Reviews from

in the past


Millions of dollars and the full power of the PS3 are used to prove that yes, a videogame about a homicidal maniac who thinks he's an action hero can be as good as a B movie.

Uncharted 2 improves on the original game in almost every aspect I could think of. I'm glad the game features a lot more diversity in environments and that the combat and platforming has been polished and refined as well.

After playing the prequel my expectations for this game were kinda low but thankfully Uncharted 2 is not only a huge improvement over the last game, but also so action packed and ridiculously over-the-top that it sold me on the franchise. The soundtrack this time around was also fantastic.

Uncharted 2 is a sequel done right and just a joy to play. It really holds up for its time and the characters are as charming as usual.

There was definitely a question on everyone’s mind when this game released…how did that shitty Indiana jones/tomb raider style game get a sequel? And even better…the sequel is better than the original.

After finding el dorado in the original game, Nathan drake is now on the hunt for the mysterious and legendary Shambhala! Ok his journey he meets Chloe Frazer, an old friend Harry Flynn, and the dangerous Zoran (I don’t want to spell his last name cause I know I’ll spell it wrong :/) and he is joined by Elena and sully. The journey takes him completely through Marco polo’s voyage and tests him to his very limits.

Especially the beginning, that is one of the most impressive moments of the entire series.

The gameplay is a major improvement from what it was in drake’s fortune. The gun combat is a lot better and improved, and climbing feels a lot more fluid. Puzzles also feel a lot more complex and challenging (but still not too challenging and probably a lot more interesting).

I’m really not looking forward to getting onto the third game and reviewing it but I may as well get it out of the way soon. Overall though this is a wonderful improvement to what the first game was. And in all honesty, I wish the third game could’ve perfected this game’s formula but alas…

Huge improvement, brilliant gameplay, excellent story, I fucking hate tanks

An astronomical improvement, literally a blockbuster with stratospherical interaction before that became the norm. Struggling opening, but proceeded to feed me thrilling combat sequences- A mesmerizing building jump cutscene that lives rent-free on my head and escalating hoops of fire for trigger-happy adrenaline. Trains folding into tunnel visions quests of heroic glory, gun-totting knights and falling debris sandwiched seamlessly with puzzle breathing rooms. It's a straight-up Indiana Jones gourmet. Totally prime.

pra um jogo com até que bastante cutscene esparava uma narrativa mais bem feita e personagens menos rasos, mas dá pro gasto. A ação é muito boa e o ápice dela é no meio do jogo com toda aquela sequência do trem, depois escapando da vila, só no finalzinho qye essas situações vão ficando menos criativas e tu só vai estar sendo colocado em salas com spam de inimigos pra tu se virar, semelhante ao primeiro Uncharted. Fora a ação ele não tem muito a oferecer, no máximo alguns cenários bonitos e a trilha sonora até que é legalzinha, as mecânicas de parkour ainda são bem limitadas e é meio chato tu sempre ter só 1 opção de caminho pra seguir, essas partes poderiam não estar no jogo e eu não reclamaria. Enfim, foi muito divertido, um grande passo à frente em relação ao primeiro


was surprised at how well most of this game held up. innovative set pieces, fun story, passable gunplay, and a good dynamic between its core cast of characters.

This entry solidified my adoration for this franchise. Everything got better in this installment. The gameplay, the story, the set pieces, the graphics. Everything. The supernatural twist in this one was also terrifying to me back when I played this. This game blew my little 17-year-old mind.

Uncharted 2 sadly formed into this Call of Duty wannabe, action heavy game, where seemingly everything improved, but became less like an unique experience, and more like a mainstreamed adventure for the masses.

The game is still great, but the charm of the original is long gone, and the cartoony vibes of the original only became visible in the writing department, everything else became a lot more gritty.

The combat seemingly improved and got worse at the same time, with the enemy variety becoming the most frustrating I have ever seen in a TPS action-platformer so far. Sometimes the game can be a nightmare even in normal difficulty with how much it spawns these ridiculusly bullet spongey enemies out from nowhere, creating really unfair situations.

The platforming is obviously a step up from the original and the collectible treasures almost doubled, so finding all of them is a real challenge this time.

What ruins this side of the game is the mentioned action sequences, where the game just throws so much action at you, that you seemingly forget this side of the game, and it becomes Call of Duty really quickly.

My love for this game got referenced in my autism diagnosis

genuinely one of the best opening setpieces ive ever played no joke

Esse jogo seria perfeito se não fosse o chefe final dele que é chato e sem necessidade. Mas ele é tão bom que pra mim não baixa a nota.

It's like every other game in this franchise except for the fourth one, competent and fun, but unfortunately, it doesn't go beyond that.

