UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves - out NOW!

[curryking1]

Video Game Review | Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
A Game That Takes Aim at Bigger Screens

Nathan Drake returns in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves by Naughty Dog, now available for the PlayStation 3.

By SETH SCHIESEL
Published: November 6, 2009

Indiana Jones, eat your heart out.

For decades, video game makers have suffered in the inevitable comparison with their Hollywood counterparts. For all the creative and technical wizardry associated with gaming, movies have had the interactive world just plain beat when it comes to sophistication of scope, characterization and visual storytelling.

And we’re not talking about “Citizen Kane” or “The Godfather” here. Even in the action-adventure department — smack in the middle of gaming’s wheelhouse — films have always outclassed games in delivering artery-pumping set pieces, endearing if flawed heroes and the sort of sumptuous, lush visuals that make you want to settle into the couch forever.

Not anymore. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, developed by Naughty Dog and published recently by Sony for its PlayStation 3 console, is a major step forward for gaming. Uncharted 2 is perhaps the best-looking game on any system, and no game yet has provided a more genuinely cinematic entertainment experience.

Of course nothing is perfect. The game is not especially innovative in its core design; it could use some more variation in its play systems; and its finicky controls can frustrate at times. Yet over all, Uncharted 2 represents established concepts in adventure gaming polished to a supreme gloss.

As the swashbuckling modern-day fortune hunter Nathan Drake treks from Istanbul to Borneo to the highest peaks of the Himalayas in search of the lost treasures of the mystical Shambhala, Uncharted 2 gives up nothing to the biggest action films you can think of. This is a benchmark title for the current generation of games, and with Uncharted 2, Naughty Dog can take a seat at the table with the elite echelon of current game developers.

Certain rare entertainment products actually drive changes in day-to-day behavior and the adoption of new technologies. For instance, most people with a digital video recorder first got it to record a specific program. (I got a stand-alone Tivo in 2001 strictly because I wanted to record “Pardon the Interruption,” then a new talk show on ESPN.)

In a similar vein, perhaps the highest praise I can offer Uncharted 2 is to point out that it is the game that finally got action games back in my living room and finally persuaded me to get a big, high-definition television.

Last year I actually banished video games from my living room. In an attempt to create some sort of separation between work and personal life, I moved all my computers and game systems into a spare bedroom, which has come to resemble Mission Control. I normally sit in an Aeron chair at a desk there to play both PC and console games on a 24-inch Dell monitor. It is an excellent chair and an excellent high-definition monitor. All told, I have spent several thousand very happy hours in their mutual embrace in recent years.

But as I played the first chapters of Uncharted 2 — as Nathan climbed up the sides of train cars dangling from a mist-shrouded precipice and crept through a moonlit Turkish courtyard draped with wisteria vines — I found myself craning my neck forward most unusually. I almost wanted to climb inside the picture. I felt this strange craving to be overwhelmed. For the first time, I knew I needed a big screen.

Not only were the detailed yet comfortable colors and textures drawing me in, but the entire presentation also felt like a film I almost needed to let wash over me to experience fully. Cinematography is not a term you hear applied often to video games, but the entire presentation of Uncharted 2 makes such careful, astute use of camera angles to frame the action and lead the eye that it was demanding that I release it from the back room.

I don’t watch a lot of television and so had never felt compelled to upgrade from my hulking old tube behemoth. Finally, it was time. Sony happens to make televisions as well as video games. I hooked up a 46-inch Sony digital set called the Bravia KDL-46XBR9 to my PS3 and then started the game over from the beginning.

The very first scene in Uncharted 2 came on the screen, and I was literally stunned into a moment of cognitive dissonance. Just for a second, what I was seeing could have passed for a live-action shot from a mountainside in Tibet. For a moment I thought, “What am I looking at?”

Uncharted 2 is the kind of game that will justifiably drive people to buy new televisions. Synergy and convergence are business school buzzwords, but in coupling Uncharted 2, the PlayStation 3 and this television, I was experiencing an end-to-end entertainment statement from the global giant that is Sony. It is quite a statement.

It took me about 14 hours of solid play to get through the single-player story in Uncharted 2 on normal difficulty. That was a couple hours longer than it could have taken because I kept dying at moments when I was so distracted just looking at the screen that I forgot to actually play.

Most of that play itself is relatively familiar third-person combat and platforming, as in jumping from platform to platform, swinging from ropes and climbing. The puzzles you must solve as you track the fate of Marco Polo’s lost flotilla and unearth the secrets of Shambhala are interesting, if never particularly taxing. The writing and voice acting are pitch-perfect in the wry, self-deprecating, vaguely cheesy fashion appropriate for a pulp adventure. The overall sound design, from the soundtrack to the Foley effects, is fabulous.

