Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

[tapedeck]

Oh God: Toxic Mutant Factory moment where Elena does 'that' thing to Chloe is amazing...

 

Shorty, read our previous thread comments for spoiler-free agreements with your own niggles. GOTY 2009 though. (Toxicity and all.)

[Chris the great]

have to agree, this is game for the year, i havent enjoyed a game so much in years.

[tapedeck]

have to agree, this is game for the year, i havent enjoyed a game so much in years.

 

What about seeing your brother win the X-Factor? That was one great game...

:p

 

 

What would people like to see in Uncharted 3? Or will ND have a new project lined up?

[Pit-Jr]

What would people like to see in Uncharted 3? Or will ND have a new project lined up?

 

This is all nitpicky stuff but:

 

1. Campaign co-op maybe

2. The treasure collecting bit needs work. Why is this incredibly valuable jewel-encrusted mask laying on top of an air conditioner in a train station? And why can't i sell it or wear it or give it to Chloe in exchange for sex?

3. The climbing and platforming needs to be more uniform , like Infamous but not as exaggerated.

If Nate can grab protruding ice rocks, he should be able to grab a solid window frame

4. Multiple ways to clear a level

5. More awesome melee moves like Kick-Off, maybe a new crane-kick or a bitch slap

6. A few huge levels that require map-reading and landmarks to complete

[Caris]

I've been playing this for a bit and... whilst it is a really great game, the only thing bothering me is that it doesn't seem like much of a detachment from its predecessor. I went from completing the first game for the first time to playing the second game in the space of an hour, and it just feels like the first game is carrying on with a new story.

 

It looks a little bit better, and they swapped D-Pad Up with R2 (why?) and changed the way you throw grenades (why?) and took away my heavy combo (hmm) and Elena fell off the map like a Bond Girl but other than that it just feels like the same game. [EDIT: please don't respond to this with spoilars]

 

Don't get me wrong, I don't have a negative feeling about the game, both titles have been a hell of a lot of fun, but I just thought there would be... a bit more.

 

Also wtf: They were in Borneo for 3 months looking for Polo's crew... and they turned up in a cave a few minutes walk away from the camp. How could Drake have been the only one who thought "hmm, maybe I'll check the mountain"? A similar thing happened later with the hotel. They're looking for higher ground and the city's tallest hotel happens to be just around the corner? The right temple is 10 minutes walk away? Also where the heck are all the people in this city?

 

and it took 20 minutes to install updates before I could play the game, what is up with that? is this a console or a PC in a shiny box?

 

Hm... I still managed to complain. I'm loving the game, I'm just much better at venting the things that niggle me than I am at praising the bits I enjoyed.

 

Erm, multiplayer, co-op, way more set pieces and new game mechanics? It's hardly just the same...

[Aimless]

It looks a little bit better, and they swapped D-Pad Up with R2 (why?) and changed the way you throw grenades (why?) and took away my heavy combo (hmm)...

So manual reload is more accessible. I think I used the 'hint' button about 5 times throughout the entire game; its prominence on the pad in the first game wasn't really appropriate for its usage.

 

The new grenade system is just plain better. If you hold down the button you can still aim using the arc, but if not a simple tap chucks a frag wherever your reticule is pointed. The immediacy makes the grenades far more useful in the middle of combat, the snap aiming making them far easier to place.

 

There wasn't really any reason not to use the Heavy Combo in Drake's Fortune. As such the second game frees up Triangle as a counter button instead, adding actual variety to the close combat instead of ostensible depth.

 

As for things that have been changed: enemies aren't such bullet sponges, stealth is a viable — and expanded — option in almost every scenario, you can aim and shoot wherever you are and whatever you're clinging to, and general level design is much improved over the first so as to offer options for tackling combat situations in different ways. Oh, and they improved the climbing.

 

I'm not being defensive, by the way, I just think several of your niggles are rather misplaced and most likely coloured by the numerous Game Of The Year awards the game has received.

[Daft]

One thing I found is that a lot of what is so great in the game is quit easy to miss in big part to just how well it plays and how well it is implemented. I only really noticed some of the best aspects when I found myself playing other games and thinking in the back of my head, 'Uncharted did this better.'.

 

After my first play though I wasn't even that taken. Having taken a break from it and then coming back, I just loved it and played it through another two times.

[Shorty]

As for things that have been changed: enemies aren't such bullet sponges, stealth is a viable — and expanded — option in almost every scenario, you can aim and shoot wherever you are and whatever you're clinging to, and general level design is much improved over the first so as to offer options for tackling combat situations in different ways. Oh, and they improved the climbing.

These are all quite small features though. I guess I can't help but compare these two games with Tomb Raider I and Tomb Raider II. When the latter came out, it was my favourite sequel of all time and is still a game I have very fond memories of. As a sequel it had far better graphics, it added vehicles, a dozen imaginative new locations (including an undersea wreck), new outfits, hugely technologically improved cutscenes, a training course at the Croft Manor.... It introduced a lot over its predecessor.

 

With Among Thieves, most of the changes you have described would only be clear to the person holding the controller, a casual observer probably wouldn't even be able to tell that I had changed games.

 

Now I really want to point out that I love this game. I gave it an 8.8 as a joke in the "RTLGYP" thread, but since then it has had a lot of great cinematic moments, funny lines... I just used a grenade to take down a helicopter as it blew up the building I was in, which was just awesome. And so I would say it's at least a 9 for me. The line that made me grin was: "The power's out, and the girl's trapped ... if there's a zombie around the corner, I'm going to be pissed."

