As a huge fan of the original, I was expecting Uncharted 2: Among Thieves to be an incredible game. The developer, Naughty Dog, made it clear early on in the game’s development that we would see the return of Uncharted’s protagonist, Nathan Drake, as well as his lovable co-stars, Victor “Goddamn” Sullivan, and Elena Fisher (my favorite character in anything, ever). For anyone who played 2007’s Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, that was likely enough to sell the sequel to them. Apparently, Naughty Dog didn’t feel that was enough to make the next game in the series worth buying.
Despite having earned the affection of many a gamer two years ago, the development team appears to have criticized every point of Drake’s Fortune to make Among Thieves better in every conceivable way. To that end, they’ve succeeded in grand fashion. With the exception of the opening logo cinematic, there’s not a single second of Uncharted that is better than the sequel. Among Thieves looks better. It sounds better. It controls better. It handles storytelling better. Hell, the game even loads faster.
The first thing that should strike anyone is how appealing the game is visually. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is the only game on the market that can rightfully challenge Killzone 2 for the “Best Looking Game” throne. From a technical standpoint, it may be in a tie for best graphics. However, when coupled with the incredibly strong art production and animation it becomes clear that there simply isn’t a better looking video game available today. I spent some time playing a handful of other beautiful games in-between Uncharted 2 sessions (Borderlands, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and Tekken 6) but I could feel my eyes physically adjust back to Uncharted 2 whenever I returned to it. The mixture of colors, lighting, and depth of field effects makes it look an entire generation beyond some of today’s other major titles.
Clearly Naughty Dog was focused on making Among Thieves a captivating game and they have crafted a story which does just that. Remember the box art depicting Nathan Drake dangling one-handed from a train suspended hundreds of feet above the ground? That’s literally the start of Uncharted 2. It opens not with “a bang” but with about half a dozen of them. The story’s premise is not too complicated. However, the expert storytelling and cinematic shifts in chronology make it just as enthralling as the most complex of plotlines.
Nathan Drake, treasure hunter extraordinaire/fashion guru, is roped into another adventure. This time his old friend, Harry Flynn, and old flame, Chloe Frazer, have him involved on a mission to uncover the fabled lost fleet of Marco Polo (explorer extraordinaire/fashion guru). The quest soon snowballs into a race to discover the mythical city of Shembala, also known as Shangri-la, as it is rumored to house riches beyond man’s wildest dreams. As is always the case, our hero isn’t the only one in search of wealth. Zoran Lazarevic (terrorist extraordinaire/fashion guru) is Uncharted 2’s main antagonistic force. While he doesn’t spend much time on screen, his ruthlessness is quickly made apparent and his actions drive Nathan Drake to the brink of death dozens of times.
That is what makes the single player such an exhilarating experience. Drake finds himself in all sorts of trouble. On the one hand, he’s extremely lucky to survive these things but on the other, he winds up in some downright terrible situations. We’re talking gunships, helicopters, a collapsing building (that you, the player, are inside of as it collapses), tanks, gunshot wounds, 100-foot drops, and even a love triangle. Drake takes a staggering amount of punishment both physically and emotionally throughout Uncharted 2 but his reactions to the ensuing insanity are what make him stand out as a relatable character. He sums it up best when he asks himself aloud, “How do I always get into this shit?”
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves plays like a cross between Gears of War and Prince of Persia. The primary gameplay is cover-based shooting. The game’s gunplay beats most of the competition by adding a layer of agility to what is typically a “stop and pop” ordeal. Most of the environments feature a sense of verticality. The player has freedom to climb things and navigate the entire room to battle foes. You’ll pop in and out of cover to shoot dudes in the face but enemies will not hesitate to sneak up on you or toss a pesky grenade on your shoulder. It causes you to constantly adjust your approach to combat. You have to take out the sniper because he’ll kill you in one shot but if you poke your head out from behind this wall, the shotgun wielder ten feet away will blow you to pieces, so maybe you can—is that a grenade?! Simultaneously the game wants you to be careful and precise with your shots, but shoot quickly, but also move around a lot while making sure you have ammo to shoot at guys. On top of all this, there’s a simple, contextual melee system whereby Nate can takedown enemies and save ammo. Depending on where you are and what environment you’re in, a fistfight can end in things like Drake throwing a guard off a speeding train or dropkicking a guy in the face and yelling, “I will kick you to sleep!” Combat is incredibly involved and intense. I found myself sweating after more than a few encounters.
