tuck you
Even though I liked the first game, the only thing I remember about it is Drake’s sweater; it took quite a beating and still managed to have part of its hem caught on his belt. I also remember the Nazi submariner occupied by those men-creatures. Ooh, and I remember the final boss, Rico QTE.
Uncharted 2 is perhaps the only game where I can easily switch between – and enjoy, with satisfying rewards – the three approaches to combat. I can sneak around for stealth skills, squeeze the trigger or throw ow punchies. Like the rest of the game these transitions are fluid, with no added complexity to the button presses, and each approach has its benefits. With most game you’re provided a handful of ways to take down baddies yet the majority are superfluous so you end up performing the easiest one because it usually turns out to be the most efficient. In Uncharted 2 you can start off with stealth kills to lessen the baddie numbers, you can melee to conserve ammo, and you can go iron sights or fire blind. All of these are easy to perform, and each one pretty much has the same damage output; given you go for headshots, all the above approaches are one-hit kills.
The other half of Uncharted 2’s gameplay is just as entertaining. The jumps are easy to pull off, and missing one comes with barely noticeable load times and a respawn not too far away from the misstep.
gimme
The writing and performances – just as much fun as playing the game. The story is typical Baddie wants power, one man to save the day. But whatever. Execution is what’s important, and Uncharted 2 is a great escape. The banter between Drake and whoever happens to be the companion at the moment are enjoyable – like when you jump into the pool on the hotel roof. And not having the controls taken away from you during these moments are pluses. Not all conversations need to live in cutscenes.
Uncharted 2’s greatest strength is its pacing. The pattern is platforming-gunfight-platforming-gunfight. Both types of gameplay put you in interesting scenarios, mainly because the set pieces are fun to navigate and shoot through. A scene in particular: the first time you and Elena are alone. You have to jump on a post that consists of multiple signs pointing in different directions, and as you hang, baddies start pouring in from adjacent rooftops. Cover consists of the signs, where you have to constantly shuffle over and strafe to deal with the baddies coming from various directions. And this is also a great example of the game teaching you two different mechanics and combining them to give you a novel scenario; at this point you’ve already been platforming on signs, and obviously you already know how to fight. And it’s never repeated again, which makes the sequence stand out even more.
Another is a chase scene where you have to jump from truck to truck. In the hands of less proficient developers, you would be told which truck to jump on and when. For this game, your indicator is the truck on fire, and the truck you’re supposed to escape to, well, you better be looking in the right direction. It’s a frenetic sequence that doesn’t slow down to hold your hand.
And while the last boss was neither astounding or dull, at least the game ends on a humorous note – I can’t remember how the first game ended which most likely means it was either unimpressive or not offensive enough.
Actually, Uncharted 2’s last boss was a yawn-fest. The running sequence that follows – much more exciting. And it wasn’t even a QTE.
