I think it’s fair to say that Uncharted 2, Among Thieves is one of the most hyped games to hit the Playstation 3. In the build up to release, even the most newbish among us would have been hard pressed not to have seen some kind of marketing – be it billboard posters, TV ads or magazines – it’s everywhere. The question remains “does it live up to the hype?”

The game is from the 3rd person (camera over the shoulder) action-adventure genre and the basic game-play recipe boils down to climbing, jumping and swinging through various terrains. Throw into the mix a very substantial measure of gun-play and melee combat and top it off with a dash of problem solving. The end result is a tasty morsel that should appeal to most pallets.

First and foremost it’s important to set the scene as the cinematic feel of the game is one of the areas in which this game excels. You play Nathan Drake, a treasure hunter who, although decent enough at heart, tends to mix in dubious circles and isn’t afraid to bend the occasional law. The story starts by sending you in search of Marco Polo’s lost fleet of ships because the fleet reportedly carried a massive treasure trove. However the plot is diverted and soon turns into a quest to find the fabled Shangri-la. It’s hard to cover the story in any real detail without spoiling it, and given that said story is one of the strongest aspects of the game, I really don’t want to do that. Don’t get me wrong, this is no Schindler’s List, but compared to a lot of other video games, its story is Oscar worthy.

For me, one of the most appealing elements of the game is that Nathan Drake is a flawed character. He’s not the perfect super-hero type that you never really connect with. The game manages to humanize him through story telling, superb voice acting and great in-game character animation. The developers have managed to convince you that every leap, grab and fall is only just executed safely. Nathan’s arms and legs will flail as he flies through the air, his hands frantically grasping for a hold, you hear the fear in his voice whenever he makes a perilous leap. All these factors seem to take his character down a peg or two and make him a little bit more relatable in spite of his near unrivalled talents.

Nathan Drake > Spider-Man

The control scheme is very easy to get to grips with and the melee combat system has been greatly improved since the first game in the series; Uncharted, Drake’s Fortune. You tap out punches and kicks with the square button, which will occasionally be blocked. If you are not careful, the enemy can grab hold of Nate and deliver a brutal blow. When this sort of event triggers, the game slows down ever-so-slightly to give you an opportunity to hit the Triangle button, which is your counter-attack button. When successfully executed, this looks fantastically well choreographed and is very satisfying. You are also able to execute various stealth attacks which will despatch enemies silently. The gun play is an improvement on the first game and you get a decent array of weapon types as you progress through the levels. One big issue raised by many players of the first game was that many of the enemies were “bullet sponges” – i.e. they would take a ridiculous number of shots to fell. This has definitely been improved for the sequel. There are a handful of puzzles to solve within the game that aren’t particularly difficult and in fact seem to have been put in purely to give your PS3 a bit of a breather, as Naughty Dog have produced a game that really pushes the Playstation very hard.

The Circle button gives you access to the cover system, which is essential if you play on the harder difficulty levels. Hit the Circle and you will quickly duck behind the nearest object, sometimes tipping over a desk for better cover. Once in this mode you can move around either crouched or standing tall depending on the height of your cover. Holding the circle and direction stick will allow Nate to move carefully to the next piece of the environment you can hide behind. When in cover, you “blind fire” and raise your gun above your head shooting from safety. You sacrifice accuracy but you’re much more protected from return fire.

Using X, you can jump around to your hearts content. If there is a useable hand hold within reach, Nate will grab on. From there you use the direction stick to climb or move laterally. You can also leap from hand hold to hand hold using X, a great technique for traversing some of the climbing areas quickly.

Drake looks amazing

The graphics are, in my mind, the greatest I have seen in any console game. Some of the vistas are absolutely spectacular and I have often found myself stopping just to take a look around and really appreciate the graphical beauty. For me this is best represented in the various “snow” levels. You spend plenty of time in the mountains of Nepal and the environmental effects left me breathless. It’s almost as if they have taken the time to animate each individual snow flake; making them all reactive to the environment. This comes in particularly useful when you are trying to take out multiple enemies silently without alerting the other goons. If you take some time to make careful observations, you can see tracks in the snow and use them to work out the mercenaries patrol patterns. Then it’s just a case of making your way to a quiet point on their patrol route and waiting for them to make their rounds before you pull them over a cliff face.

