Uncharted 2 First Play Impressions
Uncharted 2 is to PS3 what Golden Eye was n64, or Halo was to Xbox. It’s a platform exclusive that raises the expectations of a console game, or any game for that matter.
No other current gen blockbuster has captured my imagination like this or had me playing all the way through to the end. I’ll get this out the way the single player adventure is linear, and i am an adulent fan of linear games as opposed to sandbox style games, as i like being taken through a structured and directed experience as it give me an insight into someones vision with tighter control.
Naughty dog took a risk with the new IP but capaitalised on the lack of really great games at the systems launch. As it stands Uncharted 1 was one of the prettiest titles at the PS3 launch. Leveraging this the team have gone and over delivered in terms of graphics, everything is normal mapped to such a high level, theres impressive weather physics from bloom, to snow weight and density models, and water affecting the cloth physics of the characters. Even depth of focus on the gun sight! something I didn’t even notice until recently, but small touches just add to the cinematic experience.
Despite the visual similarities to the tomb raider series, uncharted is more 3rd person shooter driven and plays like Gears of War crossed with Splinter Cell but faster paced than both. Gears pace is more measured, and there is a rhythm of stop and pop action, you could basically camp and hold position well staving enemies away with the chainsaw at close range. In uncharted you never have the luxury, Nathan Drake is purposely designed to be an everyman, the odds stacked against him and constantly shouting sarcastic quips as he gets flanked but much stronger enemies. You will be moving to and from cover much more, using every available grenade and using splinter cell stealth kills to conserve ammo as you can usually kill a guard in one hit.
There are much more weapons in this game than the first including the crossbow which kills in one or two hits any enemy in the game as well as doing it in stealth. The riot shield which can be used in conjunction with a handgun – works well with the automatics. And you have the ability to toss gas canister and trigger explosions. That and staple blind fire and many levels having a computer controlled AI to help you and you have lots of gameplay options available to you.
Special mention goes to the characterization with the awesome Amy Hennig helming game director and script writer role and putting the effort to study rolls of film to create believable characters. Nathan drake, Chloe Frasier and Victor Sullivan may be a pastiche of indiana jones characters and be a cliche in film terms but its commendable to move game character design out of space marine/generic adolescent fantasy territory, and sold well despite not bowing to publisher pressure.
As you can probably tell I love it, I’ve sunk loads of time into the achievements, and cracked hard mode. and had my first multiplayer experience which rocks too. This is definitely my game of the year so far. Go out and buy it and put that PS3 to good use.
