Gameplay Impressions
Gameplay ImpressionsUncharted 2 is movie-like experience that grabs you by the scruff of the neck from the outset and immerses you totally in its stunningly detailed world. In terms of: presentation, graphical quality, story-line, audio and in-game cinematics no other adventure game has come close to delivering such a polished overall package. The treasure-hunting storyline may be clichéd but the script is in-depth, entertaining and doesn’t take itself too seriously.
The voice-acting is superb, which makes it easy to empathise with and enjoy the variety of likeable characters in the game, whereas the script, stunning in-game cinematics and the brilliant sound-track all help to deliver an all-round, highly-enjoyable videogame experience that stands on a par with any of the best adventure games out there. From the very start of Uncharted 2, when you find yourself hanging from the bars of a train that is dangling off the edge of the cliff - and you have climb up it avoiding any falling debris - there are many pulse-racing scenarios and spectacular set-pieces to enjoy. The backdrop is as good as any Hollywood movie set that you'd see on the big screen and it's clear that no expense has been spared to give Uncharted 2 the Hollywood-style treatment of big explosions, frantic car chases and intense gun battles.
Exploration is largely a joy thanks to the smooth controls and animation of Drake as he leaps and climbs his way around the incredibly detailed environments. Path-finding is occasionally an issue because everything jumps out at the screen at you and looks like it could be scalable, but more often than not they’ll only be one way to the next area. Still, the envrionments are fairly large and detailed so part of the challenge is searching for areas where Drake can move onto the next area.
The cover system works extremely well and you can switch fluidly from one piece of cover to the next, making your way toward the enemy without fear of being shot. It’s also very useful for stealth play and sneaking up on opponents for silent take-downs. Combat animation is impressive and there's a variety of times where you’ll use stealth, gun-play and climbing abilities in combination with each other to execute some impressive take-downs. Firefights can also be very intense against multiple opponents and from a distance enemy A.I. will intelligently take cover and make you work for you kills.
Click for larger imageThe platforming gameplay is very smooth with Drake gliding across rooftops, taking huge leaps of faith and swinging from pole-to-pole with the grace of a gymnast. Gameplay is broken up nicely with bouts of exploration and platforming sandwiched in between stealth and aggressive combat situations. Uncharted 2 is very well-paced. The storyline builds nicely, and the gameplay switches memento when you least expect it. You're kept on your toes and you never really know what's around the corner.
Though Uncharted 2 simply takes its inspiration from past adventure games it brings together its platforming, combat and exploration-based gameplay into one complete, tight and stylish adventure gaming package that is almost certainly going to entertain anyone who enjoys the genre. However, because it gets so many things right, its flaws unfortunately stand out. As we mentioned earlier, path-finding can be frustrating and we've spent far too much in some sections searching for a way out. Also, save points aren't as frequent as we'd like. We've spent 10 minutes or so sneaking around a courtyard, stealthily killing 5 bad guys in a row, but have then got caught by the 6th guy. We've then be thrown right back to the beginning of the scene. It's these two types of scenario that occasionally interrupt the flow of the game and take you out of that movie-like experience.
Still, we can't really complain too much. Uncharted 2 may not quite be videogame perfection, but it is a heavyweight champion in its field. The sign of a good game for us is that we don't want to put it down. As soon we started playing Uncharted 2, like watching a movie in the cinema, we were glued to our seat right up until its enjoyable finale. Along with Killzone 2 and God Of War PS3 owners now have another exclusive franchise to be very proud of.
Final Score - 9.5/10
Note: At time of writing we have not played the multiplayer component.
