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Radioactive IT Review: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Radioactive IT Review: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves | Review: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves |
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| by Mike Bantick | ||||||||||||||||
| Wednesday, 11 November 2009 | ||||||||||||||||
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 Nathan Drake is back for more rollicking adventures, destroying precious ancient artefacts and solving age old mysteries all in the name of saving the world again. Developer Naughty Dog have spent their development time well, producing yet another must-have classic for the PlayStation 3.Featured Whitepaper
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But it is Uncharted 2: Among Thieves we are here to talk about, the game that was the most awarded at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) In LA this year. And having spent a significant amount of time with Nathan Drake, his attractive side-kicks and ruthless foes, it is easy to see why the game garnered so much praise. As a single player experience, AT picks up the momentum of the originals modern take on the best Indiana Jones had to offer (you know the odd numbered movies). For the uninitiated, Nathan Drake is the hero every man would love to be, handsome, resilient, resourceful, witty and able to draw on the most obscure of historical or mythical facts during some of the most stressful, under-fire moments imaginable. As a story, like any in its ilk, the action takes Drake across a globetrotting expedition in the footsteps of Marco Polo, discover the Chintamani Stone (wish stone) and open the path to Shambhala (Shangri-La). Drake will drag old and new friends along the way attempting to thwart new and determined enemies. Naughty Dog has crafted a magnificent tale suitable to the genre, and then has managed to fill the tale with a technically masterful game with expert pacing and “can’t put down” game-play. The game looks beautiful, because the story swings through wonderful vistas such as Borneo and the Himalayan highlands there is plenty of opportunity to showcase the games engine, and it is magnificent. Villages come alive, ice-caves and snow exude environmental power, the sheen on Drake as he ploughs through a rain forest or laughingly plays Marco Polo in a roof top pool is expertly handled by the Naughty Dog artists. Couple this with excellent sound design - including soaring orchestral score -, motion capture and voice acting and the experience is compelling. And that is just the artistic side of the game; there is still the actual game-play to come. Some could criticise the [early] linearity of the “climbing” puzzles or the somewhat awkward gun-play or the simplified hand-to-hand combat moments. But the truth is, this game is the sum of its parts. The navigation moments are the puzzles sections of the game, as in the first game, where to send Nathan – despite being impossibly difficult or vertigo inducing to you and I – is usually well indicated by subtle changes to the hue of a rocky outcrop or similar. If you get stuck, the game will eventually prompt an optional hint and you will be on your way again soon after. It is rare to be without-a-clue for any extended time frame, and this keeps the adventure from bogging down.  CONCLUDED on Page 2 |
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