Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)
Nathan Drake and the Temple of the Sophomore Effort
10/13/2009 4:45 PM | 30 Comments | Page 1 of 2
What's Hot: Excellent gunplay
What's Not: Disappointing storytelling; Tomb Raidering
Late in
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, all the gunplay and Tomb Raidering and calculated snappy banter about Chloe's ass suddenly stop. The hero strolls through a serene village. Along the way, he can pet the livestock, play with children, and watch the women go about their work. They don't speak English and he doesn't speak their language. There is no direct communication, and the game knows better than to provide subtitles. It's pure character. A village, its people and this newcomer, all bemused at each other. It's an example of how expressive Uncharted can be when it trusts its characters.
The village will shortly turn into a scripted Hollywood Spectacle
TM in which you have to run from a tank until you get to the magically spawning RPG. You'll have done this a few times already in
Uncharted 2 with helicopters -- not to mention all those Call of Duty games you've played -- so it'll be familiar territory. It's an example of how derivative Uncharted can be when it veers off into gameplay.
I don't want to be
that guy holding forth about how the original was better, but the original was better. There's a certain loss of innocence in
Uncharted 2. It's a good game, to be sure. In fact, when it comes to pure gunplay, it's the PlayStation 3's best exclusive shooter. But as a follow-up to
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, as a story about Nathan Drake, as a romantic adventure, as a series of set pieces, as a story, it's merely fair. The original game was a revelation.
Uncharted 2 is a sophomore effort.
The geometry of romance
The game attempts a new dynamic among the characters, referenced in the "Among Thieves" subtitle. The first Uncharted was a straight-up and effective "Raiders of the Lost Ark"/"Romancing the Stone" trio of a charming rogue, his plucky love interest and his loyal sidekick. But now we have a couple of clumsily drawn love triangles (a love quadrilateral?) with a side of betrayal and intrigue that never quite makes sense. Your villain today will be a bald space-marine genocider with a scarred face who surprises no one when he shoots his own henchman. Bet you didn't see that one coming! Oh, you did? Really? You can imagine how that boss fight is going to go.
Nate and Elena were memorable characters brought to life by the alchemy of Naughty Dog's uncanny animation, Amy Hennig's script and an unmistakable chemistry between voice actors Nolan North and Emily Rose. The animation is still top-notch. But Hennig's script casts too wide a net, stirring into the mix a generic hawt chick and skeezy dude. Elena doesn't arrive until about a third of the way through the game, at which point the story gets a much-needed boost. Emily Rose's voice work is unparalleled. She manages to convey an amazing amount of emotion in her voice.
Uncharted 2 is at its loveliest when it goes to town
The original Uncharted didn't globetrot, like many adventures do. But for all the distance this sequel attempts, it doesn't get very far. It basically goes from a jungle to a jungle by way of a snowy train ride. It is a great train ride, as far as videogame train rides go. But the final setting, which should have been spectacular, is as familiar as the tank and helicopter battles you fought to get there. And while I don't miss the first game's jet-ski sequences, I'm surprised the only replacement is a carefully staged "Raiders of the Lost Ark" convoy chase.
Ledge Raider
Like the original game,
Uncharted 2 is a collection of discrete types of gameplay. You have a gunfight; then you do some Tomb Raidering. Then you have a gunfight. Then you do more Tomb Raidering. The Tomb Raidering is really getting long in the tooth. Nathan Drake climbs around on unstable edifices with crumbling ledges and loosely bolted pipes. On a few occasions, he pulls a lever. Late in the game, he has to solve a few puzzles. Well, "puzzles." Like the climbing, these are mostly busywork. In fact, all the Tomb Raidering in Uncharted feels like busywork. You know Nate isn't going to fall. You know he's going to make that jump. You know his path is fixed. It's built to be a
fait accompli that Nate will reach that far ledge and walk through that doorway to his next gunfight. This is not gameplay anymore, no matter how good the animation, no matter how elaborate the textures, now matter how epic the level geometry, and no matter how faux perilous the handholds along the way. It's filler.