Played it straight after the first game and more or less directly fell in love with it :D I couldn't believe how much better this game was in all aspects of gameplay and storytelling. I was so happy that there was less shooting and you spend much more time exploring and puzzling. Add to that the unique atmosphere of the Himalayan setting, great music and graphics....it just all feels so well put together, for me Uncharted has never been better than in this installment.

The movie's got nothing on this

So much better then the first one Story/Gameplay/Graphics and much more action packed.

This review contains spoilers

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My Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune review if you want more context (beware of the quality difference! I feel like I’ve improved a lot since then).

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is often heralded a masterpiece, the best of the franchise, and is certainly one of the most beloved Playstation exclusives of all time—with people praising the abundance of exhilarating high-spectacle set pieces, the pulpy nature of both the story and characters, and the pure adventure of it all. If you want a review that’ll regurgitate all of that to you… then you’ve come to the wrong place. I like this game. I enjoyed it. It’s good. And it’s a step-up from Drake’s Fortune. But in my humble opinion, it’s severely overrated, and I’m convinced most people take a big dose of copium/nostalgia when they rate this game a perfect score (not that you shouldn’t). And I get it! This isn’t a first-time playthrough for me, I used to play these first two games religiously when I was younger, and I loved both of them, but as you’ve just read—my love for them has only deteriorated. Recently I’ve found myself longing for something more, something more personal, something that might challenge me—however that may be, and maybe that’s on me for placing such expectations on an Uncharted game, but I go into every game with those expectations—sometimes they’re met, sometimes they’re not—regardless, I appreciate the games that make me feel, more than the games that are nothing but a short stop at the entertainment venue. Which is all this game is. It’s not complex, it’s very simple in fact—too simple. There’s no finesse or depth to the combat, the platforming is nothing but an excuse to prolong the game and give you a chance to look at some beautiful environments (the only valid reason), the puzzles are still the most undemanding and pointless inclusions I’ve ever seen in a game like this; everything—from the gameplay to the story is by-the-books and uninspired. It’s like Uncharted 2 is an appetizer—something light before the main course; an experience so weightless, that you’ll forget it ever happened within a week of finishing the game (I know how silly that sounds given its acclaim). But you might ask… why the three stars (albeit an extremely low three)? Well for that reason alone: the entertainment value. I can’t deny that I had fun. So from here on out, this review will be split into three parts: the story, characters, and gameplay. And will detail why I—personally—believe these aspects to be a front for Naughty Dog to fill the screen with destruction galore and a bunch of big explosions.

I’m not going to shamelessly recap the story, if you want—here’s a short video that’ll do just that in case you haven’t played the game, but… who hasn’t? So if you can go off by memory, then do that—but let’s not kid ourselves here, this game doesn’t have much of a story so you’ll be fine!

I want to paint a picture for you. Imagine laying down on your bed during a rainy night, turning on your PS5, booting up the game… and you hear it. Those drums—in quick succession, building. The brass coming in with an adventurous and heroic melody, slowly dying down to reveal a melancholic strain that—signifies something more, something deeper; before building one final time to finish in an epic flourish that combines both parts. That’s right… it’s Nate’s Theme 2.0. Differing from 1.0 in the way of more instruments, but I’m no music expert so I can’t really elaborate on that. This theme—unlike the actual game—imbues nostalgia in me on a level I can’t describe, and is able to deliver more emotion—than the entirety of the game—in less than two minutes. Greg Edmonson clearly wanted to iconify something, and he succeeded with flying colors. This singular theme is some of the best video game music I’ve ever heard, and clashes tonally with the story of Uncharted 2 in a way that has always stood out to me. It’s deep, thought-provoking, and emotional—whereas the story is none of those things. In typical Uncharted fashion, it’s an amalgamation of tropes from a bunch of action-adventure movies that were released in the 80s, with the huge one being Indiana Jones; the globe-trotting adventure, the romance, the betrayals, the artifacts, the villain’s self-serving desire to rule the world—among many, many more. Which is why people often defend the pulpy nature of it. They say “It’s not meant to be thought about!”. They say “Don’t take it so seriously!”. They say “Who cares? It’s just an action movie!”. I say… is the genre of action-adventure-pulp an excuse to write a painfully mediocre script that massively prioritizes style over substance whilst expecting the audience to not question any plot decisions? Because there’s a ton of stuff that doesn’t make any sense in this game; alongside creative decisions I fundamentally disagree with (I’ll go into some of those when I talk about characters). So as per usual, Nathan Drake is back to steal another artifact so he can stock up on some V-Bucks given how his last adventure left him broke—both in terms of relationship and financial status. I’m bringing this up because it’s one of my biggest issues with the story here; there’s hardly any connective tissue between Drake’s Fortune and Among Thieves. It’s a sequel, yes, but I’m confident anyone could start with this one without batting an eye. It’s a return to normalcy. A return to the status quo. Last game’s story? Oh that! Forget about it… I mean it. Nate and Elena’s promising relationship? Yeah? I said fucking forget it dude… or else. Because they got together and broke up off-screen! It’s a shining example of the similarities between Uncharted and other action-adventure/espionage films such as Indiana Jones or James Bond—odd example, I know—but it’s an issue that plagues a lot of these massive blockbusters, the fact that nothing ever progresses from one to the next apart from obscure references. It’s all a clean slate! None of it will ever amount to any meaningful character work or a storyline (or a part of one) that develops throughout the entire series. I understand that’s a defining characteristic of these films/games, but it’s an aspect that’s always been seared into the back of my brain while playing—that none of it matters, the outcome will always be the same. And maybe it speaks to my disinterest in the genre of action-adventure pulp, but it’s hard to be invested. It’s hard to care. And is that an unfair mindset to hold… since that’s exactly what Naughty Dog were aiming for? I don’t know. I can’t tell you that. Maybe. Maybe not. All I can do is tell you how this game made me feel. And it made me feel precisely nothing. If it weren’t for some of those high-octane set pieces, this would easily fall into the forever nothingness of… “mid”.

