Game play
Because I have some newly found added time in my schedule I decided to purchase a new PS3 game Wednesday night. Not much of a gamer (I got the PS3 as a big gift last year), I only saw where Uncharted 2 was released the day before because of spam mail in my inbox. The first Uncharted was one of the few games I have actually bought for the PS3; along with MGS4, GTA4, and Infamous. I liked the original.
The rendering of locals was superb. The controls were simple enough. Gamers forgive me, but I was happy it wasn’t a first person shooter.(I find most first person games too hectic, with exceptions like Elder Scrolls and a few other Bethesda productions like Fall Out 3 that break the action up with story). Re-spawning in the game wasn’t too bad and play on “normal” wasn’t necessarily so tough that it felt like impossible play for someone like me. Plus, I liked the mish-mash of story genres: A little Romancing of the Stone, Indiana Jones, and some crazy horror movie set in a U-boat.
Basically it showed some originality and was easy entry level stuff for me. And it fit into the basic matrix of sandbox/shooter that I find appealing compared to most of the first person games out there.
So far, about 6 hours of game play in, Uncharted 2 hasn’t disappointed either. If anything the game seems to expand on all the elements that worked so well in the first with an exception of the set up of the story. The cuts back and forth between past and present were a little to long, at least that is how it felt to me. I imagine there is a pay off in the structure of the games narrative, but when I popped the game in I wanted to jump into some action NOW.
Anyway, as I was saying, Uncharted 2 offers some highly entertaining new environments for Mr. Drake to do his jumping, running, and gunning. We meet some new characters and are reintroduced to some familiar ones as well. As the pacing of the story picks up the action pushing everything forward becomes very fluid. The dialog and humor between characters work. I also like the fact that for the most part Drake is never alone. He always has a partner with him, which fits nicely in terms of story telling and other other plot/action devices.
As far as graphics go, I have very few complaints. The worst, I think, is the tear effects for the eyes on the characters. The very shiny gloss irritates and distracts me, especially in the cinematic cuts. The best though is the blending between cuts and game play. it all views seamlessly, which is nice.
Over-all I am impressed with the game and look forward to digging into the online part of the game, which I really have not touched as of yet. It was well worth the breaking of my saving some cash rule to play a game that works well for story telling and as a distraction.
