the frustration of trial and error gameplay Tomb Raider was notorious for and still keeps the sense of wonder as you climb statues taller than most buildings or the side of a train that's hanging from a mountain.
The single player story and gameplay are fantastic, and it is so well made that it alone is worth the price of admission. However, Uncharted 2 goes the extra mile by including one of the best multiplayer modes of any game in recent memory. The platforming and combat work incredibly well in a multiplayer setting with everyone climbing up every wall trying to find the perfect shooting position, all the while trying to steal treasure from across the map for bonus points. The usual trope of modes are here such as Deathmatch and Capture the Flag (or in this case Capture the Treasure), but the real stand-out are the co-op modes.
You have a co-op arena mode which basically is a stand-in for Gears of War 2's Horde mode, which is incredibly addictive in its own right. In addition, you also have co-op objective mode, in which up to three players will travel to complete an objective with new cutscenes separate from the story mode. It too is surprisingly well produced and fun because of the combination of platforming and shooting all players will need to do to complete the objective.
I normally don't write too much about a game's graphics, but seriously Uncharted 2 has the best graphics ever in a video game. The attention to detail is astonishing as you see Nepal streets cluttered with trash, snow that covers Drake's leg depending on how deep it is, and character models that look about as realistic as you can imagine. The color scheme is great with a wide variety of hues and shades to complement the grand scope of the game. Simply put, Uncharted 2 is a game that will make you double-take the first time you see the scope of the graphics. Also, the music and sound effects are very well produced, keeping in line with the Hollywood adventure motif the game is going for. The soundtrack is very good, with tracks being memorable and spot-on.
Uncharted 2 is the most improved sequel of 2009. The first game, while it layed a great foundation, didn't hit every high not it tried to. This game does, and it does in spades. From the fantastic single-player mode, the great story, and the terrific new multiplayer modes, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is easily one of the best games of the year and a very strong contender for my personal game of the year.
I give Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, an A.