The game has five difficulty levels – Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard and Crushing, with the latter only unlocked if you first complete the game on Hard. Beating the game on any difficulty unlocks the benefits for beating the game on all the lesser difficulty levels, so you don’t have to go through each setting to get all the in-game medals. These medals are awarded for various in-game achievements, with some unlocking official trophies. In fact, you can get all the trophies for this game and still have a load of in-game medals to unlock. There’s a definite reward for trying to be a completionist and getting all the medals, as each one comes with a financial benefit. Each medal grants you an amount of in-game currency, which you can use to purchase perks for the single player or the multiplayer aspects of the game.

The multiplayer was something that took me completely by surprise because I honestly wasn’t expecting much from it. I thought it would be haphazardly tacked on as a sort of obligatory nod toward the growing trend of online gaming. However I was very pleasantly surprised. The multiplayer comes with various modes that can be found in a lot of online shooters. There are two teams: Heroes and Villains, who compete in matches of five vs five. The game types include:

• Plunder (retrieve treasure and return it to a safe spot before the enemy)
• Deathmatch (kill all on the opposing team)
• Elimination (like Deathmatch expect killed players do not re-spawn)
• King of the Hill (hold an area on the map for as long as possible)
• Chain Reaction (take areas in sequence)
• Turf War (hold as many areas as possible for as long as possible)

Plunder, Plunder, Plunder Cats. Hoooooooooooooooooo!

There is also a Co-Operative mode available online. Teams of three players, made up of you and two others, compete against the computer AI in either Survival mode; where you have to make it through wave upon wave of increasingly tough enemies or Gold Rush; essentially the Plunder mode, but the enemy AI is trying to kill you while you retrieve the treasure. There is more than enough content here for any online enthusiast. Just like in the single player game, you can earn in-game currency to purchase boosters to use in the multiplayer games (things like extra ammo and accuracy) or enhancements to weapons you use in the Co-Op game. You can even purchase different character skins to use online if you’re a little bored with the standard array of characters. The more you play and the more you earn, the more you level up and unlock benefits for your online character. This should provide enough legs for the multiplayer fans to run on for some time to come.

The game mechanics from the single player game transfer seamlessly into the multiplayer game, so you’ll find yourself climbing up buildings and leaping across chasms looking for a safe spot to snipe from. The level of map design for multiplayer is so good that there are no spots where you can camp safely. Each area has multiple entry and exits options, so you can be sat, taking out a couple of guys whilst someone sneaks up behind you and snaps your neck. The multiplayer has the same polish as the single player game and looks just as good, if not better than anything on the console, including Killzone 2.

The game doesn’t do anything spectacularly original, but what Uncharted does, it does spectacularly well.

REVIEW ROUND-UP

Graphics: 5/5 The best graphics I have seen on any game. It’s hard to believe that they could improve on Drake’s Fortune but they have.

Sound: 5/5 Another, best in show award here for the voice acting. The environmental sounds are exceptional as well.

Gameplay: 4/5 Not perfect, but improved on the original. There are still some times where you can get a little frustrated with the cover system. Also the puzzles seem incredibly simple and drawn out.

Longevity: 5/5 Fantastic. The single player has a huge reward system for in-game achievements that goes further than just trophies. You can unlock perks, character skins and weapons to replay the game with. The addition of a hugely enjoyable multiplayer game means this will keep people busy for a long time yet.

Overall: 5/5 Quite possibly the best game on the system. Something that I think every PS3 owner should at least play, if not own.

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If I was a treasure hunter, I would always be the last guy to raid the tomb and I’d get crushed by the over-sized rolling boulder.  Yes, I’m often the guy following behind rather than the guy out in front.  That’s why it’s probably no surprise that I have only recently played Uncharted, Drake’s Fortune but I tell you something.  I’ve not come away empty handed from the experience.
 
I became a PS3 owner earlier this year, so I have a considerable backlog of titles to catch up on.  One in particular that had been recommended to by many friends was the subject of today’s review.  Spurred on by the tidal wave of excitement that currently accompanies Uncharted 2, Amongst Thieves, I decided to pick up a copy of its predecessor and see what all the fuss was about. 
 