 

I think I have quite a unique standpoint for my comments that this game is not much of a detachment from the first title because I literally finished the first one and started the new one in the same day. It's simply the feeling I got, that I was continuing the same (fantastic) game with a few minor control adjustments and a rapidly improving plot.

Edited December 31, 2009 by Shorty

[ReZourceman]

Tomb Raider(s) on the Playstation IMO are the most overrated games ever. I couldn't and still can't get my head around why the control scheme was anywhere close to acceptable by the average gamer, let alone for the game to receive the critical acclaim it received.

[Shorty]

I didn't play it on the Playstation, so I wouldn't know

[The Lillster]

Tomb Raider(s) on the Playstation IMO are the most overrated games ever. I couldn't and still can't get my head around why the control scheme was anywhere close to acceptable by the average gamer, let alone for the game to receive the critical acclaim it received.

 

Playtation fanboys and delusional gamers.

[tapedeck]

I may have enjoyed the original Tomb Raider but I'd played Super Mario 64.

Mind you, half of the population were trying to find cheats that would enable Lara to get her kit off. Probably increased the longevity. I remember seeing an April Fools joke in a Magazine where it stated you had to move Lara in certain steps to a Spice Girls song after she got out of the pool. She would then get her kit off.

 

Sad that there were thousands of readers who wrote in next month asking why it didn't work. God bless Tomb Raider. (It wasn't until Legend until control became as standard in the package.)

[Daft]

The best thing about the old Tomb Raiders was killing Lara in different ways. Jumping her off the rooves of London was hysterical.

 

I really enjoyed Legends though. Best in the series imo.

[Jon]

The best thing about the old Tomb Raiders was killing Lara in different ways. Jumping her off the rooves of London was hysterical.

 

I really enjoyed Legends though. Best in the series imo.

 

That brings back memories, I think I ran out of ways to kill her in that gym she had in the house.

[ReZourceman]

How come I never see anyone on this game online?

 

If you ever feel like winning then team up with me. Average KD of 1.82. Ooooh yeah.

[dwarf]

'Hat, Cooky and Caris just has a match. You missed out son. As did I but I could do nothing about it, revision, plus no copy of game.

[Shorty]

I remember seeing an April Fools joke in a Magazine where it stated you had to move Lara in certain steps to a Spice Girls song after she got out of the pool. She would then get her kit off.

I don't know if its the same one but CVG ran a gag saying in TRII you had to stand on Lara's bed and do steps, jumps and rolls in time to that hugely popular All Saints song. I was only about 10 when it came out so I wasn't that bothered, but my mate's adolescent 13 year old brother was absolutely convinced that it had to be real and spent hours trying to do it xD

[Chris the great]

just giving the game a run through on crushing, its not to bad yet, im just up to the hotel.

 

drakes fortune was harder up to this point.

[That Guy]

I think I have quite a unique standpoint for my comments that this game is not much of a detachment from the first title because I literally finished the first one and started the new one in the same day. It's simply the feeling I got, that I was continuing the same (fantastic) game with a few minor control adjustments and a rapidly improving plot.

 

Brad from Giant Bomb did the same as you and he said that there was a big difference between the 2. He said you can really tell how much the mechanics of the game have improved. I especially think the cover, stealth, and general shooting has improved greatly. I never enjoyed shooting in Uncharted, and sighed every time some came up, but in Uncharted 2 I've actually found myself really enjoying the game.

I think Uncharted was good, but I'm 54% of the way through Uncharted 2 and I think it's excellent. I think the adjustments to the mechanics are what make it so good compared to the last game as well.

[dwarf]

just giving the game a run through on crushing, its not to bad yet, im just up to the hotel.

 

drakes fortune was harder up to this point.

There's one room I found to be really difficult, it's a shoot-out in one of the huts late on in the game. Just so frustrating, you clear the bottom part, then you take cover as you're climbing stairs and there's another wave coming out, and because the cover is so perpendicular you can only really avoid damage from one side so you have to clear one half out really quickly, including RPG owners. Multiple tries on that bit is guarenteed.

If you're wondering, it's the bit where you're trying to find that good old bloke who they've kept hostage, forget the name and his significance.

 

[Daft]

One bit glitched when I was playing on Crushing meaning an army of goons didn't come rushing out and I just walked through...I was so happy.

 

It was the bit in the snow with the four grenadiers.

[dwarf]

You got fucking lucky there. Think you told me already but that part is shocking.

I had about half a clip to take those mothers down on my hard playthrough. Had a bit more on my crushing one and I had to use all of my grenades dropped ammo, sneaky shooting tactics and tons of SAS rounds to make it through, the screen had gone virtually black and yet I passed it first time.

That was when I realised I was a man.

[Daft]

You got fucking lucky there.

 

Totally. I think I was laughing manically at my luck.

[Happenstance]

Im still working through crushing at the moment. Im on:

 

The first bit in Shamballa where you have to take on the uber hard guard guys with the crossbows, this bit annoyed me enough on normal!

 

[dwarf]

You can pretty much run in circles while shooting backwards from the hip without getting touched. There's unlimited ammo so it's quite an easy tactic as there's always a couple of seconds to pick up a weapon.