Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Review
January 3rd, 2015
This
review is going to be over Uncharted 2 but I suggest you read the Uncharted 1
review first if you haven’t as this is more or less an extension to that one.
This 2009 sequel to Sony’s flagship series has been universally praised as one
of the greatest games of all time with nearly every gamer I’ve ever heard talk
about it calling it a huge improvement over the first. I tend to disagree with
both of these claims for reasons I’ll crack into but for the most part I’m just
establishing I went in with very high expectations not by my own doing but by
the hype around the series itself and this game’s status as the crowning glory
in it. After all, the next title Drake’s Deception has been almost universally
panned, not on Splatterhouse levels, but I’ve heard they fucked up somehow so
for me that’s a bit frightening considering the revisions needed in this game.
In my
first review I mentioned that the platforming bugged me and everyone assured me
it improved to perfection in this game. I simply do not agree, it’s still a
major pain in the ass to find where you need to go and what you can jump on.
Again I’ll mention what is the challenge other than a cheap death of “oh guess
I wasn’t supposed to jump there” and the trial and error gameplay present. I
still think it’s a cool gimmick but it has not been more than slightly refined
for this title which led to a ton of stupid and frustrating deaths and even
some legit rage at points when I was clueless as to what to do. I feel that the
platforming is less intuitive and much cheaper than in the first title as now
they tease you with short jumps that kill you and hard to see objects to climb
on. Shout out to that neat fight where you’re on a billboard and you have to
mange to kill all those guys, that was inventive. The train segments and car
hopping also stick out to me as good. So I’ll say for me, I just don’t think
I’m a fan of the Uncharted series’ platforming. Since this is a major part of
the gimmick of these games, essentially we’re left with a story driven treasure
hunt that is a solid third person shooter.
In terms of combat, the one gripe I had still
exists majorly here. I was also told they’d ironed out the cover mechanics for
this game and while it may be slightly better, I’d desperately try to cling to
walls or duck at times and would get hit hard for lack of being able to do so.
I know I’m spoiled by that near perfect control of The Last of Us where you can
essentially duck everywhere but it’s really still a legitimate problem here.
The stealth is a lot better though and the game definitely seems to be tooled
more around it so props to Naughty Dog for fixing that. Other than that
everything is similar with new weapons like the chain gun and crossbow being
awesome. Overall, most of the good parts were carried over but that cover
mechanic really hurts my enjoyment at some points.
The
story this time was trying to be bigger but in my opinion really didn’t grip me
as much as the first one. Not only did (spoilers) Drake not walk away with
anything other than saving the world kind of by destroying the “stone” (really
just a sap that makes you marginally stronger) but it never amounted to much
more than that. In the first game there was the angle about those experiments
in that awesome segment where it turns into survival horror for a second and
while this game tried that with its orc looking people it just didn’t seem as
cool. All the characters are back though with some new ones and their all fine
but there’s nothing too deep here, it’s an action game after all. I give it
credit for trying but I definitely enjoyed the pay off of the first one much
better rather than getting gyped here in terms of payoff treasure wise. While
the story is nothing special, it’s decent enough.
The
atmosphere, while being much more dark and tonal here, is really brilliant in
its own regard. Winter is a cool sort of appearance to have in games and wile
games like The Last of Us blew this winter segment out of the water, it’s still
really spectacular when put in the context of its time and still looks really
good today. At points I had to sit back and remind myself I was playing a game
and that some guy programmed all these areas which is a great testament to how
good it looks and feels. This also works against it in the sense that I remember
that some asshole programmed a ledge or a platform to be so well hidden that
I’d search for it forever but I’ve already been over that. The music is still
top notch which is a major plus because I really appreciate that stuff. Good
work there.
So
where do I stand on this supposed masterpiece? I just didn’t like it as much as
the first but I can kind of see why some might. For me, what’s broken generally
remained broken. Fixed stealth aside, the platforming is still not for me as
it’s frustrating and at times cryptic. The story was lacking and while I
enjoyed the characters it was nothing too special. The combat, while a bit stilted by the cover
system at times was still rather enjoyable. The atmosphere was great but an
obviously stark contrast at points in terms of colors to the darker winter vibe
which is fine, I just prefer the jungle and ruins of the first. When it comes
down to it, it boils down to a very solid fun, but just sequel as hell
experience for me. It’s more Uncharted and if you like the first, it’s likely
you’ll love this one. I’m in the minority that honestly thinks the first one
had more personality to it but it doesn’t detract from this being a pretty good
title with problems. I’m surprised it doesn’t bother anyone but me and I
suppose the controls were probably state of the art for their time but nowadays
we’re spoiled and it’s hard to go back sometimes. Regardless, this title earns
a 7/10 for me. A good title but I weirdly prefer the first or God give me the
Last of Us over both any day!
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