Reviews// Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Bugs aside, the biggest problem with Uncharted 2 is once again that it is too short. Less noticeably than the first game, but it is still possible to complete it in "Normal" difficulty in under 12 hours on first play. If you pause to collect all of the items, this will be greatly extended, since many of them are very difficult to find, but the tedious combing of levels for collectibles is not this gamer's idea of fun. If you do not stop to find them all, you can elect to do it on a re-play of the stage, or just skip it altogether, but a good number of the game trophies relate to this activity. 

One cannot help but feel that instead of employing 'B' and 'C' list celebrity talent (Claudia Black, Rene Auberjonois, Steve Valentine - we're looking at you) for the voices, they could have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars by using talent that would have worked for scale, and used the savings to increase the number of people involved on level design/build. The end titles of Uncharted 2 just show how ridiculous the development team sizes, and the concomitant budgets have become, these days… but there is also an element of everyone and the cat's mother getting a credit too. 

The issue of single-player game length, however, is much less of a problem, as Naughty Dog and Sony have seen fit (and taken the time) to add multiplayer elements to Uncharted 2 - and significant elements they are too! As well as a host of competitive on-line multiplayer options, there are a smattering of co-op play modes too.

There is the obvious Team Deathmatch and Plunder modes, the latter being 'Capture the Flag', but with archaeological relics rather than flags. There is a selection of games with limited weapon choices, which changes the tactics greatly. Elimination mode requires tactical play, because once dead, you do not re-spawn until the end of the round.

Uncharted 2's adventure game, rather than FPS, origins shine through in the multi-player campaigns. The level design, and the ability of the characters to climb around the environment mean that you have to be more aware - if you are upstairs in a building, you don't need to just watch the stairs, as opponents can climb the outside walls and drop through the roof, or jump in through the window. The result is a much more interesting multiplayer environment than many games offer.

The Cinema feature enables you to keep a recording of any game you take part in, and the currently crippled Twitter integration lets you post your status and stats to the annoying but popular microblogging service - I'd have preferred Facebook integration, personally. 

If you do not own a PS3, should you buy one just to play Uncharted 2? Quite possibly. If you already have a PS3, should you buy Uncharted 2? Absolutely definitely!

Conclusion
A superb storyline, great pacing, smooth character animation, involving cut-scenes, immersive playability and a perfect difficulty curve make Uncharted 2 one of the greatest games I've played. The (occasionally fatal) obstruction by your computer controlled companion, and the slightly intellectually lightweight nature of the puzzling stop it getting the perfect scores Sony's puppet publications are giving it.

SPOnG Score: 96%