To be completely blunt, there’s not much worth talking about in terms of story—that wouldn’t be me mindlessly recapping it while interjecting at certain points with a comment. It’s all based around beats like “Hey, take a look at this map/note/symbol”, “Let’s go here”, set piece ensues, which now that I’m thinking about it… is a critique in and of itself huh? But I’d much rather talk about Among Thieves’ implementation of the supernatural… You can probably tell by my “tone” that I don’t really like the supernatural element in this franchise at all. Now, this is the part where a lot of the Uncharted fandom is divided. Some fans love it—exclaiming that it’s what gives these games their own identity; while other players (myself included) dislike it because of their intrusiveness and out-of-place feel. I want to preface that having supernatural elements isn’t inherently a bad thing, I actually applaud Naughty Dog for taking that approach in the first place; as I would agree with “some fans” in saying it gives these games a unique touch… but the execution is half-baked at best. The structure of exploring these elements has been the same in both games; occurring towards the latter-half, introducing fresh locales with new (annoying) enemies—which links in with gameplay—and treating the whole ordeal as a twist (from the perspective of the characters). It comes off as very predictable storytelling. There’s always a massive change in tone that happens during the second half—as it’s kept relatively “grounded” for the first. It’s inconsistent and an annoying way of splitting up the game. If they’re going to go in that direction, then commit to the idea of the supernatural? It’s no surprise that the beginning-to-middle of these games are always the most enjoyable and fresh parts (for a myriad of reasons—gameplay included). It’s funny, because I genuinely like the setting of Shambala towards the end, but how come we didn’t get to spend any time there? Apart from two—heavily combat focused—chapters. Let me absorb the gorgeously vivid, breathtaking atmosphere, let me explore the undeniably zany culture of the guardians, let me ground myself in this completely new world! But no, instead we have to hurry to the next set piece! This hearkens back to what I said about Uncharted’s story elements near the beginning of my review; it feels like they’re an excuse to push the player into countless action sequences. Can they ever slow down? Can they ever actually take the time and effort to do something outside the box? Hell, even the Indiana Jones movies did that! And the rushed nature of the Shambala segment wasn’t even worth it, because it resulted in a laughably bad boss fight followed by a (pretty much) beat-for-beat ending of the first game. Like??? I’m sorry if all of this comes off as nitpicky or… petty, but I don’t know how else to express my thoughts on this game, it doesn’t sit right with me. And to end this segment off, I don’t know why Nate and Elena have trouble believing in Shambala's legitimacy when they literally encountered Nazi-fucking-zombies in the last game? Why do they all of a sudden find the possibility of a secret city hard to believe… it makes no sense, I don’t buy it. All in all, it’s safe to say that I didn’t enjoy the story of Among Thieves—much like its predecessor! It’s middling in some aspects—downright bad in others, and doesn’t try to do anything new or worthwhile. I don’t know much about Uncharted 4, but I do know that it takes a completely different approach to its storytelling, a far more realistic and nuanced approach, which makes me curious, hopeful, and above all else—excited—to get to that entry.

You got a great ass, Sully.

