Review | Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
//The other side of the coin
Thankfully, considering the action is maintained at such a high pace, the controls are as fluid as the game’s set-pieces. Using motion capturing techniques to animate Drake’s movements, there’s a sense of momentum to every action he performs, a feeling of absolute terror at the mere thought of slowing down. But while this is superb for action sequences and traversing obstacles, it doesn’t always work well in enclosed spaces. Having to fight enemies in a room can be tricky, particularly when trying to get into cover, sometimes ending up on the wrong side of an object and being punished for it. This is also made worse in part by the camera. For the majority of the game the camera is dynamic, swinging into the perfect angle for you to manoeuvre, but when the action builds up in close quarters it will flit around confusingly, only exaggerating the existing control issues.
There are other minor problems as well. Although you will usually have a quiet confidence in Drake’s climbing abilities and athletic style, there are times when you’ll find yourself frustrated. Knowing that you did grab that brick in the wall, but watching Nathan as he plummets to his death anyway, feels unfair. It’s a small irritation, though, and the game doesn’t display many further problems, aside from one large bug that stopped me in my tracks. One that, during the most terrifically designed level, saw me jumping to grab the edge of a clockwork piece and ended up inside it, with no way out. Luckily I could revert to the last checkpoint.
I feel as if I’m nitpicking, though – what game doesn’t sport the odd bug these days? In the grand scheme of things, Uncharted 2’s problems are unfathomably small, and can easily be forgiven in light of such a terrific game. But there is one more thing that irks me. It is in no way a detriment to the game as a whole, which remains absolutely essential. But I do have a problem with the decision to shoehorn competitive multiplayer content into a game that truly didn’t need it.
Uncharted 2 is about exploration, story, drama and pacing. It’s not about how high you can stack the body count. So the apparent need to add deathmatch games leaves me a little sad, particularly when so much imagination has clearly been poured into the story. If there’s ever a game that doesn’t need an online presence, it’s this. If Naughty Dog had to give us online gameplay, it would have made a lot more sense to make it objective-based, enhancing Uncharted 2’s exemplary exploration.
//So glad we made it
So now that the hype train has pulled into the station, everyone has begun to disembark and we can look at where we’ve arrived, it’s clear it’s been a worthwhile journey. Uncharted 2 is a gem that will be talked about for years to come. People will discuss their favourite set-pieces, characters and plot twists. With new additions such as stealth sections, online co-op and – love it or hate it – the online competitive side, it could have been so easy to destroy all of the original’s careful design. Yet Naughty Dog have excelled themselves in delivering a masterpiece in drama that has raised the bar for everyone.
While there are a few annoyances along the way, no game is perfect, and these issues are quickly forgotten while climbing the mountains of Tibet or searching through the rubble of Kathmandu. When a title delivers as unique and refreshing a world as this, the word ‘game’ barely seems to fit. Uncharted 2 is a real experience – and it’s one I’m thrilled to have been a part of.
10/10
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Good review Daniel – conveys the majesty of the game!
I’d say you’re right about the middle sections containing less in the way of the game’s overarching plot elements, but I think in these parts the plot is purposefully taking a step back to focus on the ever-complicating character developments.
I think what gets me is the voluminous gusto of it all. There’s plenty of sequences in the game where you’re moving on objects that are also moving – I don’t know how Naughty Dog’s physics engine works it all out, but it’s always a phenomenal, breathtaking effect that makes my jaw drop.
The only concern I have with this is that everyone’s going on about how much it feels like being in a movie. Yet that’s generally not what I look for in games, and while there’s been a lot of praise for it being filmic, I’ve yet to hear anyone say it’s like being in a REALLY AWESOME movie, y’know? Just that it’s filmic.
It’s totally not the sort of thing that looks, to me, like it would be amazing. But I’m hugely intrigued that it seems to be. Please buy me a PlayStation 3 so I can sample for myself. Kthx.
Great review.
Lewis: For me it’s not so much that playing Uncharted 2 is like being in a movie (it’s not, and if it was the game would be much less appealing to me). Rather, the game’s production values are so astronomically high that immersion and suspension of disbelief are absolute. We’ve become so used to accepting sub-standard writing, dreadful dialogue and contrived plots in our action games – not to mention the unnecessary conceits of modern action-adventure titles (quick-time events, on-the-rails sections etc) – that when a developer actually gets everything right, it’s a revelation.
With Uncharted 2, Naughty Dog have created a game that can be enjoyed both as an experience and a spectacle. It’s as much a joy to watch as it is to play, at least if the friends who’ve sat with me as I’ve played are to be believed. In many ways, it transcends the traditional game experience with a technical flair, wit and panache far beyond the reach of other titles. Both the story and cinematics could easily stand on their own as pieces of entertainment in other forms of media – a novel, film or TV series perhaps – but they just happen to be tied seamlessly together around an excellent action-adventure game.