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Genre: Third-Person Action Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment Developer: Naughty Dog Software Players: 1-10

By Keith B (26th Oct 2009)

The original Uncharted was one of the early sleeper hits for the PlayStation 3, partly because it came out of nowhere and developed its own creative form of gameplay and plot, similar to the various adventures of Lara Croft but different enough to grant it well-deserved individuality. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune was always going to have a follow-up, and in Among Thieves they have shaped a sequel that justifiably stands as one of those instances where the sequel outshines its praiseworthy predecessor.

The opening statement here comparing Among Thieves to a cinema release is my attempt to describe exactly how I felt while playing it. Years ago, PS1 game Metal Gear Solid was described as the movie world and the gaming world coming together, but never have I experienced it more than with this. For starters, it does not only owe its success to influences from the respective game genres, but it also makes numerous nods to movies both in style and direction. From Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones to John Carpenter's The Thing and even, so help me, elements of Oceans 11 present, it subtly blends movie-going with game-playing without actually seeming like a copy of anything. Far from it, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is a game rooted in solid foundations with gameplay that is agreeably intermixed with different styles. The opening level, featuring you hanging from a train that is teetering over a crevice and about to drop, sets the tone and it builds from there.

The story and characters themselves are similar to the first one. Drake is introduced to a money-making scheme by a friend, involving a treasure hunt where the treasure is shrouded in arcane devilry and the hunt involves using an AK-47 more than a shovel. It's an irresistible challenge for our believable main protagonist - there are no super powers or insane military training here, just a man with a passion and dollar signs in his eyes. Drake is as believable as any character I have controlled, never trying to play the hard guy or the hero but also being a dab hand with ancient maps and shootin' irons.

The presentation is where the experience makes pays homage to Hollywood. It features a beautiful number of settings that allow the game to criss-cross the globe, placing the player in locales that boast sharp graphics and always ensuring the action is never far from a grandiose backdrop, often with me stopping to admire the view. From the steaming jungles of Borneo to the mountains of Tibet, I was constantly eyeballing the picturesque backgrounds and the smooth movement of the characters within. It seemed that even the smallest details in the graphics were lauded over with Da Vinci-like precision that made looking away difficult. The characters fitted in like gloves among it all with the same feeling of meticulousness put into their features and movement, evident when Drake is hurt and you almost empathically feel his pain as he stumbles around, or when he is been chased through the streets and the anxiety on his face is plain. Drake's trademark jumping and climbing had a elegance that could give the Prince of Persia a run for his money and when it came to the expected close quarters fisticuffs, the game did not let down.



The combat here is mostly with a firearm and a carbon copy of the first game, but the AI has been improved is clever and often do the unexpected, rushing your position or flanking, guaranteeing to give your reflexes a workout. This allows you to interact with the enemy in a beautifully unique way. While attacking with one button and defending with another sounds undemanding, the real skill lies in timing your moves - if you do it right the fight is well played and very realistic, almost looking like it was planned with the exactitude of a dance routine, and often resembled the more stylish parts of swordplay from Assassin's Creed. The stealth combat was also a new addition this time around. While in his stealth mode Drake can move from cover to cover, and from behind a wall can reach across and pull a sentry over, choking him on the way. You can also move up behind one and deliver a silent thump to the head when necessary, but the charm is that you can also get past them quietly, depending on how players use the terrain. The beauty was in the details - like when in stealth mode Drake automatically ducks beneath windows that had light in them.

While some games tend to wear themselves out giving you the same formula again and again and end up losing sight of the overall experience, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves deftly manages to avoid that unpleasant route by maintaining a pace that never allows the action to get boring. The same approach has done well in the Call of Duty games where to break the routine players get to drive a tank or undertake sniper missions. Some levels here had my nose inches from the TV as I attempted to negotiate a perilous path along the top of a train, avoiding bridges while getting whipped from passing foliage.



It's a game that takes brains to play too. You are hunting for treasure, after all, and no treasure hunt is complete without a mind boggling series of booby traps and puzzles that require a Henry Jones Junior-like approach in order to solve, although the first instalment probably had more of these cerebral-testing moments.

The multiplayer options allow you to have both cooperative and competitive gameplay, with deathmatch and capture the flag games available. A cooperative game called Gold Rush features three players working to plunder as much treasure as they can before AI enemies get them. At its heart, this has one of the most enjoyable multiplayer experiences available on the console, and although we didn't get enough time to give it a full whirl, we can absolutely see its potential from the few short hours we worked on it with our friends.

To all intents and purposes, I was effectively playing a movie here and a damn entertaining one at that. It was thrill-a-minute gameplay punctuated with moments of awe and even survival horror-like fear that made it hard to put the controller down. Where many big games usually mean something outlandish or otherworldly, the fact that this old treasure hunting formula generated such a superior outing is refreshing. Its attention-grabbing style had me half playing and half experiencing the game. Guaranteeing a subtle craft of entertainment and action, your gaming experience can only benefit from giving this gem a try.

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