Uncharted: Drake's Fortune was Raiders of the Lost Ark in a videogame, it was a fresh new idea that worked brilliantly and became one of the PS3's must own titles. Now Uncharted 2 has arrived and has set to top the previous game, but will it achieve that hefty feat or will it be a Temple of Doom?
Among Thieves takes place a year after Drake's Fortune. Nathan Drake has found himself working with a couple of old accomplices, Harry Flynn and Chloe Frazer. They believe that they have stumbled across the secrets behind why Marco Polo's voyage from China in 1292 ended in disaster for all but one ship and it all points to an object by the name of the Cintamani Stone.
When the trio attempt to bust into an Istanbul museum to get more clues Drake is betrayed by Flynn and imprisoned until our old buddy Victor Sullivan comes and busts us out revealing that Flynn and Chloe both work for a man named Zoran Lazarevic which wants to find the Cintimani Stone and use its sacred powers to become the next great dictator. So its up to Drake, Sully and on occasion Elena to save the world again.
The story to Uncharted is much bigger this time round, it introduces a love triangle between Drake, Elena and Cloe as well as one between Cloe, Drake and Flynn. It also introduces a much stronger villain than last time round and takes place over several different countries rather than just one island. On more than one occasion my jaw hit the floor with amazement of what just happened.
The problem with this however is that it sets its goals too high and ultimately ends up becoming more about the love triangles than about saving the world from Lazarevic.
Character development is on show throughout the entire game, now whilst this isn't usually a bad thing it actually gets in the way of the game and stops it from becoming something greater.
The gameplay is very similar to the original game in terms of platforming and puzzle solving...although these are now much larger sections and often contain a few more explosions that before. The combat though has been vastly refined, the aiming still retains that Uncharted charm of being a bit wonky but not uncontrollable but has been made much more responsive and fluid. The cover mechanics have also been tightened up with Drake now able to get into cover from further away, switch cover on the fly much more fluidly and take cover on much more than brick walls or wooden boxes. Hand to hand combat is the biggest subject of change though, the game no longer requires 3 button combos but instead takes on a much more Batman: Arkham approach to things, with Drake now able to engage in fistfights with multiple enemies using counters & grabs. These has also been a stealth mechanic introduced into the game however when you first become apparent of this its not explained properly and isn't until much later on in the game.
The graphical standard of Among Thieves is astounding, yet again it is pushing the PS3 to its limits. It even made my fat PS3 sound like it was about to take off and fly to the moon towards the end of the game when things start getting hectic. The sound is equally as good with all previous voice actors returning to reprise their roles, plus the new ones do a top notch job alongside the previous cast. The combat sounds have been tweaked too with guns now having much more of a punch to them and melee combat having a good solid thud for each blow laid on an enemy.
So Uncharted 2 is great right? Well yes and no, remember that difficulty spike the first Uncharted had near the end of the game, well it happens in this one too, but around midway through...plus its a lot more difficult. The game will constantly punish you and punish you to the point of it feeling unfair and frustrating. On more than one occasion I had to stop playing due to it feeling as though the game didn't want me to finish it and due to this it ruins the overall experience.
Uncharted 2 is bigger and more refined in every way but due to the overly love triangle focussed story and frustrating 2nd half uncharted 2 fails to meet the standards of its predecessor overall.
By no stretch is Uncharted 2 a bad game or a bad sequel, but it is let down by a few irritating problems. It is still however a must own game for any PS3 owner.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – 8/10
+More Uncharted
+Looks Amazing
+Brilliant Once The Story Gets Going
-The Over-Reliance Of Love Triangles
-The Unnecessary & Frustrating Difficulty Spike
