Review – Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Platforming, 3rd Person Action

Any excuse to use a picture of Claudia Black.

Mark

It’s all to easy today to compare games with movies now with the two media forms becoming more and more like each other. Games are evolving and finding better ways to show exposition as cut scenes and movies seemingly dumbing down to become a non-stop orgy of explosions and smarmy one liners thanks to hacks like Michael Bay. So when people say games like Tomb Raider and Uncharted are just “ripping off” the Indiana Jones films it pisses me off, why? Well the Indy films are just “ripping off” the Republic serials from the 40s and 50s who in turn where taking their queues from radio shows like The Shadow and pulp comics like Doc Savage who stole from the books of H. Rider Haggard, so on and so on.

The best train level since GoldenEye.

So yes you’ll feel a sense of déjà vu playing Among Thieves with the Turkish chapters having a real Topkapi feel with later levels in Borneo and Nepal both evoking cinematic moments from movies gone by and maybe even the odd videogame moment or two: A Hind-D…?  Anyway that’s enough with all the reference bollocks let’s get on with telling you why Among Thieves is going to win every Playstation 3 game of the year award going.

After a quick in medias res opening set aboard a wrecked train (see the video below) and some flashbacks the story begins with Drake teaming up with a pair of fellow treasure hunters (read: thieves) Flynn and Chloe to acquire a lamp from a Turkish museum at the behest of Flynn’s mysterious employer. Flynn’s your stereotypical English rogue and Chloe a feisty Australian voiced by Farscape babe Claudia Black and both help out in their own ways with Flynn being just as adept as Drake at scaling walls and leaping from rooftops with Chloe providing the darkness needed to sneak past the many security guards between Drake and the museum tower.

This opening section acts as a tutorial for new players and a good refresher for veterans returning that’ll soon have you hanging from pipes, hunting for alarm switches and shooting security guards with a tranquilliser pistol. The action is seen from an over the shoulder 3rd person view with you able to move Drake around with all the jumping, rolling, ledge grabbing and shooting you’d expect with the controls feeling slightly tighter than before which helps cut down on stealth mission failures and unexpected plummets off small ledges when the Dualshock 3 analogue sticks won’t take the hint. Other small improvements include a few new jumping animations that sell the whole ‘oh ssshhhiiitt’ felling you’ll get when making a life or death jump from one exploding building to another or when fleeing a gang of armed thugs armed with laser sights that track your every move forcing you to dodge and weave around the scenery to avoid a bad case of lead poisoning.

Headshot in... 3... 2...

The theft of the lamp leads to Drake’s betrayal by Flynn and Drake ending up spending a few months in Turkish prison before being sprung by long time ally Victor ‘Sully’ Sullivan from Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. With revenge in his heart he’s free to pursue Flynn who’s now on the trail of Marco Polo’s treasure fleet with the clues gotten from the lamp. Clues that lead to the fleet’s location that disappeared after finding the mythical city of Shambhala or as you might know it Shangri-La. Before long Drakes in the jungles of Borneo where the treasure fleet ran aground raiding Flynn’s digging sites with Sully providing backup firepower and Chloe leaving explosive charges while she keeps tabs on Flynn.

The Borneo sections are where the game really hits its stride with the platforming sections being interspersed with hectic firefights where you take on groups of well armed and trained mercenaries. You’ll fight them off with a simple semi-auto pistol to start with but soon over a dozen types of firearms are available such as assault rifles, shotguns and grenades are all added into the mix with each handling differently be it how much damage it delivers, the effective range or even the amount of recoil it has. You can run and gun without accurate aiming but you’ll soon learn that using cover and taking a well placed headshot with a simple pistol is preferable to firing hundreds of rounds of machine-gun fire against the well armoured foes who’re prevalent in the game. Sure it can be frustrating to empty a clip into a guy without little effect but as with most games it comes down to this… Headshot: those that can do those that can’t bitch.

