User Review : Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

The best just got better.

In 2007, Uncharted:Drakes fortune was released on the PS3. At that time the PS3 was starving for games as the Multi-platform games were better performing on the 360 and PS3 exclusives left a lot to be desired depending on preference. Needless to say Naughty Dog gave all PS3 users a game that could become the reason to own a PS3, much like Halo or Gears for the 360. The level of graphical quality and span of the game was a great testimony to what can be done in a game with a little know how, and that testimony still speaks volumes today as the game still holds up great against more recent releases even against it own follow-up in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.

So how would Naughty Dog top themselves in making a follow-up to a game that was so good? They took everything from the first and made it great. Everything in the sequel is expanded and in greater detail to the first.

The story takes place after the original and starts off with our hero shot in the stomach and in a train. Out of nowhere a train seat falls towards our hero and that's when we found out the train is off its rails and dangling from a cliff. At this point drake must navigate to the top of the cliff but the train is a death trap which is very unstable, the whole time my heart is beating fast as I'm always thinking my next jump can cause the death of our hero. I make it, only to see that I am stuck in the middle of nowhere with a blown up train in front of me. I navigate towards the train in order to find out where I am, but little to my knowledge there are people looking for Drake in order to finish what they have apparently started. After defeating them I come across a dagger and Drake passes out.

(SPOILER IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED IT)

The first half of game is played as a huge flashback leading up to the events which lead to Drake hanging in a train off the edge of a cliff.
Most levels played are very similar in objective as the first game but the span of level exploration is far greater then those of the first. Almost everything in the game can be used to explore the level, from street lights to signs, rooftop to rooftop there are tons of way to explore levels in U2. Playing the first game is not a requirement since there is only one portion of the game where one has to know why that current revelation is relevant to the current progression of the story. Other then that most characters speak for themselves and one can gather the basic characteristic from the cast even if they are returning from the first game. This game was a blast from beginning to end, playing it on the hard difficulty took me about 10 hours and I was always waiting for a boring section so that I could take a break from the game, but that boring section never came much to the dismay of my bladder and colon, yes I could've simply paused the game but I didn't want to. This game was a blast from beginning to end and thank goodness that Naughty Dog put a boss battle to end the game which has now either become a lost art or a very passive one depending on who has made the game. This is truly an experience worth experiencing. If you thought the first was a reason to buy a PS3 the second is a reason to buy a PS3 for your friends and family so that they can experience this game as well. The Story, Graphics, Controls, animation and gameplay are all revamped and made to offer a greater experience then that of the first and it succeeded in bunches, bottom line buy this game now.

Graphics:

Wow! to put it simply this game looks better then anything out there in the market today. Even the much touted Killzone 2 must bow down to the this game. The colors and details are just great. There are a few things that detract from the graphics. Such as the eyes of some of the supporting cast have a strange gloss to them which seems odd since most emotion is displayed through the eyes this takes some of the human element of the characters. Also since the game is so detailed the scalable portions of some walls tend to blend in to well leaving the player wondering around until one figures out exactly where to go.

Gameplay:

Aiming has been tweaked since the first game for the better making gunplay better for the second. Also jumping from wall to wall has been fixed as drake will not aim to something that is not there, so empty jumps to death which occurred often in U1 will not occur in U2. But there are certain times in the game that the AI will just wonder aimlessly even if you have let it be known where your position is.
Also the cover system has been revamp to provide a greater variety of cover, but unfortunately with some textures that would provide excellent cover have no code implemented to trigger these textures to use them as such.

Sound:

Great you'll hear enemies plans to try to corner you and speak foul of you as they get closer to your position. Guns and explosions all sound great a surround sound system is a must to really experience this game.

Overall:

This game is not perfect, there are a few small things throughout the game that keep it from being so, the glossy eyes on some characters and aimless AI on some levels. down to some low res textures that appear on some of the later levels and also "Cover" that is not really cover since a trigger was not coded into those textures for such use. None of these things kept from making the game great but the game is not perfect and therefore I cannot give even this great game a perfect score. But don't miss it. Missing this game would be like never playing the original Mario Bros if your old enough to remember that far back.

9.8 out of 10.