Hey guys....guessssss who's back? Oh yeah, our favorite hip-thrusting-eco-touring-Indiana-Jones-wannabe Nathan Drake himself. As I told you when I reviewed the first chapter of the franchise, I bought into the hype and the push of a very convincing neighbor and bought the much anticipated second chapter of Nathan Drake's adventures.
The first Uncharted despite being interesting failed at manliness. It was an interestingly thought game, but there was inteference in between the thoughts of the designers and the work of the programmers, which gave the game building failures. Mechanics were interesting, but the flow of the game wasn't smooth. Nathan Drake also, seemed designed by a half-designer, quarter-writer, quarter-publicist of 54 years old, trying to rack up points in the nerd market. For the whole game, Drake and his wits are flying over the storyline without any problems, killing any feeling of tension. Seriously Nathan Drake is like that annoying suburban who grills in the backyard every fucking day of the summer....except that he's a treasure hunter and all.
As I am a very good sport, I sat in front of Among Thieves with all the good will in the world, ready to be amazed like everyone else in the industry (so it seemed.)
STORYTELLING
From the get-go, something is established. Without even knowing what was the plot, it is established that nothing would be handed on a silver platter like in the first game. Nathan Drake is getting banged up seriously. I felt good seeing him getting whooped without knowing the reason. It made the character a lot more human and as a gamer I grew a little closer to him despite finding him really annoying.
Plot is ripped out of a page of the Spieldberg-Lucas playbook. Nathan Drake teams up with two new characters, Harry and Chloe, in order to find the lost fleet of Marco Polo and the legendary city of Shambala. Oh well...it does the trick. Eventually Nathan is getting double crossed by a dangerous psychopath named Lazarovic and a crazy race to Shambala ensues. On the way, old figures of the first game: Sully and Elena.
The addition of Chloe is very nice. She`s a very very bad girl, but with good feelings for Nate. It`s a joy to see her inner conflict and try to figure out on what side she really is. She's the most realistic character by far and makes the game more enjoyable than the first one on her own.
I gotta say also that despite the fact that the plot is straightforward and Hollywoodian, in Uncharted 2:Among Thieves it's often not about what is told, but about how it is told. The game has a plethora of interesting narrative mechanics that are made to suck you into its world. Well placed quick time events, pro-active camera in cut scenes are making the experience of Uncharted 2 a great one. Great job of storytelling from Naughty Dog. Oh should I mention it's still pretty damn funny?
NOTE:23/25
GAMEPLAY
There...not really anything new since the first one. Shooting bad guys, platforming in life threatening Lara-Croft situations and solving puzzles is still at the heart of the experience. Things have been nipped up though. The melee system has been revamped to be made more user friendly and to put a more frantic pace to the game. Weird thing though you can die from a punch and a clothesline, but you eat fifty bullets and you're still fine!!! I can't hold it against the game though, it's a problem which is all over video games.
There are also uncorrected bad decisions. Shooting is clogged. You have to face swarms and swarms of guys without ever moving, which is annoying and suffocating. The platforming despite being clever is sometimes very frustrating as we never know where to go to continue the game. A lot of time I had to go check on the internet what to do!
Also, I made a trip into the multiplayer for you guys. It's very well done except maybe for the matchmaking. I was getting paired with teenage brits with Level 22-25 characters talking shit and killing me over and over again. But other than that it was very enjoyable. Multi-layered maps, Gears Of War mechanics with unhuman acrobatics. It's fun, fast paced and if I had any friends to play with, I would`ve enjoyed!
A little boo at the lenght. It was supposed to be a lot longer than the first one. I finished the campaign in ten hours at I finished the first in eight...and I was in a harder mode...so campaigns are same lenght.
NOTE:20/25
PRESENTATION
Well, the graphics look like a million bucks! Naughty Dog really achieved to pull out from their formulaic forest graphics of Drake`s Fortune. As it's not completely original (we have the feeling of graphics we seen in other games), there is a bigger focus on the details.
There are detailed palaces, cities and landmarks that are very fun to move into and to discover. Hats off! Weird thing though...why do I have the impression I'm getting sold a trip to the third world everytime I play that game? Not every interesting object to steal is in an unreachable cave on top of an unclimbable mountain.
A big bravo at the promotion made around the game too. Naughty Dog are earning a reputation of a solid game studio and Sony is getting behind them at 100%. The game was 59,99$, compared to the new 69,99$ that Canada had for the last few months and the content of the game is highly worth is. A good single player campaign and a deep deep multiplayer mode where you can have co-op on some supplemental missions.
NOTE:24/25
AWESOMENESS
This is where Uncharted 2 goes a little ¨meh¨. Despite the storytelling adjustment, we still have to deal with the hip thrusting of Nathan Drake. He fails to be a hero we attach ourselve to, despite his numerous witty attempts. As the tale is more interesting, Uncharted 2 of the ¨HOLY SHIT THIS IS SO COOL¨ items and moments.
NOTE:19/25
ACES
-Varied and enthralling platforming.
-Chloe
-A load of Multiplayer modes for every tastes
FAILS
-Please someone give Nathan Drake a new writer.
-Weird and unbalanced online matchmaking.
-A lot of repeated mistakes, specially in shooting
NOTE:86%
This is a step forward from the first Uncharted but it's still not very manly. The game is challenging your abilities but not challenging you. They are getting there though. Few things separate the franchise from timeless greatness....and these few things really might be in the third opus...planned for 2011.
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