Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Review
| Game Name: | Uncharted 2: Among Thieves |
| Platforms: | Playstation 3 |
| Publisher(s): | Sony Computer Entertainment |
| Developer(s): | Naughty Dog |
| Genre(s): | Action-Adventure, Third Person Shooter |
| Release Date: | October 15, 2009 |
| ESRB Rating: | T |
Naughty Dog is back with a vengeance with the sequel to their 2007 smash hit – Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. But is Among Thieves a treasure worth keeping? Or is it just a cheap imitation? We tell you.
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune was somewhat of a surprise. In a season full of sequels, Uncharted was unique in that it was an original IP, and it was pretty darn good. Considered to be the Playstation 3’s best playing, and best looking exclusive, it was no surprise that Uncharted sold millions of copies, and a sequel was guaranteed. Fast forward to 2009 – Uncharted 2 was announced, it gathered various accolades and ‘Best Of –’ awards in every expo or conference it was shown in. It’s finally in our hands and we can tell you — its as good as it’s cracked up to be.
Story:
The game once again puts you in the shoes of treasure hunter Nathan Drake. A meeting with an old friend makes Nathan embark on a quest to find the Chintamani Stone and the lost kingdom of Shambhala. However, all doesn’t go as planned. Friends become foes and old friends return. While the story starts out pretty slow, with the exploration taking a backseat to the characters, it picks up near the middle, and the second half of the game moves at an awesome breakneck speed.
This isn’t the greatest story you’ve experienced, but top-notch delivery makes this one of the best experiences on any console ever.
Presentation:
Let’s start with the visuals first, as like the first game, they are the first things you’ll notice when you start a new game. Uncharted 2’s visuals are in a word – Breathtaking. I mean literally breathtaking. I mean standing-still-and-taking-a-screenshot-to-post-on-your-bedroom-wall breathtaking. It might seem that I’m exaggerating a bit, but let me elaborate.
The gaming industry as a whole is gravitating towards the ‘brown and grey’ next-gen visuals trend. This was true in 2007, and this is still true now. Fortunately, the guys and girls at Naughty Dog haven’t forgotten the importance of color in a game, and how it can make the visuals pop. Every area in Among Thieves, be it a dark, forgotten cavern, or a snowy peak, looks absolutely jaw-dropping. This is undoubtedly the best-looking console game I’ve ever played. Uncharted not only shuns the ‘brown and grey’ filter used by other games, but mocks it with its own unlockable ‘next-gen filter’.
The thing that makes the visuals and the environments so great is not just how they look, but how they’re presented to the player. Its one thing to have a beautifully rendered building for the player to climb, but having the player fight enemies in it while its crumbling down to its doom is whole other ballgame. Among Thieves has multiple set pieces where you are fighting on moving environments, and the level design in these levels is some of the best I’ve ever seen.
I can write an essay on what else makes the visuals great. I haven’t even touched upon the stunning character models, the lifelike expressions, the physics and the animations, but mere words can’t describe how awesome all these aspects are. So I’ll leave it to you to discover their brilliance.
Sound and Voice Acting:
Just like the visuals, the sounds of this game are what pure, aural porn is made of. While some of the fun sounds can be underwhelming, the ambient sounds in general are great. Some individuals are under the impression that Uncharted lacks ‘originality’ – that it takes elements from other games and implements them in such a way that they are as good or better as in the source material. These individuals are being wankers and I’ll tell you why.
Uncharted’s forte is having amazing, brilliant characters, all thanks to the spectacular voicework. Sure, Gears of War has a similar cover system, and Tomb Raider has a similar theme, but what game gives the same amount of importance to its characters and the writing as this? Each character, may it be Drake, or newcomer Chloe, is voiced to perfection. Characters interact both in and out of cutscenes, and by the end of the game, you really feel like you them forever. Another aspect of Uncharted that’s original is its humor. The script is full of tiny references, funny one liners, sarcastic remarks and such that make the experience really pleasant from beginning till end. So when you’re having a tough time fighting a barrage of 20+ enemies, Drake will ease the tension by saying stuff such as ‘How many guys has he hired?‘
Gameplay:
Among Thieves follows the tried and true stop-and-pop formula of the first game, with some subtle improvements. The biggest addition is the stealth gameplay. Anytime that you are behind an enemy that hasn’t seen you, you can press the melee button for a quick kill. Except the opening level, the game never imposes stealth on you. In fact, there are enough guns and explosives lying around the levels that you can go Rambo over anything and everything.
However, most of the areas are smartly designed so that they can accommodate both types of gameplay. Being stealthy not only conserves ammo, but also prevents additional foes from spawning. This makes those ‘Hard’ and ‘Crushing’ runs much more bearable.
Melee combat has also been drastically improved. Melee combat now follows the Strike-Strike-Dodge-Strike pattern throughout, and you’ll end up taking down most of the foes you engage via melee more without taking a hit. But while melee combat is much more efficient, its not particularly useful. Any area where there are multiple enemies, or even two enemies side by side, makes melee useless. If you melee one of the guys, it takes you to this 5-7 second long sequence where others can shoot at you and kill you.
Other subtle changes include the removal of quicktime events, improved grenade throwing and a nifty hint system. All in all, the gameplay of Uncharted 2 is great, and you can have multiple playthroughs without feeling burned out.
Multiplayer:
Unless you’ve been observing a media blackout, you’d know that Among Thieves has a multiplayer component. Its a fun distraction and its different enough from something like Gears of War in that it has the platforming component of the main game. Multiplayer is both competitive and co-operative. Co-op has upto 3 players either completing certain objectives, or fighting waves of enemies in an arena like fashion. Competitive multiplayer has 5 vs 5 deathmatch, team deathmatch, and capture the flag modes.
Verdict:
This is probably the easiest verdict I’ve given in any review I’ve ever written. If you own a Playstation 3, buy this game. If you don’t, then buy a PS3. And then buy this game.
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