Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Review

It’s been a fabulous year for Sony. Killzone 2 and InFamous were huge exclusive releases for the system, and were timed to release when Sony’s main competitor, the 360, had a wilting release of exclusives. Multi-platform games, like Batman Arkham Asylum managed competitive sales with the 360, and the PS3 topped both the 360 and the Wii in monthly sales for the first time ever. Uncharted 2 keeps up this spectacular rhythm, having released just two weeks ago.

So, why am I still reviewing it this late? Because a game like this means more than just having something awesome that you MUST play if you own a PS3. It’s even more than just a very good argument for why someone should buy a PS3 if they haven’t already.

First of all, this game really is a must play. InFamous was fantastic, but I can understand if its gritty comic style, soft-science, super hero storyline is not everyone’s cup of tea. Uncharted 2, on the other hand, is the kind of game with the kind of universally appealing story that anyone who considers themselves a gamer should not only be willing to play, but be able to thoroughly enjoy.

I’ll start with the basics: the game is gorgeous. If this isn’t pushing the PS3 to its limits, then I can’t wait to see an Uncharted 3. This game has a much brighter variety of environments than the previous installment. Whereas the original Uncharted took place largely in colonial and ancient  ruins of South America, with the only surprise environments being World War II era army bases, this one really takes Drake on something that feels like a grandiose globetrotting treasure hunt. All the environments of both games were rendered beautifully, and really were the concrete bases for the atmosphere and story of the game that made it spectacular.

Uncharted 2 starts off with a museum heist as you and an accomplice traipse around beautiful courtyards and architecture of the Istanbul museum. You eventually find yourself in Borneo, a civil war torn Nepal, snowy mountains, and all new fertile paradises that the story transitions you smoothly among  as it unfolds.

What a story too. The characters we came to know and love are well established and consistent. Even though Sully, Drake’s erstwhile companion, plays less of a role in this game, his absence is understandably consistent with the story’s theme, if not somewhat abrupt. When it’s held against the ultimate personal struggle Drake faces along with the larger conflict, it contributes beautifully.

Elena Fischer returns, separated from Drake due to dubious circumstances after the last adventure, and Drake has a new accomplice, the lovely dark haired British thief, Chloe Fraser. While there was an opportunity for Chloe to feel like just a jammed in femme fatale for the “new” Drake adventure, her character displays depth, wit, growth and importance to the story and Drake’s character that makes me sit up and hope she reappears in future installments.

The story follows the same basic premise as the first: a treasure hunt that grows in scope of the pursuit, and eventually becomes a race to prevent a mystical object from winding up in the wrong hands. This time, the revelations of the mysticism in the story are more paced and poignant with regards to Drake’s personal struggle and conflicts with the people around him. The villain is more menacing and evil rather than the previous game’s who just seemed creepy and leering by comparison. The new villain, Lazarevic is ruthless, and commands his army with strategic mastery, making this game’s sense of urgency and danger all the more legitimate.

The gameplay is almost identical to the previous Uncharted, but has been built up quite a bit in how it works and plays.  Unlike the original, enemies move with more strategy and purpose even on lower difficulties. Before, enemies would only move to flush you out and flank you on the harder difficulties. Now, even on the lowest difficulties the enemies move with that deliberate purpose.

Difficulty determines just how hard they are to actually kill (i.e. number of bullets), how smart their movements are (how well they assume and use cover), and your own resistance to their attacks. Headshots become a must in many cases because as before, you are very limited in your gun and ammo supply: one light gun, one heavy, only so much ammo for each and four grenades.

The developers did make the melee attacks much more effective. Melees use the same style as Batman Arkham Asylum: Square is attack, but should Drake need to counter, a tap of the triangle reverses so he can then launch a counter to finish the enemy off. Stealth attacks have also been improved thanks to tweaking of the enemy reactions and AI. Once the first level forces you to get the feel for them, stealth feels like a much more viable option in this game than the previous title. How often did we really get to use stealth attacks in the previous game? Somehow in the original you’d enter a room, and for no reason other than you were a certain distance in, you’d hear people yelling that you were there. In this game, if you’re careful, you can take out entire starting units in an area purely through stealth. However, it’s not calibrated to the Metal Gear Solid level of perfection. A few times I got away with moves without being spotted that were kind of unbelievable, and other times I’d be spotted, it seemed, through a wall. Luckily the cover system is just as effective and manageable as before, so dealing with the hordes of enemies and keeping yourself alive is doable.

