Now 2007's Uncharted: Drake's Fortune was a good game – hell it was a great game for about 85% of the play time. The last hour was a complete wash-out but still overall the game was a great showcase of the potential power of the PS3. One of the industry's most dependable developers, Naughty Dog, had managed to create not only a beautiful looking game but establish the foundations of an exciting new franchise. Fast forward to 2009 and we have the prospect of Uncharted 2, Nate Drake's second outing.
So, to the story at large. Fortune hunter Nathan Drake (Nate) is back once again in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Drake is lured back into the treacherous world of treasure-hunting by an ld flame and a friend from his distant past. When a mysterious artifact propels Drake on an expedition to find the legendary Himalayan valley of Shambhala (aka Shangri La), he finds himself embroiled in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse against a fugitive war criminal who's after more than just the fabled riches of the lost city.
Drake finds himself embroiled in a web of deception and plunged into an increasingly deadly pursuit that tests the limits of his endurance, Drake will be forced to risk everything in his pursuit of the fabled Cintamani Stone.
Let me just get the bad points out of the way now, because from here after, this is going to sound like a 11 hour smooch with Naughty Dog – you have been warned! OK so no game ishotusa suite 33 perfect, right? Well Uncharted 2 is almost the exception to the rule – it is THAT good. The things I am about to mention would pass by almost unnoticed in any other top scoring title, but this game is so good that these small flaws stand out. This really is like complaining your supermodel girlfriend just does not match the paintwork of you Bugatti Veyron but here goes anyway. Sometimes the cover & shoot mechanic is a little fiddly, but this goes for 100% of all the other games that use this system. There are a handful of textures or shadows that sometimes appear jagged or of a lower resolution – these stand out due to the exceptional high quality of the rest of the games visuals. There is also a rather nasty point, right after a very nice chase sequence involving exploding trucks, that if you climb up the cliff face, enter the Himalayan village but instead of taking the path into the fray you turn and walk out the gate you fall through the floor. You find yourself hanging from an invisible ledge through the snow clad floor. Erm… Ahh… Ummmm yep think that's it… Oh I got another one, the game seems to maybe outstay it's welcome by about an hour, the last battle the valley just feels like “Oh man not again!” but I think that is more the fact I really wanted to see how the story ended. So there you have it – the bad points… pretty anorexic list huh… pucker-up ND here comes the Moose-Love.
In the interest of fair play I will state something you guys already know – the PS3 is my platform of choice. There we go so start the fan-boy BS if you want but know that I have ALL the other platforms too and like them all for their different merits.
OK disclaimers, bad points and pending restraining order from Naughty Dog in place – Check – then off we go.
Let's start with the look of the game. Fudge me sideways if this is not THE best looking game; ever. Not just on this platform – ever! And by that I don't just mean the bells and whistles the ND engine can hurl about, I also mean the exquisitely modelled, lit & animated characters, vehicles, environments & more. This game was put together in around 18 months ND have said – I swear to the great god Sir Clive of Sinclair I really can not see how any of them slept. The facial animations alone –all done in engine and performed if the camera is in close for a cut-scene our out for normal play action – would be enough to secure this game a 9/10 for it's graphics. Add to this the phenomenal amount of detail in every single pixel displayed on screen, coupled with a rock solid frame rate and you can begin to understand the breathtaking nature of this game.
This time around the environments are much more varied. Not only do you journey around dark crypts and caverns but you also venture in to cities, small villages, glacial crevices and long lost valleys. There are plenty of environmental touches in the game too. Back once again is the ever so well done “Wet Look” that was employed in Uncharted1. This has now been refined even more – just take a dip and then stand in the sun for a minute and watch random patches of Nate's clothes slowly dry. The new star of the show this time around has to be the snow effects. Last time it was the water (which is even better this time by the way!) that ND bought a whole new level of realism too. This time the snow swirls and puffs as you would expect newly fallen snow to do. The snow also clumps up around the feet of characters and leaves a small scattered trail after them that is slowly covered once again by the falling snow. Add to this that snow collects on the feet of the characters as they trudge through and you have yet another reason why this game is just so pretty. OK, enough of the visualscredito hipotecario argentina – yes the game looks stunning; get a room already!
Sound wise Uncharted 2 is almost as good audibly as it is visually. Let's start with the spot effects end environmental sounds – all are perfect! Not just good people; perfect! The thump of the grenade launcher, the echo of the grenade exploding off the walls of a temple; all expertly crafted. The Tweets of birds, the bubbling waterfalls, the screams of the soldiers, the thwack of a Crossbow bolt – all captured so well it is painful to hear sometimes. The musical score is worthy of any Hollywood blockbuster – any I tell you! The compositions suit the action taking place perfectly and dip and rise to the occasion as needs be. The varied us of music in different areas of the game really help keep the tempo of play up and the overall immersive experience is enhanced greatly.
Now to the voice work… oh my the voice work. Nothing comes close. I have been a huge fan of the voice work in many a game; Monkey Island(s), Simon the Sorcerer(s), Metal Gear Solid 4, Mass Effect etc. All of these games dream of being this damn good. The real key to all this I think is the fact that ND get the actors together in a recording room and have then record the dialogue together. They actually let them act it out and capture it all, audio and video. They then pipe all this in to the quips, jibes and cut scenes found in the game. It really makes the whole thing gel like no other. The lines are for the most part sharp and witty enough – hell they beat the pants off of Indy 4 and look at the money that fecker made!
