Review and thoughts by a Newbie
I came into this game with very very high expectations. Hard not to when the whole Playstation community almost unanimously ranks this as one of, if not the number 1, best game from the PS3 era. You know it's funny too. I'm such a story driven guy and always complained as I played games on my 360 back in the days that not enough games had well written stories. Never did I expect that I'd find a series that would give me that in a package of the best of Indiana Jones in video game form.
Uncharted 2 did not disappoint. It was a masterful ride in an epic adventure that spawned many hours, and it managed to stumble not too often to the point it became annoying. As always I won't really discuss the characters or plot as those have been discussed to death since PS3, so onto the game itself:
The temples and puzzle sections were of course the highlight. The one in the snow was my favorite because of just how fucking big it was. Then comes the one with the giant
as I really enjoyed figuring that one out. And of course the fire/earth/air/water one was fun too (though I felt stupid when I finally figured it out took me too long).
When I started the game I was saying that I enjoyed the shooting of the first game more due to the enemies' stagger if you miss the head by an inch making them jiggle their head around all over the place but after beating the game I take it back. The shooting felt more solid, it required more strategy (the AK-47 sucks ass in this game with accuracy) and it felt tighter in variety. Having said that though, there are three aspects of the combat the bother me a lot:
1. Just how much combat there is. I mean yeah it's a third person shooter but it feels like Naughty Dog is selling themselves short with how fun their puzzles can be at points. I wish the games, both UC1 and this, had less combat than they currently do. It's a pain in the ass playing on hard and reaching an arena with wave after wave after wave of enemy. This was especially bad in Shambhala when you enter
and there's a massive firefight going on. I swear to god I must've killed about a 100 enemies because they kept spawning and spawning and spawning. I ran oyt of bullets and had to pray to God as I jumped around grabbing weapons in the middle of enemies and it's a miracle I didn't die. That wasn't fun. In fact these encounters would be better if they weren't so obvious all of the time. If the map starts opening up, you see cover everywhere and weapons scattered around the map be prepared for like 15-20 minutes of dealing with wave after wave of enemies.
2. The AI. Now the AI isn't the worst by any means compared to other series, including big ones, but it has issues. Enemies should know better than to pop their head out in the exact location I've been attempting to shoot at them. They should know when they have an advantage and rush at me together instead of letting me pick them off easy. And if you're an armored guy and are approaching me with a shottie and I'm spamming grenades in your direction, not to mention aiming at your head with a long range weapon from like WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY down your direction at least attempt to take some cover man. Or fucking serpentine what do I know. Have some regard for your life, I'm sure you have family.
3. I appreciate reaching harder enemies but fuck off with those bullet sponge bosses/enemies. No seriously that shit isn't fun or clever, just annoying.
Moving away from combat the visuals were spectacular especially when you consider it still blows away many games that are being released now, and it's only a remaster of a last gen game. The argument can be made that linear games have this advantage, but still give some credit over how much effort was put into it.
The platforming was better than UC1's, which is a given but still not perfect. Sometimes you have to aim for a very particular narrow wall or roof/platform and you miss due to jank. Jumping was better though. But the game needs to work on sections where you have to find a way to climb being better. So many times the shit you had to do it's like completely out of the box and you can't figure it out and then the game outright tells you "do this shit" and points the camera at it. Hint system should be an actual hint not the answer outright unless you request it.
I loved everything having to do with the train level, and like I said previously, the tibet snow temple and everything you had to do.
Having played 1 and 2 back to back can I say that, while it doesn't bother me as I enjoyed these aspects in the Indiana Jones movies, the way the games are paced so far is starting to be noticeable? And what I mean is how the plot is unfolded. I won't get this accurately likely as I just beat the two games but it seems to be something along the lines of:
Like I said it probably isn't accurate but the part that was really noticeable is the magical creature introduction at one point. Realistically these temples and mechanisms wouldn't be constructed without SOME sci fi or fantasy elements involved and I get that, but it goes a bit too far with the creatures at points. I'm waiting for Uncharted 3 to have like angels and unicorns.
Now comes the part I tell you guys that as someone BRAND new to the series who just played 1 and 2 back to back, y'all are exaggerating how bad UC1 is. It's not bad by any fucking means. It's basically the low budget movie that becomes hugely succesful and then the next film int the franchise gets like all of the money and it's this huge epic with amazing ratings so people who haven't seen the first in a while and/or already have built bias immediately start remembering the first as being horrible. It's not. You can see where they improved the game in many aspects but that's to be expected from a brand new series in a developer who had never ventured into these territories before. I can only imagine how mechanics are even better in UC3 can't wait to play.
In summary UC2 gets a
9.5/10 (for comparisons sake I gave UC1 like an 8.5/10 I believe). Unlike UC1 I could've seen myself paying like 30-40 for this game and not regretting it though. So to think I got it for like 20 bucks a game, it's a good sale to me.
Onwards to Uncharted 3. I know many fans were disappointed with Uncharted 3 after Uncharted 2 so I'll be going as unbiased as possible and see if the complaints hold up.