Also, unlike the previous installment, enemies don’t seem to have that unnerving sixth sense of where Drake is. In the previous game, regardless of whether you were crouching or not, enemies would seem to know exactly where you were behind cover. This game allows you to move around and hide, should you be crouching, and flank enemies to catch them unaware. The AI’s new aggressive movements will make these kinds of strategies necessities on the Normal and higher difficulties.

Should you fail a section, the generous checkpoint system won’t have you rehashing more than is fair, and I found that should I die I was aggravated more in disappointment at myself than calling the game a cheat. One caveat, is that the cover system is a little jumpy, when you’re trying to move from cover to cover, but it’s never the kind of thing that’ll get you killed unless you panic and mash buttons too quickly since a lot of the moves are pressure and context sensitive.

In summation, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is one of, if not the best game I’ve played for the PS3. That’s a huge statement to make, especially considering where the PS3 library currently stands. However, this game, when I finished it, prompted me to put this status up on Facebook: “Who needs a fifth Indiana Jones movie when we have games like Uncharted 2?” I meant every word. The game’s story, animation and acting are better executed than most modern Hollywood popcorn flicks. That may not seem to be saying much considering the travesty that was Indy 4, but that doesn’t diminish the accomplishment. Uncharted 2 firmly places the medium where many people thought it never could reach. The Non-Player Controlled elements of the story and adventure are beautifully executed, and being offered the control of an original character who is just as likable, admirable and heroic as a classic icon such as Dr. Jones made it better than a film.

Drake’s character, his pluck, his courage, his adventure, his human insecurities and personal conflicts all beg for the comparison to that famous whip snapping Dr. Jones. When I caught myself thinking that, though, I realized I was thinking of Jones not because Drake felt like a knock off. Far from, in fact. I felt this way only because Drake was having as profound an effect and appeal to me as Indy had when I was kid, no

Simple conclusion: Own a PS3, Must play Uncharted 2. Go get it.

Score: 9.6/10

Flower Power On!

Balloo confronts Sles about missing a POWSO meeting and stumbles upon a magical new world.

Playstation 3 Slim

Rumors have circled the interwebs for the past year of a PS3 Slim in development. Recently a Japanese Economics magazine released an article stating that the Slim was already being finished up and would be announced as the Tokyo Game Show this year to start shipping in July.

This comes as a bit of a surprise considering that the slim versions of both the original Playstation and the PS2 came later in their life cycles. When one considers how long Sony has touted its beloved PS3 is supposed to last, the release of the PS3-slim comes even earlier (relatively) in the PS3’s life cycle.

While that fact isn’t enough to make me completely skeptical of the news, Sony’s patenting of backwards compatibility tech makes me think that not only is a Slim on the way, but that this new model will reincorporate the backwards compatibility oft discarded for revamped PS3 models. Considering that the PS3, sexy in sleek black though it is, is as bulky and as much of a pack nightmare as Microsoft’s original XBOX was. I’m excited at the prospect of a new PS3 model, but without a price cut, how much can a diet really provide for the ever-ailing PS3 sales figures?

New Genre, Coming Through: Welcome to the Sandbox

I’m probably one of the few people who gets a little excited when I see those survey cards inside the instruction manuals of new video games. You get to fill out the little survey, and mail it out for free (no postage necessary), content with the knowledge that you, in some small way, have influenced the video games market with your consumer data. Sue me, I’m an idealist.

They ask you how many games you buy, how often you play, and what kinds of games you like specifically. Right here, right now, I’m starting the lobby for Sandbox games being represented as their own genre on those kinds of lists. Action/Adventure represents them you say? Perhaps back before GTA III, but these days, with so many games sporting robust open worlds and the style being represented as often as it is, it has developed beyond just being a “setting” for an action/adventure title when properly implemented and utilized.

