Reviews// Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

It seems like a lifetime ago I set the Internets alight with my review of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. The points that got the fanboi's knickers in a knot was that I dared to say that the game was a Tomb Raider-style game. Despite the "How can U say this game iz like Toom Raider, U are a n00b and a lam3r" style responses, it WAS a Tomb Raider-style game, and Uncharted 2 remains a Tomb Raider-style game. This is no bad thing. Lara may have her best years behind her (and she may not, only time will tell), but the general mix of exploring, shooting and puzzling is still a compelling game premise, and when done correctly, the basis for excellent titles. I am unpropitiatory (look it up).

The other controversial aspect of my review was that I refused to give the game a 101% score, stating that Drake's Fortune felt slightly rushed, and too short. It WAS too short, it did feel a little rushed. As I said… unpropitiatory!

So, now, some 22 months later, I have the chance to atone for my previous sins, and give Uncharted 2 the 110% score it so obviously deserves. After all, Official PSThis and Official PSThat have already given it laudatory scores that leave us in no doubt that this game is absolutely perfect, and will never be bettered in any way whatsoever in the entire future history of human endeavour. But hold on a second, Official PSThis, and other publications from the same publisher have a vested interest in this title, and in sucking-up to Sony generally. I have no particular interest in sucking-up to them. So, let's take a lookout what Uncharted 2 is REALLY like.

Among Thieves starts cinematically, abruptly, and thrillingly. Protagonist (Nathan) Drake, eponymous hero of the first game, and one of the titular thieves of this one, wakes in a train, and quickly realises that something's up. Unfortunately, it's not the sky, and neither is the ground down. The train, it transpires, is dangling precipitously on the edge of a precipice. It's all really terribly  exciting. Now Drake must dangle, clamber, climb and scale the carriage before it drops into oblivion, as all things surely must. When he gets to safety he lies back and drifts into reverie/unconsciousness.

Now in flashback, we flash (backwards, in time), to earlier, happier days, where Drake is sunning himself in some cool cabaña on a tropical beach. Drake is approached by Harry Flynn, who appears to be an old friend of his and who has a "job" for the two of them. After a thankfully concise conversation that is basically a pretext for the story exposition, Drake explains that the stakes are much higher than Flynn's client thinks and explains about Marco Polo's lost fleet, the Cintamani (pronounced with a "ch" like many people pronounce Cinzano) Stone and the lost kingdom of Shangri-la, or Shambala. Although "kingdom" might be the wrong word, since Shambala is a Buddhist construct, and so is probably more likely to function along a non-hierarchical collectivist structure rather than a constitutional monarchy.

Flynn then introduces his companion, Chloe, to Drake, and between them they quickly realise that there is a considerable opportunity for personal profit here, since the Cintamani Stone is actually a huge sapphire, worth millions. They decide to double-cross Flynn's boss, Zorin Lazarevic - a psychopathic war criminal along the lines of Ratko Mladic - not really the kind of guy you want to cross, one would think.