Sony's blockbuster follow-up to Uncharted: Drake's
Fortune takes what
was an excellent third-person adventure and pushes it to a
whole new
level.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Naughty Dog
PlayStation 3
Matt Greenop
Five Stars (Out of 5)
It leaves both Tomb Raider and any Indiana Jones movies in
the dust for thrilling artefact-chasing action, and adds
frenetic firefights that manage to outstrip many shooters.
The first few minutes show just how seriously the team at
Naughty Dog take the thrill factor - the early "tutorial"
level sees Nathan Drake trying to escape a burning train
carriage hanging off a cliff.
Drake and Elena have parted company, and he hooks up with a
renegade fortune hunter named Flynn and an Antipodean
strumpet called Chloe to pick up Marco Polo's trail to find
the legendary Chintimani Stone and, eventually, Shangri La.
The plot twists and turns through numerous cinematic cut
scenes, which generally meld seamlessly into the
often-challenging gameplay.
A Hollywood-shaming script and quality voice acting are what
makes the game - it's riveting and doesn't let up through the
many hours of gameplay.
A whopping 26 levels draw in the player with a combination of
tricky puzzles - keep an eye out for the complex hunt for a
"door" in a Nepalese temple.
But as you're double-crossed by those closest and hunted by a
crazy megalomaniac and his grenade launcher-toting,
helicopter gunship-flying minions, it becomes progressively
harder to put down the controller.
And if it's pretty graphics you're after, Uncharted 2 foots
the bill in spades.
One particular scene, from the top of a hotel in a hidden
Himalayan city, shows just how much grunt lives in the PS3's
processor - with a fully living and breathing city rendered
in faultless detail below.
The verdict? A must-have game for any PS3 owner - unless you
suffer from a heart condition.
Relentless action sequences, top graphic quality and
brilliant gameplay.
It blurs the line between game and movie, and delivers
absolutely everything you could want in a third-person
shooter/adventure.
Hard to top.
Bookmark/Search this post with:
A name, residential address, and (preferably residential) telephone number is required from readers who comment on ODT Online. These details will not be visible to site visitors.