Game Review: Uncharted 2

Things are looking better and better for Sony's beloved PS3 going into this year with slew of big name titles and each has been proclaim by the next PS3 lover as the second coming of Jesus. But the truth is quality exclusives on PS3 have been few and far between, even the most hyped titles such Killzone 2 and MGS 4 turned out to be garbage. So is the PS3 ever going to live up to its hype or is the ignorant community going to keep on crowning every exclusive the next Halo killer?

Incoming Uncharted 2, one of biggest PS3 titles that I was personally looking forward to. The original Uncharted was a sleeper hit when PS3 launched, and it received alot of praises from critics for the graphics and game play. Thus it is no brainer for me to check out what the fuss is about and why idiots are suddenly calling developer Naughty Dog the best thing since slice bread.

-Story

Game follows the adventure of treasure hunter Nathan Drake as he set foot on pursuing yet another artifact. But as the adventure continues Drake soon finds out the power within the artifact as he tries to stop some evil dude who has a Russian accent and unlimited supply of soldiers trying to get his hands on it. The story is pretty straight forward with few twists that you can see from a mile away, but it also reminded good old fashion Indiana Jones which is a good thing. Drake is a likable character with his charm and sarcastic comments with other characters in the game, however cheesy it may sometime be but it does make drake and most characters in the game very life like.

-presentation

The game is very good looking, there is no doubt about it. Naughty dog has really done a good job in the visual department making this one of the best looking title on any console to date. Story is told in various forms of CGI like cut scenes, that is until you realized that the cut scenes are the in game graphics! In fact the game looks so good sometimes you just want to stop and admire the environment.

-Game Play

So this game is supposed to be like what Tomb Raider was, alot of climbing, platforming, gun plays and puzzle solving...well its both true and untrue. Yes there are alot of climbing various buildings, mountains, trees alike but they all feel very scripted hence there is no way to explore but the rocks are pointing to the direction you need to go. I feel like they could have been so much more creative in this department seeing as the amount of awesome structures Drake end up climbing. As for puzzle solving I could count the number of puzzles in one hand, which doesn't necessarily mean a bad thing if these puzzles are anywhere near to the qualities one could find in other adventure game such as Soul Reaver, except these puzzles are so uncreative, uninspired, a blind folded 2 year old could solve them. Gun play on the other hand feels very solid with third person view and cover system combined with easy melee its like copied straight out of Gears of war, which is a good thing. The gun play system also makes Uncharted 2 have a pretty entertaining multiplayer mode and that's also a good thing seeing as the game is only about 10 hours long.

-Sound

I absolutely love the music in Uncharted 2, it feels right with the type of game it is and the mood of the game. The voice acting in the game is also done superbly.

-Conclusion

Uncharted 2 is a great looking game and a fun 10 hour ride all the way to the end, but it is also a prime example of what is happening to the gaming industry today. Video games has gone main stream like all other forms of entertainment and so it has been dumb down severely for the masses. The degree of easiness in this game is just absurd, Im not asking it to go where games like Soul Reaver did with puzzles around every corner and will frustrate you to no end but adventure games like this could be so much more then just a pretty face. In the end Uncharted 2 has very flashy presentation but failed miserably with the game play that has no real substance whats so ever.