threevue

I think all three(vue) of us are currently charting Uncharted 2 (or will be soon), but I finished it first, so I get to write the review. The other two can leave their opinions later.

Russ:
I’ve been looking forward to Uncharted 2 for a while, and I wasn’t disappointed. Everything I liked about the first game – diversity of gameplay, breathtaking landscapes, excellent voice acting – has returned and upped the ante for adventure games. Graphically, this game is incredible; I played the entire game with the lights off just to give it a more cinematic experience. And that’s what this game does best – it presents itself as an adventure movie more than a typical game, with an engrossing narrative and seamless cutscene-to-gameplay transitions. In fact, it plays out better than most recent big-screen adventure movies.

The game takes place sometime after the events of the first Uncharted (which is not really mentioned, leaving new players to feel like they haven’t missed out on anything by jumping right into #2), with Nathan Drake on an initial get-rich-quick quest that turns into something much bigger. There are more good-guy characters and less bad-guy characters, which is an improvement over the first game, which felt bogged down by all its random baddies. The story itself seems much more polished, and the inclusion of time jumps really sets it apart from your typical cinematic video game.

Uncharted 2 knows how to do a proper train chase scene.

I felt like the first 4 chapters (out of 26) were too slowly paced, but that’s such a small fraction of the entire game that it doesn’t really matter. Throughout the experience, I was reminded of two recent games. It is similar to Resident Evil 5 in its ancient and creepy settings, and because the gameplay in the Resident Evil games are getting more action-y with each iteration. I was also reminded of Gears of War 2 because it’s a game that also improved upon itself in the sequel. But instead of making excuses for it like we all did with Gears of War 2 (“it’s a good game once you get past the…” etc), I’m proud to say that Uncharted 2 is an all-encompassing gaming experience that anyone can pick up and enjoy. Naughty Dog has been one of my favorite developers since the first Jak game, and Uncharted 2 solidifies their spot in gaming history.