The designers at Naughty Dog have absorbed the vernacular of film and then built upon it productively, not slavishly, to create something wondrous. I only wonder when I will next see an action-adventure movie as compelling as Uncharted 2. It may be a long time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/07/ar...uncharted.html



This is definitely the best review of Uncharted 2 yet, scratch that Globe and Mail one, this one takes the cake. Mentions all the things that one should expect from Uncharted 2, that Uncharted 2 does well, and also makes it clear that it's just a pulp fiction adventure game.

I usually play on my 20.1 inch monitor or my CRT for PS3 games, like this reviewer on his monitor. Yesterday I played Uncharted 2 on a fab new 50 in Bravia at my friend's place, like this man moved to a HDTV to play Uncharted 2

Played some SF IV, GT5P, and LBP on it also :P

[jaxmkii]

with Uncharted 2, Naughty Dog can take a seat at the table with the elite echelon of current game developers.

im sorry but most of the "elite" devs this gen don't deserve to sit next to NG.

[curryking1]

That's true, I missed that. I'm not sure what he meant by that.

Naughty Dog arguably deserves to sit above the rest. There are developers I would argue sit above Naughty Dog, even if this list is incredibly short and includes only the likes of developers like Blizzard, but there are few I could think of to say match either of those. If his definition is focusing on Valve's performance with HL2: Episode 2 and stuff like that, I'd agree with the writer.

If what the writer meant by 'elite echelon of developers' as generally popular ones of today on consoles, I'd of course disagree :P

I'd also have to disagree in the sense that Naughty Dog hadn't already solidified themselves as top tier developers before Uncharted 2. Uncharted 1 was still a breakthrough in bringing a movie experience to games, I feel this is strongly overlooked.

And even three totally unique and wildly successful franchises is part of their Playstation resume... lol.

[OmniCloud]

The auto-jump is fine, what I'm getting it is the level of detail in the environment should allow for a more open canvas to jump on.

It maybe true in all games, and apparent in action even more so. But IMO it sticks out a lot more in Uncharted because of all the platforming he's doing. He can scales walls, climb street signs, jump over moving trains, but then there's a hill he can't grab onto

That's what I mean, in UC3, even if it leads nowhere, everything should just be scalable. Assassin's Creed is a good example. Some places leads absolutely nowhere, but because it looks like you should be able to climb on it--you can.

That would fit nicely into the Uncharted world, and it should with the graphical detail of the title. There's no point in making a story-driven game non-linear. But each level could feel open with that design style in it, and add more to making Drake feel like a the action jack that he is.

[GTAce]

Some pics to celebrate the awesomeness.

[curryking1]

It's more understandable in that context Omni lol.

I think Naughty Dog will continue to have 'difficulty' with that only because they seem to have a ton of variability in the environments. Between how each area is modeled there seems to be very little repetition. I think even in Uncharted 3 we will see this similar issue (not that I also had this issue).

I think that would also improve the feeling of freedom in the game. I think it is strong as it is now, but if there can be more of it, why not.

Like Assassin's Creed, GTA IV and even GTA: SA can be said to have more freedom of movement as well. I think the structure of these game facilitates those things simply because there is bound to be more similarity in all the obstacles that Niko or Carl come across. Cars, fences, concrete boundaries, concrete blocks, low walls, low rooftops etc. The games' environments are built in a way (very metric, lots of clear and simple edges, etc) which facilitate all this freedom. These environments are much simpler in the visual world of the game, and even I bet in the game boundaries as well.

I think given the linear structure of the game it is difficult to balance making the backgrounds interesting and asychronous--which of course... in Uncharted 2 there is plenty of--while also focusing the player and directing them towards where they need to go to complete the level.

At what point do you limit the changes and shifts in landscape in say a jungle area like in the Borneo level? ND can't simply erect walls where all the artificial game boundaries are though. Flat wall of vines? Of leaves? Concrete slab? Every ending a cliff and a fall into a sea or black abyss? You must creatively implement that into each ending instead of being a 'wall' of X stuff, right? It has to all make sense in the context of the level's art and design as well.

At some point, every side track in a linear game must stop somewhere. Even if they extend each of these invisible walls at the point they are now in Uncharted 2, they will have to stop soon after.

I thought the environments were as good as it gets really lol. I felt no issue with boundaries. All looked expert design to me.

[LaLiLuLeLo]

Originally Posted by jaxmkii

im sorry but most of the "elite" devs this gen don't deserve to sit next to NG.

this.

