Review: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

[Susan Arendt]

Review: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Uncharted 2 is rather a lot like its leading man, Nathan Drake - flawed, but utterly irresistible.

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[Random Argument Man]

My cousin will probably buy this. She liked the first one.

 

[Eagle Est1986]

Susan Arendt would quite possibly pass out from sheer glee if someone made an Uncharted movie starring Nathan Fillion.

No! Bad Susan! Nathan Fillion needs to stay away from the games I like! Besides, if (when?) they make an Uncharted movie, surely they should just use the actors that voiced and portrayed the characters in the games?

Damnnit, I cancelled my pre-order for this because I'm trying to save money but I can't help but hear good things about this, now I fear that I'm gonna have to buy it.

 

[Grekar]

"We certainly are among thieves, thieves of Tomb Raider, thieves of Indiana Jones, OH SNAP!"

 

[Sparrow]

Damnit.

[sup]I litterally am the only person who doesn't like this game. It's pretty though, I'll give it that.[/sup]

 

[Undead Dragon King]

Well this is interesting. I just learned a pick-up line from Nathan Drake.

Listen closely. You'll catch it.

 

[Fortesque]

hmm.. Having not played the first one, i cant really say anything.. however.

This looks like a bad combination of Prince of Persia and Gears of War. Combining a dumbed down version of Gears gunplay and a less acrobatic and less exciting version of Prince of Persia exploration and melee combat.

About 3 of my friends with a PS3 have been saying this game will be the best and win GOTY.. I really cant see it.

If I want to play a game that is pretty much Indiana Jones, Ill stick to Sperlunky.

 

[Fortesque]

Well this is interesting. I just learned a pick-up line from Nathan Drake.

Listen closely. You'll catch it.

Boy, its a shame you have to sit on something that pretty.

 

[UAProxy]

Well this is interesting. I just learned a pick-up line from Nathan Drake.

Listen closely. You'll catch it.

It was highly amusing. I'm stealing it.

It looks awesome, much better than the first, but I have just one question:

Is this a straight tomb-raiding bullet-a-thon, or did they throw in a paranormal twist again? Because the first was beautiful up until the zombies. I politely returned it at that point.

 

[Ohlookit'sMatty]

'This is what Tome Raiding should be like' only with less boobs // Watchin the movements of the game I get the feeling as if I have seen it before, like in Assassin Creed and Arkham Asylum so there is nothing new there but I will give you this, the settings and environments are beautiful with what looks likes some interesting puzzles but I am prod goin to be sayin the same thing about Assassin Creed II in about a month

But I have to ask, why do game developers have to insist that the main bad guy have so many henchmen! I mean it looks like the guy hired every guy that owned a gun with in 100miles of this place, and all just to kill one guy and or steal stuff for him // Cant they come up with something new // Now Im not sure what that could be they have more money/people than me so they should be able to come up with something

-M

 

[Casual Shinji]

I just finished it today.

It's a sequel in the truest sense, meaning it's more of the same only bigger and better. The story was a bit stringy though and I missed the pirates. And the new characters (apart from Chloe ofcourse) didn't really make as much of an impact. But the action was pretty f*cking fenomenal..........................after you get passed that horrible museum level where you're only allowed to use steath.

Please Naughty Dog, don't ever try to make a 'steath only' level AGAIN.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

It amuses me how desperately hard people are trying to hate this game without even playing it.

My opinion doesn't count however as I am intensely biased, anything with the label "old fashioned adventure" that carries the pulpy vibe of Indiana Jones is an instant sell. Definately need to agree with Susan on one thing though, the Helicopter/Missiles/Hotel moment was intensely awesome, and not handled with a cutscene.

EDIT: The man above me is right, Naughty Dog should NEVER make a purely Stealth Level again, that was 1/2 an hour of pure torture! Thankfully they get that out of the way right at the beginning and you NEVER SEE ANYTHING LIKE IT AGAIN.

 

[hansari]

Indiana Jones, I hope you're paying attention: This is how tomb raiding is supposed to be.

Haha...Drake is the modern adventurer that "everyman" can relate to. But Indiana Jones is still another species. At best, you can say Drake probably glanced at a few Indiana Jones films when he was a kid, but was too busy reenacting some crazy scenes to adopt some of the finer characteristics.

Indie has his iconic bullwhip and hat. Drake has his sense of humor.

Indie has intellect and isn't above using his fists. Drake has his youth and whips out a gun quite often.

