Is my 4.5 rating totally and completely influenced by the fact that Uncharted 2 was my first experience with the series and with the genre (which I refer to as Indiana Jones games) in general? Yes, it is. Did I totally love nearly every moment of playing Uncharted 2? Pretty much, yes.
I cannot begin to discuss how amazing of an experience playing this game for the first time was, and it truly is something that you can't ever get back. Every moment where the handhold crumbles and/or Drake falls from a structure, losing progress and almost dying made the stakes seem so high. Amazingly seamless transitions from cinematics to gameplay, and back to cinematics make you truly feel like you're playing a movie and keep you engrossed for hours and hours.
I say you can't get it back because, now, after playing all the Uncharted games and the Tomb Raider reboot trilogy, these moments all just feel scripted and false. Like nothing more than "gotcha" jump scares in a low-budget B movie horror.
The gameplay is very well balanced (for the time), and switches at perfect moments between edge-of-your-seat action sequences like running from an armored truck to story-telling cinematics, climbing and puzzle solving, stealth sections, to gun fights. The pacing is excellent and you never have a moment to even consider being bored. Among Thieves wants you to just keep going, and keep going you do. There are so many memorable set pieces and moments in the story that it really is no wonder that Naughty Dog became basically a household name after this one.
I cannot begin to discuss how amazing of an experience playing this game for the first time was, and it truly is something that you can't ever get back. Every moment where the handhold crumbles and/or Drake falls from a structure, losing progress and almost dying made the stakes seem so high. Amazingly seamless transitions from cinematics to gameplay, and back to cinematics make you truly feel like you're playing a movie and keep you engrossed for hours and hours.
I say you can't get it back because, now, after playing all the Uncharted games and the Tomb Raider reboot trilogy, these moments all just feel scripted and false. Like nothing more than "gotcha" jump scares in a low-budget B movie horror.
The gameplay is very well balanced (for the time), and switches at perfect moments between edge-of-your-seat action sequences like running from an armored truck to story-telling cinematics, climbing and puzzle solving, stealth sections, to gun fights. The pacing is excellent and you never have a moment to even consider being bored. Among Thieves wants you to just keep going, and keep going you do. There are so many memorable set pieces and moments in the story that it really is no wonder that Naughty Dog became basically a household name after this one.