A Guest Entry!

So I managed to obtain a pair of reservations and convince an acquaintance of mine from Chicago to go to the Chicago cinema event on Monday! And he wrote a little piece for the blog for me!

It's more a review of the game than coverage of the event, and it's definitely an unbiased opinion, which is probably a good thing to have on this blog every now and then :P


Even though this article constitutes impressions of a game that many people are no doubt eagerly anticipating, I should warn you that some fanboys reading this might not like some things I have to say. I am not a Sony fanboy, in fact I have only owned a PS2 and PSP for a combined total of about a year, I stick mainly to PC now.

Still, being an avid gamer with an open mind I can admit that even though I don't own a PS3 there are many games I wouldn't mind trying on the system when it gets to a price I can afford. Somewhere in my mind, between Killzone 2 and Little Big Planet, is Uncharted, a game that looked amazing when it was released earlier in the console's life cycle. It's sequel, Uncharted 2, is being released October 13th. There was an event held in Chicago and I attended eager to try the title, and finally get to see a PS3 outside of a store kiosk (none of my friends own one).

I took a guest with me to the event, he's a friend who didn't mind the PS style controller (I don't like how the analog sticks are placed on PS controllers, preferring Gamecube or 360 style layouts), and who also is an avid gamer completing more action titles than my exploration/puzzle/RTS playing self could ever hope to complete.

Seeing as how this is an Uncharted 2 blog I assume all of you are familiar with the storyline and gameplay of the first game. My friend and I have no experience with the PS3 really, nor did we know the original Uncharted's storyline or gameplay style. What follows is our impressions of Uncharted 2 from our short time with it.

I'll start with the bad, as my friend put it, the game does nothing new, but everything it does do it does very very well. From shooting to maneuvering around the environment the controls were very responsive, and he never had any problems doing what he wanted. We did see other people having issues with getting off of a ladder (they would drop off the ladder and then start climbing before dropping off again and finally walking past the ladder like they wanted), and having issues with object interaction (i.e. trying to interact with an object and then getting into a cover position instead against the object), but these happen in any game so I can't find fault with Uncharted 2 specifically in this regard, for all intents and purposes the game plays amazingly well.

From a technical standpoint the game is gorgeous and utilizes many nice buzzwords like HDR lighting, realtime shadows (these are all affected by dynamic lights like the ones on Nate's belt), and ambient occlusion. From an artistic viewpoint the water and snow are absolutely jaw dropping, though water still is a little too thin (I have no idea how else to describe it, it's almost like the water reacts too much in some cases, but that is coming from someone who is picky about everything). However, don't believe anyone telling you this game is photo-realistic. It is amazingly detailed and looks great in motion, but it is stylized and it's not going to look real. However it is very easy to just fall into the games visuals and be immersed, perhaps more so than Mass Effect, the last game I found myself so drawn into visually. Everything from a setting sun to bullets ricocheting around to items toppling off a table all help suspend disbelief and make the world seem more real that anyone would have dreamed possible only a couple years ago.

We got to only play one area sadly, and couldn't really hear the character voices or music so I can't comment on that aspect of the game, but in general from what we heard from tvs while wandering around the event the acting is some of the best in recent memory, perhaps only being beaten out by Halo3:ODST (though it's a tough call for us and if we had a better environment to play in it is possibly Uncharted 2 might just win that category)

The area we played in was a jungle setting, we tried to not pay attention to the storyline much, as we both still want to play the first game and don't want many spoilers, but the exploration to me seemed limited, almost as if the game held your hand by making your path obvious. As someone who plays Fallout 3 and Elder Scrolls 4 for the open ended exploration aspects I found this to be a big issue, but my friend, a more seasoned vet of more scripted games like Call of Duty found no issues with the limitation. He was more accepting of the tightly crafted action sequences to the open ended exploration I was hoping for and he also pointed out the major benefit of this limitation is the pacing of the game is amazingly well done, never really making you frustrated but also never leaving you bored.

Overall, the game seems derivative in gameplay, and the fact that some people are giving it more than 100% in ratings (one french magazine has given is 21/20) shows how easily people are being led by graphics and it being a admittedly awesome game. Is it the best game ever? No, there is no such thing, but it will be an amazing game and one that a vast majority of gamers should experience if they can. Sony fans can justifiably hold this game up as the one of the greatest achievements this generation just based on how well the game plays and looks, not even taking into account the storyline. I do believe that as soon as I have the disposable income I will be buying a PS3, and this game has helped me with that decision.

--The author would like to remain anonymous, but you can check out his blog here.