Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Review - PS3

9

Gameplay: 9
Graphics: 9
Audio: 8
Multiplayer: 7
Innovation: 7

Introduction

Before I had a PS3, there were few games on the system I paid any attention to. Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune was one. And when I did get the console, I downloaded the demo but found myself underwhelmed. Yet somehow I found myself buying the sequel, and, later, the first game. (A note to others considering the same – play them in chronological order.) Luckily, Uncharted 2 proves to be a gripping ride from start to finish.

Gameplay

Uncharted 2 is a third person shooter mixed with platforming that puts you back in the shoes of Nathan Drake, an explorer in search for treasure. This time around, Drake is tracking down Marco Polo’s lost ships in an effort to locate the Cintamani Stone. The adventure takes you through Istanbul, Borneo and Nepal, each an exciting location rarely depicted in games. It’s worth stating upfront that the game’s story is great, with high calibre voice acting and motion capture lending realistic weight to the events that unfold.

It’s cliché to say, but at times it feels like you’re playing out a movie, particularly with the ingenious opening sequence that trains you (pun) while launching you right into the action. As you flash back to the earlier events that lead there, you may expect that returning to the opening sequence would be the conclusion of the game, but it’s no so. You’ve still go at least another third of the game to go. It’s a satisfying length, that’s for sure.

The gameplay is basically pitch perfect. Going back to play the first game was tough by comparison. The first game basically had you fighting through the environment against waves of enemies with a few platforming elements here and there. The shooting was a bit clunky, such as having to switch out of your gun, aim, and fire to throw a grenade, and the cover mechanics could have used a bit more polish. This time around, it’s all far more refined. The game can be genuinely called a platformer now, with equal attention paid to the climbing and navigation elements as to the shooting.

You go on stealth missions, solve puzzles, climb through ruins, caves and across rooftops, and get involved in huge action set pieces. There are proper boss battles now, too. Sure, the puzzles are still of a rudimentary kind, and the progression is mostly linear (though you’ll be rewarded for fully exploring every environment in search of treasures), but Uncharted 2 just strikes you as a well-made game from start to finish. And for the most part they left behind the faux horror and middling fantasy elements of the game time, too.

It’s worth taking a moment to pause on the set piece moments. In the first game there were a couple of cool action moments. There was an escape sequence on top of collapsing scaffolding, and a jeep battle, but that was about it. There were a couple of quick time events that had you avoiding an untimely death that, at least for me, generally saw ...