Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is a better game than
Uncharted: Drake’s Revenge. Duh, right? It should be better,
since it’s the sequel. What you don’t actually grasp until you play it,
though, is that by “better,” I mean, “this game completely outdoes
everything its already amazing predecessor did right.”
• Multiplayer: Uncharted 2 actually has online
multiplayer gameplay that perfectly recreates the single-player combat,
while offering both standard options, and unique ones (you can make
your own machinima films within the game, for instance).
• Gameplay: Uncharted 2‘s gunplay is a perfect
blend between running, jumping, and shooting, and you’re never forced
to use a stupid motion control gimmick to toss grenades or traverse a
log.
• Puzzles: The puzzles are just damn clever and, while
intuitive, will actively force you to think about what you’re
doing.
• Graphics: No series has ever rendered wet clothing
better than Uncharted, and while the overall game isn’t quite as
stunning as Metal Gear Solid 4, it’s in the top handful of
prettiest games of all time.
• Story: Imagine the best Indiana Jones film, replace
Harrison Ford with the love child of Nathan Fillion and Douglas
Fairbanks, and hire some burly security folk to keep Shia LaBeouf and
his nuclear fridge the hell away from the thing.
I could complain that the game’s narrative almost derails toward the
end thanks to some “unrealistic” supernatural enemies, but that’s so
minor that it’s almost unmentionable. After 15 hours in Uncharted
2‘s world, my only real gripe is that the game eventually ends.
Everything about Uncharted 2 will leave you wanting more. It may
lack the name recognition of Metal Gear Solid 4 or the whimsy of
LittleBigPlanet, but if Sony wants to indelibly tie a single
series to its console, it should be this one.