The voice actors all bring a real level of commitment to the characters and really help you buy into the whole experience. The jokes and jibes during regular gameplay is pure gold and the fact that the story is fleshed out as you actually play was great in Uncharted 1 but is essential in Uncharted 2. There is a scene at the end where two characters are bantering as the sun shines and the game fades to titles – this is pure brilliance. Not for the content, which was fine but throw away. No it was the fact that I wanted to watch this exchange, hear the characters banter & then when the credits rolled I wanted to hear more. So well done I just can not convey to you enough how difficult this is to capture in a game – this is summer blockbuster quality and more.
So enough gushing over the sublime graphics, un-equaled animation and movie quality acting and score – how does it play? Well take the near great gameplay of Uncharted 1 and polish with Buff-O-Game ™ wax for 18 months. What Naughty Dog have done is concentrated on enhancing every aspect of the game that worked well last time, taking it to a whole other level. The real clincher is that they took all the things that seemed slightly broken from last game and made then ten times better. The fiddly cover mechanic, the bullet soaking baddies, the poor blind firing – all gone. The game works like the bastard child of Gears of War & Tomb Raider ladled over an un-made Indiana Jones plot. Left stick sees you moving around your environment and with a simple press of X you are leaping onto cliff faces, scaling huge structure, traversing crates and hurling yourself out of the path of a grenade. Shooting is the traditional L1 zoom R1 fire dynamic but gone is the need to use Six-Axis or the D-Pad for throwing grenades. Instead a quick press of L2 when zoomed will throw a grenade towards the same direction you are facing. When zoomed out holding L2 lets you see the grenade's arc of throw and allows you to aim it just where you want it. The tweaked controls work very well indeed, never giving you the feeling of being out of control of the action.
Another big down point of Uncharted 1 was that the gun play wassamsung flip phone a little bit unbalanced. Regular enemies would take almost a clip of ammo to take down and headshots were a might tricky; not to mention the close quarters melee combat was just janky. Well with Uncharted 2 ND have taken the criticisms to heart and produced a very well rounded combat system. Ducking in and out of cover is simple, as is blind fire (now with a handy reticule). The enemies still take a large amount of damage but this time it feels just right, soaking up maybe 4 or 5 pistol shots before going down – and headshots are easier to pull off too (I think I put in just short of 300 in my story play through). The real tweak has come to the melee combat though. Now this is a viable way to take an opponent down. There are no complex button combos to mast just simply hammer on the [ ] button until said opponent falls. What it does do though is automatically mix up the attacks and combos for you, all of which look and sound brutal. Add to this the single hit take down you can do on enemies you have softened up with bullets before and the melee is a great addition this time around.
There are far to many great touches and set pieces for me to a, remember them all and b, tell you here. I will say that what a normal game would make a cut scene or a quicktime event Uncharted 2 makes a playable sequence. From falling inside a collapsing building, leaping from burning truck to truck in high speed pursuit, being stalked by a tank through a ravaged village to sliding down a stone slope towards your doom, all the while trying to shoot an adversary off of one of your party. This game makes breathtaking use of these dramatic scenes.
Having completed the single player game in around 11:30 hours on Normal I just can not wait to get back in and try it on hard. If your a casual player of these types of games then hit-up the Easy or Very Easy modes. If you are a vet of Tomb Raider titles or the first Uncharted then go for Normal; you won;t be disappointed by the general difficulty. If you feel particularly brave and want to make things harder for yourself then drop in to the Hard mode… just be prepared to get shot – alot!
Outside of the single player is the much mused multiplayer elements. I went on record, along with Viatrophy, on a previous podcast in saying after playing the Beta I was not all that excited for the multiplayer portion. I am now warming the custard to go with me humble pie. The Co-Op multiplayer is great fun. Taking the form of custom made scenarios for you and other characters from the main story to undertake it is a great diversion for more than a few hours. The absolute gem though it the “Horde” like 3 player co-op game. This beats the standard GoW2 mode hands down. Not only does it look better and sound better, but he ability to traverse the map vertically as well as horizontaly adds a huge extra dimension. It is hard to convey how good this mode, you just have to jump into it with some mates and just have a blast. Layered along side the co-op modes are a selection of standard multiplayer fare. Capture the idol (read: flag), deathmatch, team deathmatch etc. These all work great and as in the Horde like survival mode the terrain traversal adds greatly to the whole thing, as does the superb use of melee combat. You have the now obligatory COD 4/Battlefield 2 level-up system employing several “perks”. The difference here is that you also need to buy items with the money you earn in the single, co–op and multiplayer games. You also have 3 load slots to place these “perks” into. It really has been well thought out and appears much more than just a “me too” addition to add longevity.
Final Thoughts
Man, just buy the damn game! Or if you don't have a PS3, buycredito y casa com the damn bundle! How Naughty Dog managed to create such a feature rich and well rounded single player game in 18 months I just don't know. How they then managed to put a fully featured multiplayer aspect into the game is almost stuff of legends. Sure the game has the odd quirk and if we had a 9.8 rating I would use that – but we don't. I hope the guys at ND are now allowed to sleep for the winter, they deserve it! This is not the best game I have ever played- it is though, one of the best games I have ever played and THE defining title of it's genre. This game should be essential play for anyone wanting to see how story telling and videogames are coming together. The graphics are to die for, the sound, story, art design and acting are the same. You will not, for one second, regret buying this game.
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