If there’s one thing I undeniably like about this franchise… it’s the characters—or more accurately their witty and sarcastic interactions with each other. It’s what makes those “going from point A to B” sections of the game tolerable and occasionally funny. What’s better is there’s more characters in this one. In Drake’s Fortune it was mostly centered around Nate and Elena—who have the least amount of chemistry due to the fact that they’re both very different people and thus have less of an aptitude for bouncing off of each other in humorous or creative ways. Not to say that I don’t like her or the pairing in general—because I do! It’s actually one of my most anticipated aspects of the fourth game, but the writing lets it down in this entry because of how focused it is on those sarcastic comments instead of building up their relationship or showing why they even… like each other? I need more to truly care about them as a couple; instead of constantly telling the audience that Nate’s jealous of Jeff through little remarks with Chloe, how about you have Nate talk about what exactly their relationship was like, what went wrong, and why he wants to get back together with her. I know you’d be sacrificing the humor (for a few chapters), but it’d do magnitudes in building up their dynamic. What’s even better is you could intertwine those moments around Chloe. Build up all three of their characters at once! But they clearly had no intention of doing anything even remotely similar to that… which is why the ending when they get back together comes off as rushed and weirdly… out of place? I didn’t pick up on any sexual tension between them while playing, it’s not like they were getting closer or more intimate throughout. It’s almost like it’s a happy ending for the sake of a happy ending, it means precisely fucking nothing because it says nothing. I do wonder if they’ll still be together in the third game, or if she’ll even be in the next game. Maybe a potential return to the status quo!? I can’t wait!

Nate & Chloe take more of the focus here (at least for the first half), a nice surprise since I liked her selfish and double-crossing manner—in what is otherwise an underdeveloped character—making for some fairly compelling and unexpected moment to moment gameplay. She’s just really fun?—as if this franchise needed even more of that… but it does make me excited for her spin-off. The title of best duo easily goes to Nate & Sully though, which is a shame considering he’s only in two chapters. That’s a missed opportunity and a half. So much of Uncharted’s identity is based around their father-son bond, so it’s weird to me that I haven’t seen any of that two whole games in (much less a critique and more of an observation). Like who the fuck are these people? Does Sully not care about Nate’s well being as he left him with a woman he barely knows to go off to find Shambala of all places? He then magically reappears at the end with no explanation… I really don’t appreciate the Sully underutilization. His displeased reluctancy to every situation is the best part of this series.

A huge point of contention within this franchise is the whole “Nate is a bad person who kills hundreds of people without remorse” argument. I only kind of agree with this. Ludonarrative dissonance is a term that effectively means there’s a difference between the narrative and gameplay elements in a game, one doesn’t necessarily have to adhere to the other for continuity's sake; they’re basically two different—isolated parts of a game that don’t share the same logic. With this term in mind, Nate doesn’t actually kill hundreds of people in a single day, it’s more like a dozen (from boss fights/cutscenes). And I don’t have an issue with this explanation at all, I mean—sure, it’d be an interesting way to deconstruct a character like Nate; integrate themes of mortality and morality, but in the end—it’s not what Naughty Dog were aiming for, so the exclusion is fine. But my issue lies more with how inconsistent that explanation is when you take the ending into account. Why did they bring it up? Why did they call attention to it? If they hadn’t, there’s no issue… but they did. Not only did they call it out through one of the worst villains I’ve ever seen, it’s also an outright dumb thing for the game to do considering they’ve put no effort into establishing that as part of its themes. The closest they get is Nate not wanting to kill any innocent guards during chapter two… but… he throws one off the side of a building? In all fairness, he swims away if you look down, but why would Nate assume that he can swim? Or that the fall wouldn’t kill him since it’s a 15+ story fall? Or that he wouldn’t hit any walls or rocks on the way down? Again, I’m probably not supposed to think about this! But I am, and it makes no sense. It seems like the swimming away part was added to counteract all the people that would’ve called out the inconsistency. It’s half-assed and lazy. Lazarević’s entire speech introduces the idea that Nate is “merciless” and “cruel”... and he’d be right. But why does he then take issue with killing Lazarević when he’s murdered countless goons who have families and are probably only doing their security job? So you’re telling me he can kill goons... but not the one genuinely terrible person who absolutely deserves to die? I got severe whiplash when this cutscene played because of the drastic change in tone; the entire game up until this point had been light fun with a few moments of drama sprinkled in—yet now they’re talking about morality and shared violence—taking issue with killing horrible people when they didn’t before. It’s a weird shift. To my surprise Nate doesn’t kill Lazarević and instead lets the Guardians finish him off—sort of disproving his point, but I’m pretty sure he returns to cool old-fashioned murder right after this game? So I guess it was all in vain and didn’t mean anything. Great! Thanks Naughty Dog, for some genuinely fantastic writing here! I said this before, but I’m fine with ludonarrative dissonance—as long as they don’t call attention to it, but they did the exact opposite, and not only that—but in such an arbitrary way. On a fundamental level, I think story and gameplay should acknowledge each other. I think it leads to a more well-rounded experience, and exhibits intention where there otherwise wouldn’t be, which is contrary to how it appears here—intention-less! And more like a way to cover up their writing mistakes.

