Review: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is one of those games that I was looking forward to playing since it was announced. The Original game, Uncharted:Drakes Fortune was among one of the finest titles released quite early in the PlayStation 3′s software line up, and Uncharted 2 aims to surpass it in nearly every way. With it’s unique blend of platforming, puzzle solving and action sequences, Among Thieves does in my books.
This time, Nathan Drake is looking for the lost fleet of Marco Polo after being recruited by a Colin Farrel-esque old friend, and his partner. However, that’s not where the game begins. The game starts you off in a crazy, over the top sequence that I won’t ruin, but it really is amazing how quickly Naughty Dog wants you to get invested in their game. I actually sat there unmoving for a few moments because I wasn’t entirely sure I was supposed to play. It looked too good, I thought it was part of the cinematic. There was debris falling around me, pipes breaking – it really is something else. Graphically jaw dropping, every facet of every characters face is well drawn and animated. The amount of detail in comparison to those found in Uncharted: Drakes Fortune is simply jaw dropping. There’s much more variation in the environments as well. Drakes Fortune primarily focused on ruins and jungle environments, where Uncharted 2 takes you all over, from war torn cities to snow capped mountains. There is luscious detail in the stones, plants, trees – everything looks beautiful. The snow effects look particularly nice.
See? Look at that snow!
The script is funny and clever, and I found myself laughing out loud more than once during my play-through. There’s a lot of other little touches Naughty Dog has added in, like the ability to flip through Drakes journal at any time during play. As you progress through the game, pages are added to Drakes journal, which allows you to keep track of what’s going on, offers clues about puzzles, and sometimes is just good for a quick laugh as the humor isn’t limited to what is being spoken.
However, the narrative is where the game really shines. With an exceptional cast of voice actors (with Nolan North reprising his role as Nathan Drake) and top notch script, it’s no wonder why those terrible commercials came out:
The control scheme is essentially left untouched, with only a few tweaks. For example: all of that six axis balancing and grenade throwing? Gone! It’s been replaced by the much friendlier analog stick balancing. Having to select your grenade as a separate weapon? That’s gone too! It’s now been mapped to L2, and you can throw it really accurately if you aim using your weapons cross hairs first. The cover system is still intact, but it also allows you to perform stealth kills. Hug a wall and tap square just as the enemy reaches the corner, and you’ll grab him and do one of a number of stealth kill animations that look totally bad ass. You can also pull enemies down to their deaths if you happen to be hanging below them. Overall the controls are responsive and perfectly mapped for this kind of game, but you will find yourself trying to reload using R2 in your other games… You’ll kill yourself with a lot of grenades.
The facial details are amazing.
The sounds in the game are great, with the music being a highpoint. It swells and grows louder as you begin to get into more exciting situations, and suitably ends when you finish off the wave of enemies, or complete your objective. The ambient noises are also of very high quality, and I’m sure most of you will be just as impressed as I was.
The biggest difference between Drakes Fortune and Among Thieves is the inclusion of a multi-player mode. It’s definitely not something Naughty Dog decided to add on at the end of development and is as robust and fully featured as any other online shooter. Matches can be held with up to 10 people, 5 on each team. Co-Op however can include only 3 players.
Uncharted 2s multi-player has a score of game modes, including team deathmatch, elimination, plunder (a variation of capture the flag, allowing you to use the level design and the ability to throw the “flag” a great distance to members of your team), turf war, king of the hill, chain reaction (you must capture the zones in numerical order), survival (a totally awesome take on hoard mode), co op, and a few others. The one mode that is surprisingly not present, is a regular free for all deathmatch mode. You can also level up with cash you earn from playing online. You earn money by generally playing well and you can even earn extra bonus cash for meeting certain conditions, such as 2 quick successive kills. Cash also buys you new character models to play as, as well as Call of Duty like perks.
The party system works quite well, and it’s very easy to find your friends in games and set up private parties. Playing the multi-player modes feels very much like the single player game in terms of what you can do in the levels. The levels were meant to be vertical, so expect to spend a lot of your time climbing up the sides of buildings to outflank your enemies. The shooting feels just as tight, and there is very little noticeable lag, even on my terrible internet connection.
"Don't you love how the water makes your jeans all squidgy?"
The Co-op throws you into the level with one or two other people, working together to fight your way to the end. Or you could try your hand at survival mode, where you simply try and survive as many waves of enemies as you can. Overall, Uncharted 2′s multiplayer modes have kept me busy for more than few hours, and adds loads of replay value to an already amazing game.
Sorry for gushing, but the game truly is that good in my opinion and if we had an editors choice award, this game would surely deserve it. It’s one of the best games I’ve played so far this year and I recommend it to anyone who has a Playstation 3. Naughty Dog, I salute you!
Rating: 
I’ve practicaly completed this game twice and i don’t even own a copy. It’s good enough to go out of your way to play it at other people’s houses.
Or good enough to get a mate to carry their PS3 around with them all day and bring it with him to yours so you can play it.
But seriously, yeah, Uncharted 2 is awesome. I’m on my second playthrough collecting treasures, and I have to play it on Hard to unlock Crushing, as my first playthrough was on Normal. I intend to play it through on Crushing. So that will be 4 highly enjoyable playthroughs. I’ve only been in the multiplayer for a few hours. This game has such a good longevity.
I’ve only had a short go on this game but from what I played it was really enjoyable. I enjoyed sneaking around the beautifully buildings and assassinating dozens of people.