Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

[Jason]

...I just realised we don't have a thread for this.

I picked this up again today after a bit of a break (I ragequit the game after dying about 30 times in a row in the village siege trying to take out those damn guys with the grenade launchers), and I fell in love with it all over again.

Sadly the online mode has its flaws (very hit and miss matchmaking), but even then it's good fun if you're with a reliable group who won't quit as soon as they start losing.

Share your thoughts/opinions on the game with us...

[CemeteryGates]

I've been wanting to get this ever since I beat the first Uncharted, but last time I checked, it still was more expensive used here than new in the US.

I downloaded the demo, though, in which I believe you play through Chapter 5. Dammit, I'm seriously considering paying whatever it costs. :p

[Rob]

I'm incredibly hard to impress when it comes to video games. I'm one of those people that loves games but finds flaws that make me put down the controller after one play though if I even make it to the end of a games campaign. Uncharted 2 is the first game in years that has kept my attention.

Do you like climbing?
Do you like shooting guns?
Do you like hiding behind things and shooting guns?
Do you like climbing and stopping to shoot guns?
Do you like sexy graphics that are so good that there is no need for pre-rendered cut scenes?
Do you enjoy grand adventures that take you to multiple locations across the globe?

I answered yes to all of those :) Really though I can't say enough good stuff about the game. It has 5 difficulty levels and rewards you for playing through the game multiple times and finding all the treasures. The more achievements and treasure you find, the more money you collect which can be applied towards bonuses that you can use in campaign mode after you have beat it on the difficulty that you wish to use the unlocks on. The single player campaign isn't very long (I beat the normal campaign in 11 hours) but you have a good reason to try it on the harder difficulties which will extend you playtime a great deal.

The coop mode is a completely separate experience from the campaign. It's two modes (objective or endless waves) are accessible by up to three players simultaneously. They are all playable on multiple difficulties and I have tried them out and enjoyed them :)

There is also a complete multiplayer (PvP) experience available with the standard modes that you would expect (FFA/Team Deathmatch/CTF/Zone Capture/King of the Hill). I personally don't do much pvp in games but I tried this mode out and had a blast playing it. Uncharted plays very well as a run and gun shooter.

Both coop and multiplayer also enjoy the same bonus system that the campaign uses. You collect money for certain achievements and apply them towards you coop or multiplayer experience.

All combat takes place in an over the shoulder view and you can switch you viewpoint from left to right shoulders to help stay on target while moving around corners. The gunplay is solid and all the guns look, sound, and feel good. Throwing grenades and propane tanks is easy to do if you use the aiming feature. The layout of the controls makes combat work quickly and without to much through. Melee combat is basic in that you only need two buttons to enter and end a fight but it does come with some cool animations. Stealth can be used but is not necessary if it doesn't suit your style with the exception of one or two parts in the game. It never forces you to attempt sneaking over and over again to the point of frustration. YAY

The characters are likable and interesting enough that my wife actually sat down and watched me play. Getting her to pay attention to a games storyline is pretty amazing :lol:

The climbing is almost always straightforward and I never took more then a couple minutes to figure out where I was supposed to go in order to reach whatever high up or low down place. Sometimes the game uses different color textures to hint the correct path to you. If you just can't figure it out then you can enable hints which will point you in the right direction.

This game is absolutely worth the $$ and I'm glad I didn't waste money renting it. Can you tell I enjoyed this game?

[Rob]

After putting in another few days of campaign and coop playtime I have to say I'm frustrated with the cover system. I routinely find myself standing near and facing towards a wall I would like to use for cover only to either repeatedly roll into the wall or watch my character take cover behind and to the side on some box that does nothing to hide my characters face from bullets. It's one of those flaws that shows its teeth after a week of playtime and the caffeine/wow factor wears off. It makes sense... with a game that does so much right it just had to get something wrong.

[Jason]

I have to say, generally I've not had too many issues with the cover system - as you mentioned, the odd moment where Nate will take cover at the side of something rather than behind it, but no more often than I'd expect from any game. My gripes are all with the shaky multiplayer hosting, where one player leaving will end the game for everyone in co-op games, or when players who ragequit aren't replaced in versus games.

[Rob]

I have to say, generally I've not had too many issues with the cover system - as you mentioned, the odd moment where Nate will take cover at the side of something rather than behind it, but no more often than I'd expect from any game. My gripes are all with the shaky multiplayer hosting, where one player leaving will end the game for everyone in co-op games, or when players who ragequit aren't replaced in versus games.

I agree with all of those points. Forcing people to play through a coop round even though their matchmaking failed to initially fill all three slots is ridiculous. I played a coop match the other night with my friend and I had to take a $$$ penalty and literally wait at the stats screen for 90 seconds because I quit the game before my friend did.

I still dream about this game at night but... damn... how could they overlook such basic multiplayer features? The game has been out for a few months and in that time I would think this kind of b.s. would have been fixed in a patch.