The way all of this is delivered through Lazarević is the most shocking aspect though. Lots of people go on about how he’s the series’ best villain, and if that’s the case… what the fuck am I in for with the rest of this franchise? Because he’s not good at all. He comes across as cartoonish and mustache-twirling—and not even in an entertaining or fun way. There’s usually something to latch onto with other roles of the same caliber; the actor’s performance, their personality, mannerisms—but here he’s so shallow. He’s a big tough military guy, who… wants money—no, he wants power! Woah! Really fun and creative Naughty Dog! He’s more of a physical obstacle for Nate to overcome than a character with his own story. Does he impact Nate in any meaningful way? Does he allude to any themes? Does he do anything of value? No. He’s dull and generic. I can’t stress enough how bored I was whenever he popped up. Flynn on the other hand would’ve been a much better alternative, he actually had a charming personality and some chemistry with Nate—not to mention history too! I don’t know why he went out in such a disappointingly anticlimactic way when he was clearly the superior character.

Yeah, good luck pal, that's almost impossible to- oh, you did it. Nice.

We’ve arrived at Uncharted’s most middling aspect, and that’s obviously the gameplay. I’d say this is a universally agreed on opinion, I don’t think anyone genuinely likes Uncharted’s gameplay enough to play an isolated version of it. It’s not what makes their games, as it’s a common complaint thrown at literally everything they’ve ever developed. There’s more variety in Among Thieves when compared to Drake’s Fortune no doubt—as it’s a sequel, but I don’t think it fixes any glaring issues the first game had, or improves upon any existing systems in noticeable or note-worthy ways. But… how can they really improve this system? Structurally, it requires the player to rush into every room to hit headshots with a bunch of interchangeable weapons; there’s not much here, they dug their own grave when they made the gameplay take the form of a semi-grounded cover shooter. Naturally, a lot of this game’s praise comes from the set piece moments—and oh lemme tell you! They’re fun as hell! Going from that iconic first chapter of having to scale a train that’s slowly toppling down a cliff—while bleeding all over the place, to sliding down a collapsing building, progressing through a moving train while being bombarded by a helicopter, running from a tank, hopping from moving truck to moving truck—albeit clunkily… it’s all great stuff. There’s a lot of variety in terms of set pieces here. But seeing how (mostly) short they are, it doesn’t sustain the game with “fun” throughout, as right after one of these… you’re forced to do another shooting room! And another climbing section! And for some unknown reason… the first chapter again (that’s right they make you repeat it twice, they could’ve easily connected the two timelines by having Nate resume from where he was before). They also could’ve put more effort into making mundane objectives more fun… like to disable an alarm system in chapter two all you have to do is flip a lever by finding it in the most obvious place ever and pressing a single button. Like that’s it? Hell if that’s what it takes to turn off alarms maybe I should get into the burglary business! I know it shouldn’t explicitly adhere to reality’s rules, but they could’ve done something there? Put in a short minigame, a puzzle of sorts—as it already has a limited number of those. I say all of this but I actually did enjoy the stealthy nature of the second chapter, I thought it was a unique way to pace the game out and it was surprisingly creative with unconventional level design. Rooftops laid out in a fairly linear but open type way, never making the player feel like they’re on rails or being guided by a hand in the sky; allowing for choice (although usually only two) in terms of how you approach “combat” scenarios or make your way to the next objective. Thankfully the QTE’s from Drake’s Fortune are gone too, but there’s still remnants of that here. Button prompts are littered everywhere (although I guess that’s a staple of the seventh console generation), but I wish they flowed into gameplay seamlessly instead of being real-time cutscenes. It’s a whole lotta “boost me”, “pull down the bridge”, “open the door”, it exemplifies the “companionship” vibe, but gameplay-wise—it does nothing and its repetitiveness is starting to sink in for me.

