Video games in a nutshell

Nate Drake meets a tank

Just this evening, I managed to beat Uncharted 2. Took me around 12 or so hours over a few days, but overall it was an extremely satisfying experience.

This time around, it’s not Sir Francis Drake’s discoveries we’re stalking across the earth–it’s Marco Polo’s. More historical figures means different adventures!

The biggest difference between Uncharted and Uncharted 2 is the locale. Uncharted took place predominantly in the Amazon/Pacific Ocean, whereas 2 takes place mostly in Nepal.

If you’ve never played anything in the Uncharted franchise, a few words resurface all the time:

The first that comes to mind is “unadulterated.”  Accompanied with the word “action.”

Also, “explosions” and “hot female sidekicks.”

The writing is so remarkable for Drake and the supporting cast that I find myself constantly chuckling at his witty one-liners or completely enthralled by the goings-on of the plot.

The graphics in both iterations are marvelous–on several occasions I’d just stand and gaze out into the open, amazed that the vista was entirely computer generated.

Gameplay is reminiscent of  Tomb Raider’s mystical running, jumping climbing bits (minus the rampant control flaws) plus Gears of War’s cover and blindfire system. It all works really well.

Favorite, yet rarely used design mechanic: Running and gunning. Standing about in the open spells a quick death, so I rarely used it. But it was fun to scramble about wasting entire clips of bullets.

So many small things make the game a great success. Many of those are back. The ability to hop up and fire while hanging off the edge of  building is great fun. So is yanking enemies off it altogether.

This time around most of the cutscene-related button pressing sequences have been excised; so has the Sixaxis aiming mechanic for throwing grenades and crossing logs. Both of those were superfluous and gimmicky anyway, so the end result feels much more streamlined.

Chapters transition seamlessly, with just enough of combat in cities, exploration in creepy temples and mountainside refuges, and chase scenes to keep things fresh and interesting.

We also see the return of Elena and Sully from the first game, which is a pleasant surprise. At several points in the game, you have not only a single companion, but several.

I won’t get into the rest of the cast of characters, but was pleasantly surprised to find out that Chloe is voiced by Claudia Black (Thanks to Allison Medwin on that one)–also the voice of “Morrigan” for Bioware’s recent creation Dragon Age (and other exceptionally dorky roles as well).

The first playthrough on “Hard” wasn’t terribly difficult, but I plan to go back and beat it again on “Crushing” difficulty. Actions in the game are rewarded with Medals–in game equivalents of trophies that also carry a cash value.

That cash can be used after beating the game to unlock weapons, bonus videos and different play options for the single player game.

A game that is well worth your time and energy. And your moonies. If the single player isn’t enough for you, Naughty Dog created an extremely fun online multiplayer mode as well.

There’s enough content there to warrant another post. Expect that sometime this week.

Also, if anyone wants to play co-op, send me a message online at Galactica_Five. (And yes, I know the the username is terribly geeky–don’t remind me)