By now, the Action/Adventure genre as it is has been separated enough from Sandbox gaming because while it can be set in a “city” or open world, it very simply breaks down to: missions, goal attainment, story advancement, rinse, repeat. I have nothing against AA games, I love Uncharted and have a healthy amount of AA titles in my games library, but the idea behind them is the nature of Adventure: that you set out with a goal in mind of attaining, and with some level of freedom to deviate, it follows a linear path of progression towards that goal.

Sandbox gaming, on the other hand, is marked by the ability to provide a robust experience without a player following the narrative arc of the game. GTA IV, for example, is cited as a great example of this since many people have played this for hours without ever advancing the story. They drive taxis, earn money, buy guns and tear the world up. While they’re missing out on a brilliant narrative (the story was what really made GTA IV spectacular in my eyes), their interpretation of that particular game shows just what a Sandbox game is as opposed to just an open-world game.

Prince of Persia (2008) for example is the latter. While the game world is open and allows for free roaming, aside from the reparations the prince makes, it’s hardly a sandbox world, merely a responsive adventure world where the game relies on the pursuit of the stated goal of rejuvenating the land. Aside from pursuing light seeds, a supplemental quest that doesn’t benefit the characters other than advancing the story in some parts and being an achievement marker, there is no “sandbox” to play in. It’s a robust environment through which the player has free reign to roam about.

The genre of sandbox gaming can be defined not just by the scope of the environment, but the depth of the experience primarily. How much is there to do in the game’s setting? Are the multitude of the options superficial? Are they all requirements for narrative involvement and advancement? Or, in the case of true sandbox gaming, can the player find a unique playing experience through these elements even if they are independent of the narrative?

GTA IV manages this, as I stated before. It’s the new trend for gaming to provide an open world that not only gives the player a natural environment to make theirs, but to also make that environment realistic in its response to player actions and narrative development. GTA III did a good job of this by making your presence draw the fire of certain gangs in different neighborhoods when the story called for it. Spider-Man 2 did a decent job of this too, as the story advanced, certain enemies began appearing randomly in the streets in response to the narrative as well. The sandbox responded to the player’s actions and movements through the City. The same can be said of InFamous (if you haven’t read my review of it, you can do so here). Whether a player is evil or good affects not just the game’s aesthete, but also the City’s response to the disaster that begins the story. Does it repair itself and rise from the ashes? Or does it continue to slip further to despair? These are all affected by Cole’s powerful influence.

It says something that technology for video games has advanced far enough that we can construct complex environments for players to interact with and thusly establish an entirely new genre of gaming. That we now have a genre that has separated itself markedly from its forebear shows that the technology and medium of video games is still growing and finding its footing in the world of gaming. Am I the only one who’s excited to see the next GTA or an InFamous sequel?

Other E3 Tidbits – Where was Versus?

Square, for its big announcements, managed to shuffle some things under the rug. The Kingdom Hearts PSP game and Final Fantasy XIII Versus were no-shows. I find the latter an odd absence considering that it’s supposedly further along in development than XIII. Even the official XIII Versus site shows it off like a child of neglect next to its multi-platform sister, a status I’m sorry to see since I, personally, am more excited for it than the mainline game.

Rockstar North announced a PS3 exclusive game named Agent, to keep up the nice trend of the PS3 having some games all to itself (be ready for my review of InFamous and sister editorial on the now established genre of sandbox gaming).

Finally, PSP is being revitalized: A Soul Calibur game (with Kratos), the once forgotten Gran Turismo PSP, LittleBigPlanet PSP and the future in the form of the PSP Go. The design of the PSP Go (see attached photos) takes its cues from cell phones more than anything else, and with a 16GB flash memory drive standard, it seems like it’ll be capable of doing what it’s idealized to do. With Square also releasing the original FF VII (still no remake on the horizon), for the PSP and PSN, the PSP Go would be a wonderful machine if Sony had only hit a more ideal price mark than the current $250 tag that the Go is slated to sport.

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