Later levels mix things up a little with some areas being combat or platforming heavy but if you’re fleeing down an alleyway shooting at a runaway truck in a war torn city or climbing up a snowy cliff face on the other side of the world you can be assured everything looks and sounds amazing. Drake’s Fortune wasn’t a slouch in the presentation stakes and Among Thieves surpasses it to such a degree that if you said it was the best looking console game out today I wouldn’t argue with you. Every chapter is rendered in painstaking detail with lush tropical jungles, eastern temples filed with gold leaf statutes lit by flickering candlelight or icy caverns that felt so cold I was shivering in a room that had a TV, PS3 and laptop all running in.

Mafro Secondary Review One of the main problems with the first Uncharted game – and the one that irritated me the most – was the bullet-sponge enemies soaking up entire clips before dropping. So what do they do in this sequel? Dress them in full body armour, thus making things even more annoying. The combat is competent, but given the high quality of the rest of the game, it’s just not quite as good as it should be. Thankfully, the platforming is as good as ever. While not as tight as the Prince of Persia Trilogy, for example, traversing the environments is certainly among the game’s many high points. Despite the rather linear nature, the levels are much more expansive and detailed than before. It is rather selective when it comes to which pieces of scenery you can and can’t interact with, but this results in casually guiding you along the correct path. The whole “summer blockbuster” feel of the story and presentation is one of the best things about Uncharted 2. Nathan Drake & co. are as charming as ever, and the dialogue between them is as witty as ever. For the most part, it’s perfectly paced and some of the set-pieces are truly outstanding. The diverse locations, Nepal in particular, outdo it’s predecessor. Drake’s Fortune was undoubtedly one of the best looking games around, but Among Thieves surpasses it. A special mention must go to the multiplayer. It may have seemed an odd inclusion when it was first announced, but it is surprisingly fun. It almost plays like a faster-paced Gears of War, but without the cumbersome movement. Much like the step-up in quality from Gears 1 to Gears 2, Among Thieves improves on its predecessor in almost every department and is among the best games the PS3 has to offer. Secondary Score: 8/10

The sound is just as impressive with none of the sound effects or foley sounding stock or fake and the orchestral themes being as anthemic and catchy as anything by John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith. The main theme in particular is so rousing that hopefully in years to come it’ll become as synonyms with Nathan Drake as the Raiders March is for Dr. Henry Jones Jr. and the aural treats don’t there as the voice work is also first rate with the aforementioned Claudia Black elevating the part of Chloe Fraser from mere love interest come sidekick to a living character who’s fate you actually care about rather than only being the chick you have to drag around and save when things start to go wrong. Nolan North once again excels as Drake although having played this, Shadow Complex and Freedom Fighters in less than a month have left me a little worried about his range of accents with each game having identical vocals.

The only bad bits that you’ll find will be the occasional scripted event where either dumb luck or repeated replays are required for you progressing hazards like past collapsing floors or oblique boss fights where you can’t attack the boss before the game says you can. Thankfully such moments are few and far between with most of the game being clear about your objective without signposting clues too much or offering hints before you’re ready to concede and hit up game FAQs.

To be honest I’m starting to quibble now as every part of this game is pure class, even the multiplayer mode is well implemented and balanced compared to many games today that seemingly tack on co-op play and basic (read: shit) deathmatch modes to appease whiney bitches who can’t appreciate how hard it is to craft a satisfying single player experience that’ll keep you gripped from start to finish. The maps and game modes offer a range of play rarely outside of multiplayer only fare or games that try to fabricate a satisfying single player experience but have obviously shot their wad on the multiplayer aspect of the game. Yes Killzone 2 I’m looking at you, you dull brown/grey borefest.

Like I said PS3 game of the year without a doubt. Sure overhyped borefests like Killzone 2 or inFamous can try to lay claim to the title but when you’ve got a game as strong as this without having to carp on about its exclusivity or gameplay features only possible with Blu-Ray/Cell processor/Sixaxis (delete as applicable) you know you it’s not just a great PS3 game but a great game in anybody book, format be damned. Personally I can’t wait for the next inevitable instalment in the series as Naughty Dog have shown before with Jak and Daxter they know how to improve a franchise not just for its own sake but to make better games that will stand the test of time just like I know Uncharted 2: Among Thieves will.

Rating:

9/10