Okay, here’s the flaws of this game; the cover system is a bit fidgety in tight places, it’s not always clear what you can grab onto in some of the platforming sections and the multiplayer sometimes takes a while to get started. That’s it, that’s all the flaws of this game; just wanted to get them out the way at the start. Uncharted 2 Among Thieves is without a doubt the best game of the year, if not this generation.
The game centres on Nathan Drake, a treasure hunter akin to Indiana Jones, and his quest to find the Cintamani stone in the mythical Shangri-La. Along the way, you will meet many characters, some good some bad, but they are all extremely well written and have a lot of depth to them. The game starts with Nathan being given an offer, by an old friend, to help him find an oil lamp. Only one problem, this oil lamp is in the middle of a Turkish museum. Needless to say, things don’t go as planed and Nathan ends up in jail only to be bailed out by one of his old friends. The race is then on to find the Cintamani stone before a militia led by Lazaravich, who is a very unsavoury character indeed, finds it. The story feels like a summer blockbuster with very sharp writing and well acted cut scenes. The pace of the story is pitch perfect, so perfect in fact that you might not want to put the controller down and play through all 12 hours in one sitting. Along the way, you will visit the city streets of Nepal, an ancient lost temple inhabited by less than docile creatures and many more. The presentation of all of these places is awe-inspiring. I have never seen this level of polish and detail in any game to date. The graphics are awash with colour and vibrancy. The character models are second to none with fluid animation through-out the game.
The gameplay, again, is amazing. You will spend a lot of the game behind cover shooting at various types of enemy’s with a variety of guns. The choice of guns is reasonable from sniper rifles to dessert eagles and there are even a couple of good old WW2 guns in the mix. Grenades are very valuable as well and you should put some time into learning the age-old technique of throwing them at people’s feet. The vertical gameplay aspect makes things very interesting as you can climb almost anything in the game, hang off the edge of walls and fire from behind them. However, Uncharted 2 is a platformer at heart and you will spend a large chunk of the game jumping around snowy mountains and temples trying to solve puzzles and navigate from point A to point B. All of this wouldn’t mean anything unless the controls where very intuitive and again Naughty Dog has hit the nail on the head. The controls feel very smooth and the camera work in the game is incredible, it always has a way of showing you where to go.
Finally, there’s the multiplayer. Many games these days have a multiplayer that feels tacked on as a necessity but not Uncharted 2. There’s co-op mode where 3 players play scenarios from levels that you have visited in the single player campaign. These are outstanding as they have the same flare and heart racing action that the single player does but with all the fun of shouting at your friends when their not covering you. As well as scenario mode there’s also a survival mode which is very reminiscent of horde mode from Gears of War. Competitive multiplayer has classics such as deathmatch and capture the flag, or plunders as it’s called in Uncharted 2. In plunder you have to capture treasure and bring it back to your team base. Where this differs from other capture the flag modes is that you can throw the treasure so it adds a completely new spin on the mode. The multiplayer is incredible and it’s very different to anything you have played before, the third person view makes it like Grand Theft Auto’s multiplayer but with the added excitement of climbing buildings and hoping no one sees you as an easy target when doing so.
To conclude this game is perfection. There are a couple of flaws but there are that many positive points about this game, the flaws will seem miniscule in comparison. The best advice I can offer anyone is; if you have a ps3 buy this game and if you don’t, buy a ps3 and play this game.
Chris, Joseph, and Josh celebrate Active Quest’s 100th episode by discussing their favorite games of all time.
Nevada Dru from Bits & Pieces revisits Uncharted 2: Among Thieves to see if this legendary game has stood the test of time.
Currently playing Drakes Fortune on crushing, next will be to replay Among Thieves, but I'm sure it still holds up today.
Recently re-platinumed 1-3. Uncharted 2 aged better than I even expected. I enjoyed it more now than I did a decade ago. It’s more polished than 1, tighter than 3 and Yemen in 3 was gorgeous. Shambhala out-prettied Ubar though. 60fps w higher res’ made for a damn good rerun.
Question: When you say Uncharted2 aged better than expected, are you talking about the original PS3 game or the remastered collection on PS4. I ask because I think that a remastered version of the game would look and play better than the original.
I doubt that the original ran at 60 frames, how many years old is the remastered collection anyway.
I need to replay the original trilogy along with the collection, not a fan of the collection trophy of beating levels in a set time and don't think the originals required that for platinum.
@abnor_mal
It’s true that the remasters have upped the resolution and given it 60fps, but the base game is the same. The art design and base textures/physics/ animations are the same yet still look contemporary. More-so than UC1 which isn’t as tight, or UC3 in some cases which I found a bit clunky in close quarters.
UC2 level design was a great evolution in bringing the verticality from the jungle into rural/urban settings while maintaining smooth animation transitions. Drake still moves better than the ginger in Star Wars Jedi. Outdoor areas are better lit.
UC2 also has more action and better pacing imo, which helps when replaying a game 10 years later. Kept me engaged.
You don’t need to time trial for platinum. They stuck the speedrun trophies in a seperate extended dlc category so have no fear.
I thought the originals were good, but not great. I understand that puts me in the minority here. That said, Uncharted 4 was freaking fantastic.
Yeah I understand the hate for 4 prior to playing it I was firmly against it and felt like 3 wrapped things up already but now after playing it I think it was the best in the franchise.
Now I look back at two and I feel like I'm playing an on the rails shooter everything is so tightly scripted including the infamous train scene you simply can't make a mistake
I think Uncharted 2 is a lot like AC2. Both games took the idea and basically improved it in every single way.
Uc2, AC2,Halo2, Soul calibur 2, Killzone 2, Infamous 2 , Dishonored 2 and a few more. The only negative thing I have against uc2, and imo it annoyed me,are the blue apes, uncharted 1 handled the super natural far better.
Cultured Vultures: What's your favourite moment from the Uncharted franchise? Here are 15 that got our blood pumping.
The entire final chapter of The Lost Legacy is the best setpiece in the series and it wasn't even mentioned.
" Okay, here’s the flaws of this game"
SO yeah its a 10 alright.
Good review, however, if you have pointed out flaws, it therefore can not be a 10/10 (100%). That is mathematically incorrect.
If you look at any game that has a 10 on any website it means that there aren't enough flaws to make it anything less but perfect. Every game has flaws but if those flaws are small enough the game can get a perfect 10. A good example is GTA4, both gamespot and ign gave that game a 10/10 even though there is pop in and some of the missions are repetitive. It got a 10 because those flaws are so minuscule in comparison to everything else, it was more or less perfect.
I slightly prefer MGS4 and Bioshock to Uncharted 2, but there's no doubt it's one of the best games this gen. No doubt.
Yea was the only one a could think of that's relevent to this generation as the only games that have got across the board 10 outa 10 on the main game websites that wasn't MGS4 lol. What would you have used?