Similarly, the same thing can be said about the shooting—but I won’t be as gracious with it… It’s the goddamn same. Among Thieves? No dude, it’s Drake’s Fortune. There are no improvements here, apart from a bigger variety of weapons that don’t impact gameplay whatsoever, as you can practically put all the weapons into one of two groups: slow fire rate vs fast fire rate; and the difficulty of the fight will be determined by which of these you have. The awful—inaccurate bloom makes its return; when my crosshair is directly on top of an enemy’s head, the bullet somehow flies off to fucking Mars? The shooting is arcadey enough as it is, so I don’t know why they would intentionally make it this way. It’s so heavily rooted in luck. The weapons in general lack kick and oomph. Sound design is flat and sterile so it feels like you’re using a pea-shooter most of the time; guns do not feel like guns. This next thing might sound like a nitpick, but it makes a world of difference in a heat-of-the-moment shoot-out; whenever you’re aiming and decide to change shoulders—and by chance let go and re-aim, it switches back to the default (right) shoulder. This disrupts the flow of gameplay since it constantly demands changing it back—causing a potential death (this is especially annoying on crushing/brutal difficulty). It’s even worse on specific chapters that have shallow walls placed in the environment—meaning you can’t properly hide behind them (without using the cover mechanic—which in and of itself is hit or miss and doesn’t work a lot of the time). Although I appreciate that Among Thieves places most cover spots in naturalistic parts of the map; for example, in a jungle, a cover spot might be a tree, whereas the first game had an excessive amount of boxes placed everywhere, even if it made no logical sense (this is still a problem here, but less prominent). And a little side note; I genuinely hate the M32 Hammer and the RPG. Those two weapons don’t have a blast radius which is an odd choice. They both shoot explosives, and I have to treat them like any other gun—directly shooting at enemies’ chests. It’s just another reason—in a sea full of them—that the guns feel awful. Where’s the distinctiveness? Where’s the power and force? They’re fucking explosives! It’s really lackluster weapon design.

You know those moments in God of War (2018) when you’re climbing a mountain, or shuffling through a crack in a wall to another section of the map, or generally scaling something? Yeah, those moments work because you have constant banter, and more often than not important character building. There’s a back and forth there. Which is the entire reason those moments work. They progress arcs, give context—have value, and generally provide something to hold your attention as you get to the next fight or story moment. Among Thieves doesn’t have any of that. It feels like you’re climbing just for the sake of climbing. There’s some occasional banter, but with all the issues I went over regarding characters—those don’t do much when all they’re good for is making you laugh (sometimes). Are the environments captivating to observe from such heights? Yeah. But that’s not enough of a reason to validate the entire existence of the aforementioned gameplay segments when that’s all you’re doing. These moments are the worst parts of the entire game, not for any insulting or frustrating reason, but more so because they’re just really boring to play, and that’s arguably the most heinous thing a game can do. Not to mention how clunky the movement is in general. I don’t know if this was only an issue on my end, but Nate would sometimes jump/climb in the wrong direction despite me pressing/holding the right buttons. And it only became really noticeable on my third playthrough. The only time the platforming worked for me was chapter six, when you were in Nepal and were going in and out of this huge building as you made your way to the top. I liked the scale and the intricacies of the layout. But nothing—and I repeat nothing, will make me hate the fake-out falls any less. Am I a fucking moron? Because I don’t get what these add to the game. Some tension? Some fear? Or is it to make the game more cinematic? If so that’s all well and good, but maybe keep a limit on them? Don’t throw in hundreds scene after scene (slight exaggeration but that’s what it felt like). The one huge positive I’ll say is that they went above and beyond with the placement of treasure. Something as miniscule as collecting collectibles has never been quite as satisfying, and it’s all very creative and clever. There’s a genuinely worth-while incentive to grab them too—with rewards such as skins, cheats, weapons, etc, being unlocked. It makes future playthroughs more fun and I wish this was standard practice in most games with collectibles.

But all of these issues (with shooting and movement) culminate in the boss fights, and it’s almost like I’m fighting against the game during those moments, which is obviously frustrating. The train carriage one was tacked on—it didn’t serve a purpose, and felt claustrophobic (I realize that’s intentional, but the shoddy movement made it a nightmare). Lazarević’s was the biggest headache though, that’s the one that seriously made me question the purpose behind them in this particular franchise. Every single one up until this point has felt like a gimmick, been repetitive—and not something that’s even remotely belonged. It speaks to Naughty Dog’s roots with Jak and Daxter, but they’re two completely different franchises, and trying to carry that formula into Uncharted doesn’t work. They should really let it go. And it sucks because that’s not even the worst part, the guardians are. As I’ve said, I don’t inherently mind the supernatural elements, you can have them! But for the love of god… please don’t put in bullet sponges as substitutes for enemies. Is pumping around seven entire mags into a single guardian supposed to be fun? Or just annoying? It’s not engaging, it’s dull—even when you can kill them faster using a crossbow. If anything this is consistent with the first game. Drake’s Fortune also introduced enemies during the second half that were annoying to fight—both are lame attempts at enemy variety.

The last thing I’m going to talk about regarding Among Thieves’ contents are the puzzles. I’m sure it’s not surprising at this point that I didn’t like them either. Again, it’s the same issues that plague Drake’s Fortune. There’s not enough of them, they’re incredibly easy, and they lack creativity. Imagine my shock when I was on chapter 19 (seven away from the ending) and the game had only given me two full-on puzzles to do. And I’d be fine with that number if they were challenging… but they’re not. They all revolve around symbol matching. Like am I playing fucking Candy Crush or something? Maybe root some of them in the environments? Maybe design them intricately instead of completely laying out the answer for me in Nate’s journal? I had more fun during an environmental “puzzle” when the game introduced a minigun-wielding-brute enemy during the train chapter, and required me to shoot the chains that were holding all the tree logs together where he was coincidentally standing so I could kill him… that was brilliant, and actually funny. Everything else was not.

