Finished my 4th playthrough the other day and yeah, this game still slaps. I played on Crushing and outside of spending far too long on the final boss, I found the difficulty to be pretty much perfect (on The Nathan Drake Collection mind you, I’ve heard the original PS3 version suffered from its own share of balancing issues).
It’s crazy to think how much of an improvement this title was over Drake’s Fortune; despite both games being almost identical in terms of mechanics, the way that Among Thieves uses these systems places it in an almost entirely different genre. While Uncharted 1 kept its platforming and puzzle sections independent from its predominantly third-person shooter design, its sequel instead blends its 3D-platformer elements with the standard gameplay of ‘Gears of War meets Tomb Raider’ to create some truly jaw-dropping set-pieces (and also some more memorable puzzles thankfully). I’m not even saying that Drake’s Fortune is a terrible game, Resident Evil 4 had revolutionized the design of 3rd person action-adventure titles only 2 years prior after all, and the original Uncharted is still a fairly enjoyable romp today despite all of its dated aspects. But all someone has to do is play through the train sequence (which boggles my mind how Naughty Dog even got that to work), or the frantic, snow-covered car chase in Tibet, to understand the quality difference between the two games.
While Uncharted 2’s plot doesn’t quite match the emotional power of The Last of Us, it makes up for it with its charming cast, excellent voice acting, and witty dialogue. Whether it be the lovable rogue Nathan Drake, the confident and ever-so-cool Chloe Frazer, or the anti-Nathan found in the character of Harry Flynn, the characters in this game are just plain likable. While there are plot-holes, and the primary antagonist is a little cliched, it all functions well with the self-aware tone of the game, and is again, a major improvement from the mostly barebones story and underdeveloped villains from the first game. My only major complaint really would be that one of the best characters in the series, Victor Sullivan, is dropped from the story pretty early on – I would have liked to have seen more of him.
When broken-down to its basics, this game isn’t actually all that special; it is still Gears of War with an Indiana Jones coat of paint, like the first game. But its about how these lesser parts are used to create something larger, and between all the things I already mentioned, as well as the outstanding visuals and camera angles, Among Thieves still holds up after all these years.
It’s crazy to think how much of an improvement this title was over Drake’s Fortune; despite both games being almost identical in terms of mechanics, the way that Among Thieves uses these systems places it in an almost entirely different genre. While Uncharted 1 kept its platforming and puzzle sections independent from its predominantly third-person shooter design, its sequel instead blends its 3D-platformer elements with the standard gameplay of ‘Gears of War meets Tomb Raider’ to create some truly jaw-dropping set-pieces (and also some more memorable puzzles thankfully). I’m not even saying that Drake’s Fortune is a terrible game, Resident Evil 4 had revolutionized the design of 3rd person action-adventure titles only 2 years prior after all, and the original Uncharted is still a fairly enjoyable romp today despite all of its dated aspects. But all someone has to do is play through the train sequence (which boggles my mind how Naughty Dog even got that to work), or the frantic, snow-covered car chase in Tibet, to understand the quality difference between the two games.
While Uncharted 2’s plot doesn’t quite match the emotional power of The Last of Us, it makes up for it with its charming cast, excellent voice acting, and witty dialogue. Whether it be the lovable rogue Nathan Drake, the confident and ever-so-cool Chloe Frazer, or the anti-Nathan found in the character of Harry Flynn, the characters in this game are just plain likable. While there are plot-holes, and the primary antagonist is a little cliched, it all functions well with the self-aware tone of the game, and is again, a major improvement from the mostly barebones story and underdeveloped villains from the first game. My only major complaint really would be that one of the best characters in the series, Victor Sullivan, is dropped from the story pretty early on – I would have liked to have seen more of him.
When broken-down to its basics, this game isn’t actually all that special; it is still Gears of War with an Indiana Jones coat of paint, like the first game. But its about how these lesser parts are used to create something larger, and between all the things I already mentioned, as well as the outstanding visuals and camera angles, Among Thieves still holds up after all these years.