First Look

(click the blog entry title to read the article)

I've been kind of a nerd about following Uncharted 2 news, because I have a lot of faith in Naughty Dog. This article really made me excited, because it looks like Naughty Dog is doing that thing they do with their game series, where they clean up what was crap in the first game, and take what was good and make it better. They did that with the Crash Bandicoot series- the gameplay in 2 and 3 is SO much more efficient and user-friendly and fun than it was in 1, but the exciting bits from 1 are still there. from what I hear, Jak and Daxter was the same way. And now it looks like they're really stepping it up with Uncharted 2.

The ideas of integrating the platforming, cover system, and fighting is something i'm really excited to see. Both items in U:DF were fun and interesting (even if the platforming could have been more challenging), but they seemed very separate. Putting them both together is a big step to making the game more cinematic, and incorporating the optional stealth mechanic is going to be a lot of fun on my end, for sure.

Someone pointed out to me that the genre shift towards the end of U:DF wasn't supposed to screw with you, it was supposed to introduce a different style of gameplay- namely, removing the cover system and requiring you to just blast your way through the zombies. This became a very interesting twist in the next level when you're fighting both mercenaries AND zombies, and you had to switch between the two combat styles. While I wish they had introduced this concept earlier, when I played through the game again knowing this, I was able to appreciate the idea a lot more than I had before, and I found the zombie levels almost fun.

The point here is that it looks like U2:AT is going to be A LOT of this, but streamlined and integrated into the gameplay in a much more effective way. And I'm REALLY EXCITED for this. Having actually intelligent AI and unique use of environments and setpieces spells a good, solid game in my book. I like it when games combine realistic action mechanics and story seamlessly. that was something I loved about U:DF- the fact that the story unfolded in snippets between cutscenes, characterization came through during dialogue in playable sections, and it didn't take its tropes too seriously and lampshaded a lot of them. And apparently U2:AT is going to use these things while they polish the rough corners in the gunfighting and platforming.