The obligatory optimization/technical paragraph: I can never escape these… Enemy waves loop if you don’t go to the exact place the game wants you to be at. If you get ahead of the NPC companions when climbing—and they happen to catch up, you’ll be knocked off and have to restart entire checkpoints. There was a bridge bug I encountered which made it so I couldn’t progress because… I killed everyone too soon? (Basically, the game penalizes you for being too good). You can be shot through walls! Brutal difficulty scaling is still horrible, you’ll die as soon as you spawn leading to many RNG moments! They clearly didn’t even consider the difficulty options when creating some of these chapters, they also could’ve just tweaked enemy starting points to fix this issue, it’s a fairly simple solution I imagine. I’ve heard these are all issues with the remastered trilogy though, so I guess it’s my fault for playing that version.

I know it’s hard to believe… but I did like this game! I still think it’s good (barely). The reason for the score is mostly the set pieces, as without them this would easily fall into mediocrity; which is why this can sometimes read like I’m continuously dunking on it, but that’s because it’s the only consistently positive aspect that is the least versatile in a discussion/review.

(This isn’t a part of the review). I honestly didn’t expect for this review to be so long, I thought it was going to be a shorter one but I just kept writing and writing, and it turned into another long one! I need to do less of these, I swear to god…

Playtime: 33.4 hours

Every Game I’ve Ever Played - Ranked (By Score)
Playstation Exclusives - Ranked
Naughty Dog - Ranked
Uncharted - Ranked
2009 - Ranked

An all around improvement to Uncharted 1, better set pieces, more colorful and detailed, better shooting, story and pacing. There are some bad things I don't see a lot of people talking about though, the game is kinda glitchy (at least the Nathan Drake collection version) the end portion is kind of weak, and the final boss in the hardest difficulty is absolutely god-awful, he is so unfair and frustrating that it just makes you want to stop playing and just watch the final cutscene on YouTube. I only managed to beat him because I accidentally glitched into a wall where I could shoot him, but he couldn't hit me (happened twice, but I accidentally glitched back in and died the first time) Overall, a very good game, and a great sequel 7.5/10

Story and Gunplay didn’t hit for me. Nathan Drake is pretty cool tho.

There was once a stretch of time in my life where Uncharted 2 was my favorite game of all time and replaying it after so long was certainly a strong vindication of why that was the case. This game is nothing less than a shining exemplar of what narrative lead adventure games are capable of and it excels in pretty much every single way imaginable. It’s also proof positive that highly linear game design can still be hugely compelling. From its relentlessly entertaining and action packed story, its colorful cast of likeable and incredibly memorable characters, the practically flawless pacing, the fun and polished gameplay, to the fully playable set pieces that are at once palpably intense and positively exhilarating. The day I stop loving this game is the same day that I become a joyless asshole.

Naughty Dog made improvements from Drake's Fortune. The locations vary from destroyed cities to icy caves. The villain was improved with lines that can be remembered

I'm convinced most of the people that gave this game perfect scores and "greatest playstation game of all time" praise in 2009 never actually played past the train chapter. That being said, these old uncharted games get a lot more fun when you swallow your pride and play them on easy mode, and this game has a few solid hours of really fun and memorable levels.

Liked it. Felt like playing an action movie, massive improvement over the first game. I had a bad experience with the last 2 chapters because of me messing up the configuration of the emulator. Had to play those chapters at a staggering average of 10 fps, it was hard to aim and the enemies were tougher, but I somehow pulled through. Barring that I think the game was amazing, they improved on literally everything, the dialogues, humour, action set pieces and pacing. The story was still goofy tho, did not hook me one bit. Would love to play it again but only if the experience was more stable. Don't know if I'll ever buy a Playstation but I really hope sony makes a pc port for all their classic games.

This review contains spoilers

Luckily, Uncharted 2 improves upon the first game in almost every possible way, with only a few small complaints stopping this from reaching a 5. The story feels way more in depth here, especially compared to the first game. I was very glad by the change of scenery as the first game was ALL IN THE JUNGLE and this had a couple of varied locations that shook up the pace every now and then. The gameplay was much more fleshed out in this game, with the addition of stealth, enemy variety, more weapons and environments made this a way more well rounded experience.
But sadly, there’s a reason this wasn’t a 5, and that odds almost entirely because of the section from after the train crash and before the village under siege section. That section just bored me to my core and I had to take a break because I wanted to play something entertaining. Aside from that though, overall Uncharted 2 is an incredible game that 1-ups its predecessor in almost every way.

