Uncharted 2: Among Thieves review

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Review

Whenever I hear the phrase “cinematic” when used to refer to a game, the first thing I think of is cutscene riddled shit that covers the screen and makes me want to kill every member of the fucking development team for being so fucking stupid and pretentious.

Here's looking at you, kid...

And then there are games like Uncharted, which feature the similarly mentioned “cinematic” malarkey but have just enough gameplay to were it's tolerable but ultimately ends up dragging down the rest of the experience.

The game stars Nathan Drake, wise-cracking, Hollywood hero number 396,000 who goes with plucky sidekick to find...you know-what, just go and watch any one of the first three Indiana Jones movies. If you're already familiar with them, that pretty much sums up the entirety of the plot of Uncharted. It's your basic adventure movie plot featuring all of the standard character types. If it sounds like I'm being unenthusiastic, it's because none of the characters have anything major that separates them from stuff we've already seen before. Are they entertaining to watch and well-performed? Most definitely. The problem these leads to, however, is that it results in them coming across as incredibly forgettable.

Seriously, this is more interesting at times

Mind you, probably the most interesting character was the villain, Lazarevic, whose every scene is pure gold for how he eats up the scenery with his mere presence.

“I AM SURROUNDED BY TRAITORS AND FOOLS!!”

Gameplay on the other hand fares much better. The gunplay is your standard cover-based shooting mechanics, running behind walls, and then popping enemies when they reappear. It's functional overall, though it can get especially tiresome after awhile. The real star of the show, however, is the presence of the platforming sections. These sections can involve anything from jumping from truck to truck while under enemy fire, to escaping from the burning wreckage of a train. All-in-all, as much as I may find the gunplay to be tedious and uninteresting, the set pieces easily dominated the game in terms of enjoyment.

Screenshots don't do it justice.

The game's pacing is also done incredibly well. Whereas many games within this genre feel the need to hammer in set piece after set piece, this game really isn't afraid to let you wind down after some of the more action heavy scenes, whether it be in the form of a puzzle, a platforming section in a calming environment, or petting a yak. It all helps to make a fluid and fun experience.

Embrace your inner yak.

Having said that, there is still one major problem I have with this game and that ties back directly into the story: a video game is not the same thing as a movie. This is especially evident in the way that enemies just seem to appear in every specific patterns and clusters in areas, which would make sense if it were a movie, but here it feels a bit out of place. Furthermore, the way the events go along is at a very limited pace preventing proper characterization from ever occurring. Finally, the game is just scared of you getting distracted. Several times throughout my experience I felt like I was being railroaded along, even when it came time to allow for more freedom such as in the aforementioned puzzle sections. It got so bad to the point where the game would literally tell me what to do if I was taking too along. Near the end, I had one puzzle telling me to turn the godforsaken bell right as I was in the middle of turning the fucking thing because the game was afraid I had dozed off for more than five seconds or because, I was using my goddamn brain!

What Naughty Dog thinks of you

In the end, the best description I can give is flawed, but enjoyable. The game suffers from wanting to be a movie and a simplified challenge, but at the end of the day, it's just fun. Definitely worth picking up if you want something exciting play, though I can't guarantee the story or characters themselves will be too memorable.