After playing 1, I went straight into 2. 2 is a marked improvement in every category. The story is bigger, the locations are bigger, the scope and scale are bigger, the game is longer, there are more characters, boom! It's great. Seriously great.

I really dug the story and the globe-trotting aspect of it. You go to a lot of places and do a lot of cool stuff. The quality is really steady throughout and there are no parts that stick out as noticeably better or worse. The set pieces hold up great and the gunplay is also better. It's fun seeing Nate and Chloe plus Nate and Elena all in action. There's some great twists and some...weirder ones.

I wish I had been writing reviews when I played through the series as my thoughts would have been a lot more thorough and coherent. Because I marathoned the whole series, my memories kind of run together. I can't remember the main thoughts I had about each game as I went.

I will say that I played 2 knowing that some consider it the best in the series and many consider it the best of the first three. As such, I left it slightly underwhelmed because it didn't blow me away, and also I was a little pessimistic toward 3 since I was concerned it would be a step backward for whatever reason(s). 2 is super good, but it's not mind-meltingly amazing, which is what I was expecting. It has mind-meltingly amazing moments, but it's also a little long.

Having played the whole series, I would say that 2, 3, and 4 are all excellent in their own right but they have their pros and cons. I came away thinking 2 didn't grab me like 3 did and it felt a little too long. Those are the only criticisms I really have of it.

Going back to play the Uncharted series was like cutting down the tree of cinematic gaming and looking at its growth rings. Compared to how thin the first game was, Uncharted 2 was a great evolution, but it's still pretty close to the center. You can tell that the developers learned a lot from their first swing at the genre, with an expanded, more interesting cast of characters, and one of the most legendary intros in gaming. The story brings you to a better variety of locations, the setpieces are more ambitious, and the shootouts are more interesting, addressing the problems with Drake’s Fortune across the board. However, with the connecting thread of all these elements still being a dry implementation of third-person shooting, it’s not the revolutionary step up in quality that would elevate it to a timeless classic. Instead, it’s the perfect period-piece for a moment in gaming history. Its successes are the highest out of all its peers, while sharing the flaws of a design that still needed years of refinement. Among Thieves may not be the best experience if you go in fresh, but there’s value in seeing the best of what 2009 had to offer.

You know a game is a masterpiece when the entire industry shifts itself to attempt to copy it. You know the kind of games I'm talking about. Super Mario Bros, DOOM, Grand Theft Auto 3, Dark Souls, The Witcher 3, all games excessively copied, yet none ever quite replicate the magic that they created. Uncharted 2 can firmly take it's place amongst them, as it's influence on modern AAA games is undeniable.
Every game wants to have Uncharted amazing set piece design, and flowing action, look at games like the new Tomb Raider, 2018 God of War, and even the story missions in newer Rockstar games like Red Dead Redemption 2. Uncharted is undeniably the greatest at this seamless flow between set piece, gameplay, and cinematics, that I still don't believe has been topped by anything other than Naughty Dog's own games, like The Last Of Us Part II, or Uncharted 4.

English/German Below

So after not liking the action parts in Uncharted 1 they nailed the balance between riddles, action, video sequences and climbing by a lot. Its way more fun to play and has a good story in it with a lot of characters.

I still dont like the actiongameplay in its core but its way more comfortable (more grenades, more weapons against the spawning enemies). On the Story only the big enemy isnt that interesting and the bossfight is a little bit lame, as in the game before.

But all in all its way better than Part 1 and a good Action-Adventure.

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Hat mir deutlich besser gefallen als Teil 1 auch wenn das schwächelnde Action-Gameplay bleibt. Habe insgesamt 8 Stunden gebraucht.

Story

Am besten haben mir die Szeneriewechsel gefallen. Hier gab es also deutlich mehr Varianz als einfach nur die Dschungelinsel aus Teil 1.

Leider bin ich wieder mit dem Bösewicht nicht warm geworden, die Synchro war mies und er war einfach nicht interessant.

Das Wechselspiel der verschiedenen Charaktere war umso besser und teilweise richtig witzig.

Gameplay

Viel besser und balancierter ist Teil 2 im Gameplay. Deutlich mehr Kletterpassagen und auch mehr Rätsel. Dazu wurden die Kämpfe durch Unmengen an Granaten und schweren Waffen deutlich angenehmer gestaltet. Nervig waren nur diese Gegner die unendlich viel aushalten (brauchte man öfter schwere Waffen).

Der Endkampf war wieder etwas lame.

Grafik/Inszenierung

In Sachen Grafik kleinere Schritte nach vorne aber inszenatorisch teilweise richtig stark. Da fliegt einem soviel um die Ohren, wahnsinn. Sieht also völlig in Ordnung aus und lässt sich auch ohne nennenswerte Bugs etc. spielen.

Fazit

So Teil 2 also insgesamt besser, da es das bessere Gesamtpaket im Vergleich bietet. Bessere Balance, einfachere Action Passagen und im Vergleich den besseren Bösewicht. Mehr Rätsel und bessere Kletterpassagen.

Es haut einen nicht um ist aber ein sehr gutes Action Adventure 4/5 Schätzen.

I have a thing for Uncharted.

Now the first and the third game are fucking terrible, I ain't gonna deny that, but Unchated 2 and Uncharted 4 are near and dear to my heart.

But Uncharted 2 is the only game in the Series that I truly love.

One reason for this is the impeccable pacing of Uncharted 2, while the pacing of Uncharted 4s is one of the games major flaws. But most of all, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves offers the least restrictive and most enthralling set piece design of the entire series by far (the train... omg the train) and in that way, reduces the feel of the "playable Indiana Jones Movie" that the series was going for to its very essence and delivers it to you in a steady drip.

And on top of that, the game even has heart. Something, many many MANY western AAA-Games sorely lack.

... I will always kinda love this a lot :-)

Maybe the biggest jump in quality from a first game to a second in history. By comparison Drake’s Fortune feels more like an extended prologue or a DLC prequel. This, on the other hand, feels like a full meal. This is where all the best Naughthy Dog traits really solidify. Not only is it more engaging gameplay but more extensive, with much more variation in the environments and strategies (stealth and puzzle-solving play a bigger role this time around). The storytelling feels less boilerplate and allows for a more nuanced narrative experience. Mostly it just feels bigger, fuller, and more satisfying.