Uncharted 2 is a technical benchmark in gaming that shouldn't be missed.
Uncharted 2 picks up where the first game left off, with you following the character by the name of Nathan Drake. Nathan is offered a robbery job from his friend Flint, in which he has to steal a simple object from a museum. It was all going according to plan, until Flint betrays Nathan for a bigger pay-check. Now Nathan has to find out what was behind this simple object they've retrieved, and find a treasure that has been lost for hundreds of years. It's a solid tale overall, but it's nothing we haven't really seen before. Imagine Uncharted 2 as a huge budget action movie, but where most games fail to tell a comprehensive story, Uncharted 2 does that, and more. This is only the beginning of how much Uncharted 2 gets things right.
The campaign is split up into multiple chapters that involve different objectives and set-piece moments. These objectives mainly consist of getting from point A to point B, with plenty of enemies to kill. There are also open areas that require you to clear out enemies before you can proceed. These areas are usually large, and have a lot of different places to cover from enemy fire. Each set piece encourages you to press forward, and with every enemy you kill, it really feels satisfying to advance and know that because of superb AI and clever enemy design, everything you accomplish is just that much more important. The set-piece moments are some of the best in video game history, with you climbing train cars to get further, taking down a tank, or even taking on monsters in a cave. There's a ton of variety in level structure and it never makes for a dull moment.
Platforming is also an important part to Uncharted 2. There are multiple segments in the game that require you to climb to new areas (some of which have enemies firing at you), and it adds to the sense of continuously progressing and accomplishing something. One thing that bothers me about the platforming is that some of it seems pre-scripted, and almost unnecessary. This by no means is a bad thing, its pretty fun climbing through levels that are well designed and offer amazing visuals, and most of the characters dialogue in the game is very entertaining. It's basically your downtime before you get back into the action, and it gives you a chance to just admire how amazing this game looks.
The campaign is pretty beefy, usually lasting me about 10 hours, plus there are multiple difficulty settings for those who want to get the most out of the game, and trust me, with the quality this game pumps out, chances are you will definitely come back to play through it again. You can also play through the campaign with two other people online. Unfortunately, you can only do this online; there is no split-screen multiplayer. In addition to replay value for the campaign, there are also one hundred collectible treasures that you can look for in the campaign. They range from being right in front of you to having to go out of your way just to find them. I've played through the campaign twice (working on my 3rd time), and I've only found about 50 of them. It really is one of the most complete campaigns I've ever played, and with its incredible pacing and solid gunplay, it will be really hard to stop playing.
On top of one incredible campaign, there's also a multiplayer mode to go with it, and oh boy, is it incredibly solid. It's a five on five affair through multiple game modes that each offer unique objectives for you and your teammates to accomplish. It also has a neat progression system that allows you to have multiple perks for your character to use to his/her liking. What I mean by "his/her" is that sometimes you might not even be playing as a male character, with up to 30 different skins for you to use for multiplayer to identify players easier. It has everything you would want from a multiplayer component, and coming from the first Uncharted (which didn't even have multiplayer) this really is a huge step up.
Platforming is also incorporated into the multiplayer, and since pretty much everything you do is a result of your actions, it is a hell of a lot of fun climbing around while shooting people. The maps in general are awesome. They boast great variety and sub-lime design, and they really are all fun to play. Each map has guns scattered all over, and encourage you to switch often. This brings me back to where I say that Uncharted 2 wants you to push forward and complete the task at hand, which is something that games rarely seem to do these days. You usually do things safe, while just standing in one place waiting for your oblivious AI to show up around the corner for you to massacre them. With Uncharted 2, there really is no feeling of safety, until everything is done and over with, and as a result of this, this is one satisfying game.
It's no surprise that Uncharted 2 is quite the looker, but if you inspect it carefully, it just gets even better. Not only are the environments some of the best in console history, but effects like snow and lighting are incredible. Animations are incredibly realistic, and the character models are mostly good, with a few sticking out that you won't be too fond of. The voice acting, physics, sound effects… everything is top-notch in this game, and it is a technical benchmark that most developers are still trying to beat, after two years!
Uncharted 2 is one of the best games released, ever. Hell, it's probably the best game of 2009 all together. The multiplayer is still active, and I still want to come back to it, even as I'm writing this review. And if you're not in the multiplayer crowd, the campaign is more than enough reason to buy this game. And now we wait, to see how it could possibly get better at the end of 2011 when Uncharted 3 is released. All I can say is, I couldn't possibly think of anything crucial that could've been improved upon from this game.
Review by Cal Burkhart