[frosty]

with Uncharted 2, Naughty Dog can take jump on top of the table with the elite echelon of current game developers, slap the shit out of them all and proceed to call them their bitches.

fix'd

[Jay Gee]

Originally Posted by GTAce

Some pics to celebrate the awesomeness.

LOL at the last three.

[Hrama]

So, just bought this game two days ago with Miyagishin on here and he's been playing it over my place. The game is beyond amazing in every category imaginable pretty much, save for maybe one thing... The glitches! Jesus Christ, as you proceed further and further toward the end of the story, the glitches just popup like worms on a rainy day. Save often guys! We have had both just the game and just now the entire PS3 freeze on us as well as numerous other slightly minor (and sometimes humerus) glitches and we saved an hour ago. Needless to say, it was fairly frustrating, so play it, but for the love of god save often!

[frosty]

never had such issues.

[curryking1]

You have to save in this game? The auto-save feature saves before, during, and after almost every scene lol.

I mean really the longest 'last checkpoint' most people should get playing in this game is two minutes.

Sounds like something is hurting in your PS3 lol.

[jaxmkii]

i played the whole game from start to finish with never a single hicup... are you sure your not loading it on your 360?

[Hrama]

Originally Posted by curryking1

You have to save in this game? The auto-save feature saves before, during, and after almost every scene lol.

I mean really the longest 'last checkpoint' most people should get playing in this game is two minutes.

Sounds like something is hurting in your PS3 lol.

Oh does it now? Had no idea honestly as I haven't been the one playing it really. Perhaps so, but we just turned off the whole system before finding out, so I'll take a peek later to see and no, I don't own a 360. Anyway, back on topic please? Thanks Curryking.

[masteratt]

Uncharted 2 IS the topic......:/

Glitch wise:
Uncharted 1 froze on me once, Uncharted 2 I got stuck in a wall once but the game understood it and killed me and I had to replay a whole 20seconds! o-minez!

[Bliss]

Originally Posted by GTAce

Some pics to celebrate the awesomeness.

They are beautiful, indeed ! This game is crack; the more you play it, the more you like it; a true work of art, congrats Naughty Dog.

[Bliss]

Originally Posted by Hrama

So, just bought this game two days ago with Miyagishin on here and he's been playing it over my place. The game is beyond amazing in every category imaginable pretty much, save for maybe one thing... The glitches! Jesus Christ, as you proceed further and further toward the end of the story, the glitches just popup like worms on a rainy day. Save often guys! We have had both just the game and just now the entire PS3 freeze on us as well as numerous other slightly minor (and sometimes humerus) glitches and we saved an hour ago. Needless to say, it was fairly frustrating, so play it, but for the love of god save often!

""the glitches just popup like worms on a rainy day ???""
Maybe you got a faulty copy ?

The engine is close to perfection, but these are games, not real life, and you still will find some little glitches, even in the best games :

After completing each chapter 3 or 4 times, it happened only once to get stuck in a box after a large explosion near me.(chapter number 5)

And only on two occasions in the second and twenty-second chapter, I noticed, and happens only if you are in those two specific points in those two environments, small problems of Z-buffer, which is 2 small objects disappear a little earlier than they should disappear, because hidden by walls and columns. I played this Game something like 45 hours in the SP, and I just noticed those rare and microscopic glitches in very rare rare occasions.

I'm pretty sure you got a faulty copy. Or we are playing different games. Tell me about any glitches you noticed in details, and I will answer you if your copy is faulty.

[VG Aficionado]

I didn't run into a single issue while playing. I think Drake was stuck for a couple of seconds in a random little mountain of rubble, and that's all. If anyone had many other issues, I don't know what you're doing but you might not be playing.

[Bliss]

Originally Posted by VG Aficionado

I didn't run into a single issue while playing. I think Drake was stuck for a couple of seconds in a random little mountain of rubble, and that's all. If anyone had many other issues, I don't know what you're doing but you might not be playing.

What I think.

[GTAce]

I had two "glitches" in the i dont know how many hours i played.
One was permanent because it was a scaling issue with my monitor (pink or white square on the bottom right, a glitchy stripe on the right side and the bottom stripe while in letterbox mode wasnt fixed on the end of the screen), they fixed it except for fire effects, if theres one on the left side of the screen, i can see it also slightly on the other site and vice versa. The other one was a freeze after i jumped to the start of a replay in cinema mode.

No freeze in SP, no freeze in MP, no getting stucked into something, nothing.

EDIT: Oh and the game saves every couple of minutes automatically.