The game was initially released back in 2007 with a Platinum re-printing the following year.  The game is, at its heart, an action-platformer with quite a lot of gun play thrown into the mix.  The lead character, the man you control, is Nathan Drake.  A full time treasure hunter who, although an honest fellow himself, mixes in dubious circles.  The story revolves around his quest to find the lost treasure of El Dorado.  The story starts with Nathan raising Sir Francis Drake’s coffin from the depths of the ocean.  Nathan, supposedly being a direct descendant of the historical explorer, finds a clue to the location of the treasure inside the coffin.  From here on in, the story takes a dramatic turn involving modern day pirates and a chase for the treasure.  I don’t want to give anything away but the story is fantastic and everything you could want from a good adventure film.  
 
One of the first things you will notice about this single-player game are its stunning visuals.  Often, a video game review will harp on about frame-rate this, pop-in that.  Not here though.  Even the most newbish among you will see that this game is simply beautiful.  Two years on, with developments in game design progressing, the graphics still stand out as some of the best on any console.  Your character, Drake, moves in a very natural way with superb animation.  When you make a death defying leap, you’ll grab hold of a ledge at the last second and the character animation is such that there is a real level of tension accompanying the acrobatics.  Drake will stumble, frantically grab at outcrops and other desperate actions to make him feel fallible.  This is an essential balance because he is, quite clearly, the most talented free-climber ever seen.  The guy can drop twelve feet and grab a finger hold to stop him falling to his doom.  Obviously this is a super-human level of ability, but the animation makes you believe that although he’s pulling off these incredible moves – he’s only just about achieving it.  This is backed up by clever voice acting.  You hear the desperation in his voice as he “just” makes the leap to the next hand-hold. 

Spider-Drake, Spider-Drake, does whatever . . .

The actual game play is very good, but not without its flaws.  You run around, shooting bad guys, climbing walls, leaping chasms and solving puzzles.  The climbing aspect is very well executed for the most part.  As I said above, the animation and audio gives that aspect of game play a real, tangible sense of tension.  Pressing [X] and the direction you want to jump will pretty much take care of you.  Pressing [X] to leap onto a wall hold and then the left stick will allow you to climb.  Occasionally, the next grip will be out of reach and you will need to leap from hold to hold using the [X] button.  It’s all very slick for the most part.  However where it falls down is that because the scenery is so alive and vivid, it’s sometimes hard to see where you’re supposed to climb.  I spent quite a bit of time jumping aimlessly hoping to grab hold of a ledge or grip that wasn’t completely conspicuous.  An associated minor gripe is that when you do leap and whiff, the animation is a little weird.  Compared to the realism of the rest of Drake’s animation he can look like a Thunderbirds puppet when leaping against a wall for a non-existent perch. 
 
The gun play is decent with a good cover mechanic.  Pressing the [O] key will see you stick to the nearest piece of scenery.  From here you can blind fire (shooting without looking), using the R1 button.  This is often an effective technique when surrounded by numerous enemies.  When you do have a little more time to breathe, you can hold L1 down for more deliberate aiming.  You can hold two guns at a time – one pistol and one rifle as well as carrying a handful of grenades.  Some of the enemies you face can take quite a few hits to take down, unless you hit the headshot, which can be frustrating at times.

Using cover can be an essential part of the gameplay

 
The puzzle elements are sporadic and Drake carries a journal with him that provides hints and tips as to what you need to do to solve them.  The puzzles themselves are quite straight forward, but the presentation in this respect is excellent.  In fact, the whole game is superbly presented, from the simple and attractive menus, to the incredible cut scenes.  The polish the Naughty Dog (the game developers) have put into this title is very impressive.  Well, it’s time to wrap this baby up but stay tuned as I’ll have a review of the sequel Uncharted 2, Among Thieves up in the next few days
 

REVIEW ROUND-UP

 
Graphics: 5/5 Quite simply the benchmark against which all PS3 games should be judged.  Beautiful colours, vividly rendered with superb animation.
 
Sound: 5/5 A superb audio track with some of the best voice acting I’ve heard in a game as well as incredibly clear incidental audio.
 
Gameplay: 4/5 The basic gameplay is done particularly well with just a few minor gripes to detract.
 
Longevity: 3/5 This is where the game suffers.  As a single player only experience, and with 60 treasures to find in the game, once you’ve played it a couple of times, there’s not a lot to bring you back.
 
Overall: 4/5 Absolutely one of the must buy games for the system.  A few small points tarnish an otherwise magnificent game.

[starreview tpl=16]