Review | Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

You wake up sitting on a seat inside a train, look down and notice you're bleeding... a lot. A box falls straight at your face and you realize your train car is hanging off of a cliff. Your seat breaks and you tumble out of the train car and, luckily, slam onto the guardrail and grab on before you tumble off. You start to climb your way back up along the bottom of the train but a giant boulder falls from the cliff and nearly takes you with it. After a few more tense moments climbing you emerge in the next car that is perched right on the edge. In concert with your experience so far, it yields to the weight of the hanging car and starts to slide off the edge. You start running as fast as you can and make a desperate leap to the cliff edge just as the two doomed train cars fall into the oblivion below you.

That is the beginning of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves for the PlayStation 3, and believe me, the rest of the game gets even better. Let me put it simply; play this game. If you own a PS3, play this game. If you don't own a PS3, buy one right now, and play this game. Read on for the details.

You are Nathan Drake, adventurer and treasure hunter. If you've played the first game (which you should have) this one will feel familiar, only better. The first game was essentially broken into two modes; adventuring and fighting.  You'd climb around and make your way somewhere and engage in a cover-based firefight, then move on by climbing around more. This game takes that tried-and-true mechanic and blurs the lines between them even more. While you will be doing both of those alone, you can now fight back while you're climbing around. In fact, there are quite a few set pieces where you'll have to. One of note has you hanging on a cluster of small billboards 20 feet off the ground as enemies surround you from balconies on all sides. You have to defend yourself while managing your cover by mantling around these signs. It makes for a tense and awesomely flashy firefight.
Also, Naughty Dog introduces a sort-of stealth mechanic, which was just as fun to take advantage of as the “three-dimensional fighting”. You take cover and move stealthily to sneak up behind your enemies, then push the square button to initiate a silent take down. These look amazing, and change dynamically depending on your position relative to the enemy. My favorite is when you are covering at a corner and an enemy walks up next to you. Nate leans out, grabs him by the neck and snaps it in one smooth motion. That also means that the CQC is back too. You push square to punch, elbow and kick (sometimes crotch-kick... ouch!) your adversary. You can also counter their attacks, and when you make the final blow the camera switches to the good 'ol slow-mo to accentuate your badass-ness.
Unfortunately, like the first game, the aiming can get a little wonky at times, causing some frustration in those tensest of moments, especially nearer the endgame. Ultimately it's not that big of a deal though, as I really didn't have problems pulling off headshots. In this game it's a minor negative and you really won't notice with all the awesome surrounding you.

Where the game really shines is in it's story and presentation. The basic plot revolves around Nate's race to find the Cintamani Stone, a legendary jewel that grants the wielders wishes. He teams up with new hotness (Chloe) and some old favorites (Elena and Sully) along his action-packed journey, which involves some AMAZING set piece action sequences and battles. And that's just what you can expect. Twists and turns, laugh out loud moments, and all the heart-pounding action you can stand. Uncharted is the new Indiana Jones to me; that's how great it is. This is as close to being in a summer blockbuster movie as any game as ever gotten, and let me tell you, it is amazing. From the playful banter between Nate and his companions while you're playing, to the cool one liners he throws out there (after a headshot: “Damn, I'm good.”), there is always some vocalization, and it lends itself to the immersion because the characters don't turn mute outside of movie scenes.
You also will transition seamlessly from amazing looking scripted sequences into gameplay. A helicopter shoots a rocket into a building Nate's in, destroying the wall right next to him. It begins to fire it's machine gun as he rolls out of the way, narrowly escaping a hot-leaded death. Immediately after he finishes that great moment you have full control of him. No load screen, no wipe, no fade. The camera just takes over to show the moment and returns to normal when it's over. Helicopter still out there firing at you, enemies closing in. It made me feel like I was in this amazing adventure movie unfolding. The FMV movies are pretty sparse, but they're there where it counts and fun to watch. I like how Naughty Dog hit the sweet spot with the length of these cut scenes. They're long enough to get the point across, but not too long to make you start getting antsy to play more.

Speaking of characters, the actors (who do both voices and mocap for most of the scripted sequences and movie scenes) are wonderful. The old cast returns, and are joined by a few newcomers that rise to the occasion. Every one of them provide a wonderful performance. From the lighthearted jokes to some really serious and emotional moments, the characters are wonderfully portrayed. Again with the immersion! Nate is a very relateable character. He always seems like a fish out of water with all the crazy fate-of-the-world stakes he faces, yet you have no trouble believing he'll make it out somehow. Elena and Sully return, and are just as charming and lovable as the first time. The new characters are just as wonderful, but I'd rather not speak about them to save the story.

Music in Uncharted perfectly compliments the mood and setting(s). From the jungle beats when you're crawling around in the jungles of Borneo to the mystical chanting when you're exploring forgotten temples in Nepal, it adds a nice “note” to the game, just like in your favorite movies.

The final critical component of a great game is the art. Uncharted 2 is gorgeous. There were quite a few times where I just stopped and looked around for a minute or two because the vistas you'll encounter are almost as breathtaking as the real thing. For instance, one of the most amazing set pieces of the game puts you on a speeding train snaking up through the mountains. You are actively playing on this train as it twists and ascends into the snow capped peaks. The foliage, water and rock are all real-time three-dimensional models; no matte paintings here. Every so often the forest opens up to reveal some vast river with a small village in the distance, or a beautiful waterfall cascading down. When you reach the snowy mountains, you'll cross deep gorges where you can see all the way down and icy overhanging waterfalls; all modeled, textured and brought to life beautifully. The artists did an amazing job creating all this detail, even though there's a chance you won't even notice it. I highly recommend playing through again to focus on the wonderful work these people did.
And not just the scenery, the character models are detailed and full of life.
I especially like how their clothes get darker and skin shows when you get wet, and how your clothes and hair gather snow in the mountains. It makes sense, but you don't really notice it missing in other games where the player character remains the same throughout the whole game. Character animation is top-notch as well, especially Nathan Drake's. He looks like he's really working when you're running up stairs, and when you're hurt he slows down considerably and you can see him limping and struggling to climb up objects. During exploration areas of the game his pace slows, and when there's action he's fast and agile. This makes him control more “real”. It was always an annoying point to me in other games when the character was always breaking out into a full sprint no matter what the situation. All the NPC's are walking around, but your character was the only idiot running as fast as he/she could. This game recognizes the absurdity of that, and adjusts accordingly. More proof of how much attention to detail is paid in this game.

Overall, every aspect of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is at the top of the ladder. The gameplay mechanics are tight (outside of nitpicking) and fun to pull off, the story is Grade A summer blockbuster adventure movie material, the acting is wonderful, and the world is gorgeous to behold. This is certainly going to be up for Game of the Year. As I said earlier: Play. This. Game.