I read through most of the comments after beating the game, and you know what? The review is right on the money. Yes, the characters are as good as ever, yes, the setpieces are still awesome, and yes, there have been several tweaks made to the engine (you can have more allies assisting you in gameplay, the graphics are sharper, the environments are more expansive).
However, Among Thieves took the original game (which was very good), added a spit-shine polish, totally boosted the gameplay, selection of weapons, a full multiplayer mode, lots of hidden secrets, treasures that felt like they mattered, a plot that upped the stakes, a villain who was a complete monster, compelling new side characters - in short, it codified everything great about adventure games, and became a pinnacle of the genre as a result.
Drake's Deception had a lot to live up to, and in that regard, it tries way too hard, almost to the point of ridiculousness. The setpieces have become completely madcap. After the fifth time a ladder/pipe/walkway I was climbing broke in half, I just about swore at the screen. Not only that, but several of Thieves' interesting mechanics are missing - Drake originally checked items, high locations or switches to aid other characters getting up to him easier (i.e. hitting a ladder for Elena to climb up, assisting her with operating a device in tandem). In this, almost all the characters can do the same things Drake can - Sully can clear ridiculous jumps without missing a beat (he and Drake outrun both a collapsing chateau and collapsing city breaking apart beneath their feet), while Elena has somehow gotten absurdly powerful (to the point that she can take on multiple enemies by herself).
Nathan may as well be called "Calamity Drake" for all the improbable shit that happens to him in this game. Not to mention that it suffers from "cutscene power to the max" - you can plow through twenty or thirty mooks, but the second one of the lead villains pulls a gun on you, the main characters give up.
Marlowe and Talbot are nothing compared to Lazarevic from Among Thieves. Lazarevic shot a hostage Nathan was trying to use as leverage, compared himself to Pol Pot and Hitler, had no qualms about executing people once they outlived their use and was willing to steamroll and execute an entire village for one man. By comparison, Marlowe whines about how Cutter "wasn't supposed to kill" Drake and Sully in the opening, prefers mind-games (most of which Drake either rejects or just laughs off) and ends up dying in a pitiful fashion. Not only that, but the previous game gave us an awesome (if ridiculous) controllable battle against Lazarevic. U3's endfight is mostly a quicktime event. Not only that, but there's a polar difference between both games - in Among Thieves, you were always one step behind Lazarevic. In Deception, you're usually one step ahead of Marlowe.
There really aren't any "breather" moments in Deception - you always feel like you're being pushed towards the next objective, and that there's no time to simply stop, walk around and take in the sights. That's why the village sequence in Among Thieves (where you can just walk around and interact with the villagers) always felt so powerful - you made a connection with the people you had to save later in the game. The entire middle-third of the game is basically one long chase sequence (get information before Marlowe does, escape soldiers, escape Marlowe, chase Talbot, chase a pirate - yes, the desert sequence is amazing, but it still feels like a race against time to find water before you die. All of Deception's breather moments happen in all-too-brief cutscenes. There's no flexibility, either - when you want to go fast and activate an object, you have to wait for characters to finish their speeches about the room/area you're in. When you want to slow down after a huge mission, there's no time because it's either a chase sequence or scripted event.
The linearity is noticeable because many of the areas appear to be smaller than the previous game. With the exception of the chateau and the desert, many of the game's setpieces are set in cramped spaces (villages, towers, an airplane, temples).
In addition, the game is more of a father-son tale between Drake and Sully - to the detriment of the returning and new supporting characters. Chloe is back for more "men are pigs" witty dialogue, but she doesn't grow or change in any conceivable way. Cutter was a very cool addition to the cast (he got one of the few "fuck yeah!" reactions from me when he bluffed Talbot and told the team to escape), but he's gone by the second half, and the sheikh who takes his place is never developed or characterized - he's just window dressing to get Drake to and from his destination.
Also, Elena and Drake apparently married, had adventures and separated between games - it would have been nice to have more time to develop their relationship (again) than the last third of the game.
The stakes weren't high enough in this game - in Among Thieves, you had to stop a general before he became invulnerable. In this, you have to stop a woman who wants to control people with hallucinogenic water (and this is accomplished in a cutscene).
I get where the reviewer's coming from - yes, it's a very good game, but it "up the stakes" like the previous game did, and in a fall/winter full of triple AAA titles, it fell a bit short for me.
