AMAZING!
Now Naughty Dog returns to the spotlight with Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Both expectedly and amazingly, Naughty Dog has indeed bested Nate's first adventure and has created a sequel that is not only bigger and better in practically every way, but also packs a multiplayer component that could be released as its own separate, full-priced game and people would stand in line to hand over their cash.
Yes, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is fantastic.
Click the image to watch our in-depth video review.
Trying to remain as spoiler-free as possible, I'll just say that the story starts off about a year or so after the events of the first game and begins with Nate and a few fellow thieves working on finding Marco Polo's lost treasure fleet. Of course, things aren't quite that simple and the cast winds up going on a much grander adventure, one that takes them half-way around the world.
That's about as far as I want to go with the storyline, though some of the trailers out there actually reveal a little more than that. The important part here though is that this game doesn't just take place on a single island and instead changes locales a handful of times over the course of the adventure. The result is that the pacing feels better and faster, and even though you're technically doing the same sort of shooting, climbing and puzzle solving throughout the game, the different ways the scenes are presented gives Among Thieves a greater sense of gameplay variety than the original.
The great storytelling extends to the character development, which has been turned up a good notch or two. Almost everyone with more than two lines of dialogue has an interesting reason for doing what they're doing (though the main bad guy is just bad), and the way that everyone interacts with one another is realistic and interesting. Almost every character is unpredictable in some way, but not in a forced or unnatural manner.
The story itself twists and turns throughout the course of the game, as you might expect, and for the most part it's a solid tale. Nate and his pals go through a lot, so it does a good job of reeling you in and keeping you hooked until the end.
While I'd say the story is quite good overall, I wouldn't say that it's perfect. Without giving anything away, while most of the story has solid footing in real-world lore and legend, it does start to veer away from this at some point in a way that could have been handled better. Still, it's told very, very well through the use of fantastic cutscenes and acting, and will keep you guessing at what'll happen until the very end.
The graphics. Holy crap... the graphics.
As for the gameplay itself, Uncharted 2 -- like the original Drake's Fortune -- tasks you with gunfights, environmental navigation or puzzle solving. While a lot of the mechanics are identical to the first title, everything has been blended together a little better, especially the combat and navigation.
This is in large part due to the settings that you'll fight in. Whereas the first game generally had you walk into an area with lots of cover, set up behind a wall and then take guys out as best you could, Uncharted 2 offers a lot more variety and options in how these sequences play out thanks to the fantastic level design. Rather than fighting on flat ground, almost every battle scene features multiple levels and areas to use to your advantage. If you want to stay on the ground and take guys out the old fashioned way, you're more than welcome to. But you can also climb to higher ground and use height to your advantage, or flank the enemy by moving from cover to cover and changing your tactics as the battle unfolds around you. While the game is still very much a linear tale, taking you from point to specific point, you're offered many more options in how you approach and deal with battles.