Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is a game that is well-worth the wait that fans of the game had to endure. Everything that Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune was, Among Thieves is tastefully more.
The plot takes place two years after the first game’s events. Nathan Drake finds himself on the track of Marco Polo, the merchant explorer, and of course, the mystery in this tale revolves around what happened to Polo’s fleet of 14 ships, which seemed to simply disappear. As is the undeniable nerd that is Drake, he quickly finds himself pin-pointing what actually caused said fleet to vanish: the Cintamani Stone, tucked somewhere in Shambhala, and rumored to bestow invincibility upon its owner. Now of course, there’s a psychotic villain thrown into the pot, a couple of old friends, and Elena. Initially, Nate teamed up with his friend Flynn and his girlfriend Chloe. There’s a lot of deception and betrayal added as spices to the mix, as well as some pretty intense moments towards the end.
The game play is almost identical to that of Drake’s Fortune, and the lovely game interface does little to dull the lush graphics of the game, which is, I often find myself repeating, is a nice thing, but is to be a given for any current generation console. I am not saying that graphics equal style, however, as anyone who would spew such nonsense is a babbling simpleton.
Stealth plays a bigger role in this installment of the series, since you are often given the opportunity to sneak around enemies and take them out in what is understandably as quiet of an order as possible instead of simply having a cut-scene end and finding yourself in the line of fire.
The rushed concept of knowing that you will run out of ammunation if you stay put in one place has been given a seamless edge, in that some enemies will move directly towards you, thus quick thinking in such an elaborately designed environment, which gives you an array of options to choose from, is necessary. There is never a dull moment. You will literally find yourself avoiding up to three snipers at a time while trying to traffic your way around a guy decked in the most protective gear that requires a whole lot of your precious ammunation to even pierce it, while being aware that there are some creepy humanoid monster types hot on your trail.
Oh, and you’ll need to take down a helicopter or two. No big deal.
Don’t worry about it too much, through parts of the game, you’ll have a faithful ally or two helping you even the odds.
That’s not to say that there isn’t much exploring to do in the game, since there’s a quenching amount of that indeed. Puzzles naturally make a return in Among Thieves, and as usual, Nate’s trusty handbook full of his nerdy, dorky notes is readily available. You will find yourself matching markings while needing to climb across ruins like a good little hero.
You’re also able to use the environment to your advantage as you scape your way through third world countries in Asia, their cities, ruins, and what is hidden in between. Naturally, you will also find the ocassional treasure (101 if you’re after them all) so there really is a lot to do. The game play is varied, but homogenous, making the overall product another staple of what a good action game is capable of being. You’ll be able to use grenades to take out up to four enemies at a time, use a grenade thrower, an RPG-7, a variety of pistols, machine guns, and your bare fists. You can literally just shoot your way through, or sneak your way through most of the combat situations. Let me make it clear that the sneaking after the introductory portion of the game is optional, and the choice is yours in how you wish to clear your way to Shambhala.
There are more characters in this game than there were in Drake’s Fortune, besides just Sully, Nate, and Elena. Flynn, an old friend of Nates makes an entrance, as well as his girlfriend Chloe. There’s a lot of deception that takes place, which I won’t ruin for you if you haven’t played the game, but once you reach the climax, as well as conclusion of the story, you may be as surprised as I am at how such a bare forumla was turned into quite the thrilling tale. I was rooting for Chloe, to be honest, simply because sarcasm is hilarious.
The game provides more history about Drake, introduces his ideals in a more focued scope, as well as how despite his giving a convincing act about being a two-dimensional character, is actually the ideal hero. It’s funny to see him interact with other characters, gain an insight about their personalities too. The villain, Lazarević, is unfortunately a bland protoype of what a villain is: rash, merciless, and brutal-then again, maybe they needed to make him so horrible to make Nate look so good. Oh snap.
I didn’t spend too much on the online mode, except to say that I tried one of the co-op campaigns, against the CPU, with two allied players and it was as much fun as the people you’re playing with are coherent human beings. Yeah… I’m certain that the player-versus-player aspect of the online mode is amazing, since if it’s anything like the story’s game play (and it is, according to my co-op game) that should be hours of fun once you complete the game.
Logevity? Simply yes. I look forward to revisiting the game in a couple of weeks, and trying a more subtle approach to the combat, since I literally took no prisoners and just shot anything and anyone as soon as the cut-scenes ended. I’m e-trigger-happy that way. …I wanted headshots, also. This game is just awesome to sit and play if only for the fact that it is easily one of the most exciting adventure games out there right now, and probably, for a long time.
One thing that I particularly liked about the game was how Sony kept what worked from Drake’s Fortune, and added to what was lacking: it’s still an amazing action-adventure, and there’s no repetition worth mention in terms of the typical shoot and duck approach. I really hope that they keep this pattern of games up, and if this is one of the best games that they’ve got, I look forward to future exclusives.
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