About halfway through Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Elena-a journalist turned action hero sidekick-noticed an inscription on the ring of Nathan Drake's iconic necklace. "Sic Parvis Magna," as he explains, was Sir Francis Drake's motto; greatness from small beginnings. And is there any better motto suited to represent the jump from the series debut to its first sequel than that? Uncharted 1 was received well upon release, but it doesn't hold up to modern scrutiny very well, and it's generally considered the worst of the series by far. But Uncharted 2? It's considered by many to be the best in the series, and by some to be one of the best video games ever made, especially at time of release. Hailed as a game changer in the 3rd person action-adventure genre, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves remains an incredible step up from its debut and a definitive reversal of the sophomore slump trope, even if it does fall for some of the same traps as its predecessor.

The typical action movie sequel is all about taking everything good about the original and making it bigger, better, with more danger and higher stakes. A lot of movies end up losing a lot of charm this way. For Uncharted 2, it's anything but. This game is chock full of huge, imposing set pieces-tense and thrilling action scenes which always have you on the edge of your seat. The precedent is established immediately; the game begins in medias res as Nathan Drake awakes on a crashed train, suspended off the edge of a cliff. It's one of the most impressive and jaw-dropping openings in any game, and for the most part, Among Thieves lives up to the expectations set by its introduction. It's here where the differences between Uncharted 1 & 2 are most apparent; whether you're infiltrating a Turkish museum, fighting through a Nepalese temple, exploring Himalayan ice caves, or indeed that opening scene, (which the developers knew was so impressive, they let you play it twice) Uncharted 2 is all about creating massive and memorable scenes which live in the mind far beyond its length. It provides a great sense of variety and scale, and acts as a great backdrop for the actual gameplay.

That gameplay-being 3rd person shooting with some climbing or brief puzzle elements-hasn't changed much from the original, but Uncharted 2 shows that it didn't need to change as much as it may have seemed. It's not perfect; aiming from cover is a bit inconsistent, and enemy AI isn't always the best, but it's surprising how little the core gameplay has to change when the structure around it is so massively improved. Less mobs with huge health pools and less encounters with the supernatural zombie stand-ins both contribute to this game's flow and overall enjoyability. There are still some lessons to be learned, though; Uncharted is a series that should never have boss battles, and both of the ones in this game probably provide the exact opposite of the thrilling experience the developers were going for.

And that's probably not helped by the cast, either. Uncharted 2 is undoubtedly fondly remembered for its lovable main characters, and rightfully so, as they deliver another great performance here. (Although it might be a little too quippy in some parts.) But the main villain in this game is just as uninspired as the first, and his accomplice isn't much better off. It's a shame that, for a character as charismatic and fun as Nathan Drake, that his first two games haven't had anywhere near a worthy foil. And for all his historical knowledge and creative solutions, the puzzles here aren't anything to write home about either. They're technically an improvement from Drake's Fortune, but it's unlikely they left anyone scratching their head for very long. Still, they often served as a welcome reprieve from the gunplay, and any chance for more dialogue in this smartly-written game is usually well taken.

To many, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is where the series really began, and it's not hard to see why. It nearly doubled the sales of its predecessor, achieved outstanding critical acclaim, and helped set the standard for both the Uncharted series and the character-based action game as a whole. This was one of the first games which had enough epic scenes that made you feel like you were playing an action movie, and the graphics to back them up. As a result, it's an incredibly immersive title, especially in its first two-thirds. And even if it doesn't necessarily stick the ending all that well, or fix every single issue that existed in Uncharted 1, the leap in quality has only gotten more noticeable as time has gone on. To take what was a generic, relatively uninspired 3rd person shooter and turn it into this, in only two years? That is immensely impressive. Greatness from small beginnings, indeed.

This really changed my life when it first released. An epic memorable adventure to find the lost kingdom of Shambhala, with some incredible set pieces and a cast thats just special to me.

Cool set pieces and story beats. But unfortunately the combat is still alright and the character writing isn't the best


The controls always just felt so janky to me, like so many deaths were only because the game just didn't do what I was trying to do. I hated some of the larger encounters where enemies just seemingly spawn constantly, and I despised the train part so much for being the worst of both of those complaints. The story, some encounters, and especially the spectacle were way better than the first but I just didn't like it overall.

Makes the First Game Look Dogshit

A very good game that takes the ideas of the first Uncharted and polishes them to an absurd degree. The setpieces in this game are still great to this day. It's also a game that had the whole AAA game "quiet moments where you walk around and look at stuff" trope before it started to feel really worn out.

Oh yeah, the multiplayer in this game was also surprisingly pretty good.