When you’re not busy killing stuff (or being killed on the harder difficulties) you’re platforming, Prince of Persia style, or solving puzzles. Most of the puzzles are really simple so the primary use of strategy and thought will come from keeping yourself alive in battle and figuring out how to traverse the environment. Nate can climb, swing on ropes, shimmy across ledges, and kind of run up walls like you would expect a tomb raiding action hero to. There’s not too much a game can do in terms of making the player complete a sequence of jumping and climbing segments without it getting contrived, so Naughty Dog did a few things to jazz these segments up a bit. First, they combine shooting and jumping in many instances. You may have to shoot guys, jump a gap while more guys are shooting at you, land, and then shoot guys from where you landed. Second, Among Thieves provides extra dramatic camera angles and music for these platforming moments. Third, since the characters are all supposed to be people, they react the way people would if they saw a fully grown man climbing walls. There’s amusing banter whenever you have to do a crazy jumping sequence.
To be honest, there’s amusing banter all the time in Uncharted 2. People are always saying something entertaining even when they’re mad, about to die, or actually dying. Several people have watched me play through the entirety of the game and the dialogue made them laugh out loud multiple times. It’s not rare for me to start up the game just to play a level where something funny is said. Part of the credit for this goes to the stellar voice acting. Nolan North’s portrayal of Nathan Drake is more real than most of the acting in live-action movies and, thanks to Emily Rose’s voice work for Elena Fisher, I find myself accidentally speaking of Elena as though she were a real person. The word “adaptable” will always make me laugh after hearing Chloe say it in one of the game’s early moments.
To make a quick rundown of the single player, it’s fun, lengthy (about 10-15 hours with multiple difficulties and Trophies), funny, and perfectly paced. There’s never a dull moment. After you finish it and recover from the hilarious ending, I recommend you play the multiplayer component. Uncharted 2’s online competitive mode has all the game types you might expect from an online shooter but they’re slightly spiced up. Team Deathmatch is still Team Deathmatch but the platforming combat from single player is also present. The game provides plenty of incentive to climb walls and find better vantage points. There’s Elimination which is the round-based, no respawn match type us SOCOM veterans should enjoy. In Gold Rush, Uncharted 2’s capture the flag variant, the flag is actually a golden idol in the middle of the stage. Each team is tasked with grabbing the idol and bringing it back to its base but the twist is that players can throw the idol itself. It’s possible to, for example, have a teammate wait on a balcony for you to toss them the idol and subsequently toss it to the next teammate and so on. Of course, your passes can be intercepted so a lot of caution must be taken.
On the not so competitive at all front, there is online cooperative play. In Co-op objective, you and up to two friends play a scenario based on a segment of the single player game. Due to the increasing difficulties and natural fun of playing cooperatively in just about any game, this mode adds a lot of replay value. Co-op Arena is a “your team against the world” scenario in which up to three players are confined to an area taking on waves and waves of enemies. This mode is incredibly challenging but I found it to be the most fun I’ve had in a multiplayer game this generation. Since if forces you to use teamwork for about a half hour straight, you’ll form bonds with your teammates almost every match especially if you make it to the final round and lose (a rather frequent occurrence).
Should this—when this happens, the game lets you simply press a button marked “Party Up” after the match to group everyone else who presses that button into a party, a la Halo 3. While the party is being formed, the game is already searching for the next match so it can be quite difficult to quit playing. Speaking of awesome multiplayer features from Halo 3, Among Thieves saves a video of every competitive match for your viewing, gloating, editing, and uploading pleasure. Additionally, you gain experience points in the form of cash and level up. Leveling up allows you to buy upgrades (for co-op), boosters which grant you special effects (for competitive), and skins for your character. Lastly, there’s Machinima Mode which lets you freely use game assets to film a video. I know, they thought of everything. Ultimately, Uncharted 2’s multiplayer side is more complete than most and will likely keep people playing the game through the better part of next year.
So what’s wrong with Uncharted 2? Sometimes the characters’ eyes are too shiny in a few of the cutscenes. That’s it. That’s essentially the only bad thing about the game.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is easily the best game I’ve played in 2009 and it ranks in the top three games I have ever played in my life. If you have $360 to spend on video games, there is literally no better decision you can make than buying a PS3 and Uncharted 2. If you already have a PlayStation 3, there’s no reason you shouldn’t own this game. With the exception of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, nothing else on any console even comes close to the near perfection that is Uncharted 2. It’s a title that anyone can enjoy, a rarity in video games.
Review Status Information:
Played the game as a fan of the genre and the franchise. Completed single player 5-ish times. The game is fairly easy on the first two difficulty settings but the last two are quite challenging. Earned every Trophy without too much effort. Played 20+ hours of multiplayer. Serious plans to play more of both modes.
Hubert Davis