Indie is a respected archaeologist. Drake...uhh, I dunno if he passed college actually...

Indie does a fair amount of research before chasing his artifact. Drake kinda acts dim, but then pulls 16th century Spanish history and the Indonesian language out of nowhere.

Indie fought Nazis. Drake fought mercenaries.

Indie sought to bring artifacts to a museum and make sure they didn't fall into the wrong hands. Drake seems to enjoy the hunt more than anything else. (I also wonder where that treasure ended up going...)

At the end of the day, they are only vaguely similar...like comparing realistic "fencing" with the amusing "insult-swordfighting".

Susan Arendt would quite possibly pass out from sheer glee if someone made an Uncharted movie starring Nathan Fillion.

Fillion looks like the closest thing to Nathan Drake, but he appears a bit older. (oh well, thats what make-up is for...)

Now I'd like to see Indiana Jones vs Nathan Drake for an artifact...might just help redeem Hollywood for that Crystal Skull garbage...

 

[LimeJester]

Indie has intellect and isn't above using his fists. Drake has his youth and whips out a gun quite often.

Clearly you haven't played the game, nor watched the Indy flicks closely enough. Drake actually DOESN'T like guns, comes up during the museum level (but its weird since he then uses them without a peep for the rest of the game to mow down entire legions of enemies), but depending on your play style fisticuffs come in quite a bit. Also Indy uses guns too. Watch Raiders of the lost arc again, when he is Cairo he shoots a half dozen guys, including the dual sword wielding guy in the crowd scene.

Anyways I am a few levels in and am entranced. Love the game but I have a bone to pick with the pacing. For optimal storytelling you need moments of excitement followed by moments of calmness. You can't have the audience running on adrenaline for the entire story, Uncharted 2 seems to do this not in the cut-scenes so much, but in the gameplay set pieces. It moves from one encounter to another very quickly giving very little downtime, or opportunity to say "I finished this level, I can stop for now." there seems (at least how far I've gotten in) to be very few of those. But that is a minor gripe in an amazing game.

Also I felt the best character development was not in the cut-scenes but during the little in-game quips tossed back and forth. Really added the perfect touch to flesh out the scenes.

 

[Susan Arendt]

It amuses me how desperately hard people are trying to hate this game without even playing it.

My opinion doesn't count however as I am intensely biased, anything with the label "old fashioned adventure" that carries the pulpy vibe of Indiana Jones is an instant sell. Definately need to agree with Susan on one thing though, the Helicopter/Missiles/Hotel moment was intensely awesome, and not handled with a cutscene.

EDIT: The man above me is right, Naughty Dog should NEVER make a purely Stealth Level again, that was 1/2 an hour of pure torture! Thankfully they get that out of the way right at the beginning and you NEVER SEE ANYTHING LIKE IT AGAIN.

So I'm not the only person who hated that museum level? Ok, cool, good to know. Drove me nuts.

And given that Nathan Drake's personality is based largely on Captain Malcolm Reynolds, Fillion seems like the obvious choice for the film. And if they want to cast the magnificent Claudia Black as Chloe, that's fine by me, too.

 

[BaldursBananaSoap]

I wonder how many people hating it have actually played it, or own 360s for that matter...........

Ahhh well, their loss if they have nothing better to do. Just from playing the beta I knew this game would be amazing. The first game is one of my favourite games this gen so for this to surpass makes it that much sweeter. After this I will probably buy Demons Souls, then Ratchet and Clank ACIT, and I still haven't bought inFAMOUS, then there's Heavy Rain, MAG, Agent, The Last Guardian and everything next year AND all the multiplats. Damn, I need another job.

 

[Casual Shinji]

It amuses me how desperately hard people are trying to hate this game without even playing it.

My opinion doesn't count however as I am intensely biased, anything with the label "old fashioned adventure" that carries the pulpy vibe of Indiana Jones is an instant sell. Definately need to agree with Susan on one thing though, the Helicopter/Missiles/Hotel moment was intensely awesome, and not handled with a cutscene.

EDIT: The man above me is right, Naughty Dog should NEVER make a purely Stealth Level again, that was 1/2 an hour of pure torture! Thankfully they get that out of the way right at the beginning and you NEVER SEE ANYTHING LIKE IT AGAIN.

What made it even more aggravating was that right after that horrible courtyard section, what's-his-face gives you a tranquilizer gun. Christ, if he just gave me that from the getgo I wouldn't have to suffer through that awful part.

But I'm biased toward Naughty Dog so I'll always love whatever they do.