Uncharted 2: Among Thieves game review (PS4)

Here's what you need to know; Drake's got himself into some serious trouble when his fellow tomb raiders screw him over in a heist, and he learns that the mystery client who hired them is a psychotic warlord with dreams of becoming a god. Now the race is back on, this time to find the fabled city of Shambhala before the evil Lazarević  gets to it first, but as usual, things are more complicated than that, and Drake will soon find himself questioning what is and isn't possible.
yes, I've been tremendously sloppy these past few weeks, almost impressively so if I do say so myself, but Uncharted 4 is coming; tomorrow, in fact. So my piss poor management of time will have to wait, because I wanted to review the highest point of the Uncharted franchise, a game that has personal significance to me, since it actually helped me through the lowest depression of my life, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.

You know what kind of game you're in for the instant it starts, with Nathan Drake fatally injured on a train hanging off of a cliff, with very little context, it sets the tone marvellously, this is not just a heavier game than the first, it's also much more insane. The trinity of superb characters from the first game, Drake, Elena and Sully are all back, though sadly Sully does take a bit of a back seat to the new characters this game throws at the player, mainly Chloe and Flynn. Chloe, in addition to complicating the romance element of the game somewhat, more profoundly complicates the plot of the game too, with her wishy-washy allegiance and highly questionable trustworthiness. Just like the trinity though, she's fast and witty, and bounces off Drake in often really funny ways, and thankfully her intrusion into the romance element is also done really well, not in an awkward way like you'd expect, it doesn't bog down the plot at all, which is a plus. Flynn on the other hand, is more of an example of how it's hard to hate a character in this series, even when they're complete fucking arse holes, weird thing is I really like Flynn too, he's funny and witty too, and his more rigid loyalties makes him a very effective blocker to Drake's quest, it's particularly funny when he and Drake talk shit to each other, and, without spoilers, his character ending is rather deserving and satisfying. The villain is, however, kind of flat, your typical evil Russian guy, but even he has his moments, 2 in particular that are very effective, but I'll stay quiet on them. I said before that this is a heavier game than the first one, and it most certainly is, dealing with more mature and loaded subjects than the first, and having more emotional scenes with Drake and the other characters, as the game comes to a close in particular, things really start to get rough, and the ending is lovably warm-hearted. The story is more globetrotting than the first too, as Drake travels to from the swampy jungles of Borneo, to the war ravaged streets and rooftops of Nepal, to the treacherous snowy peaks of the Himalayas. This increase in scenic diversity is very helpful when you consider that this game is longer than the first, and more involved from a gameplay and story stand point.

The game plays very well, retaining many of its tricks from the first game, you still have 2 weapon slots, a 1 handed gun and a 2 handed gun, and there are more guns here too, including a slow but crazy powerful crossbow you get near the end of the game, and heavier weapons like grenade launchers and mini guns. Similar to the first game though, none of these weapons really are that one, you'll not be gravitating to any particular weapon, and will more likely be swapping them out when and if you need to in combat. New enemy types mix things up, but that isn't necessarily a good thing, the first game had freaky Gollum zombies, which were annoying in their numbers and persistence, but this game has something worse, freaky grey Hulk monsters that do crazy damage, are really fast, and absorb bullets like they're a strong breeze or something, they compound a bizarre difficulty spike in the latter half of the game, there's a surprisingly noticeable increase in difficulty with the combat, a greater emphasis on stealth makes things easier, but when that doesn't work, expect death, at the very least. The platforming and climbing is less fiddly than the first game, so less pointless deaths and suicidal leaps, though one time does really stand out to me when I died about 5 times in a row because I had to grab a ledge within a time limit, and Drake just wouldn't do it, that still happens, and it's still annoying. the Puzzling has, like the combat, become more challenging since the first game, and while there's no noticeable spike, the puzzles can get a bit brain hurty, that contrasts however with the really cool puzzles of which the game has at least half a dozen, maybe I'm just thick. The collectable treasures are back, and either they're easier to find or there is a shit-load more of the things scattered throughout the game world, again, some of them are not well hidden, others are, and others are easy to spot, but more challenging to get to than they first appear, it's not Arkham City, but they're fun little things to sniff out. Finally, I said at the start that this game is more insane than the first, and it very much is, with out of control set piece carnage that is splendid to look at, if you had time to look at them instead of running for your life from them, there are numerous times in this game when the world literally starts falling apart around you and you just have to leg it, and it is the most pulse pounding shit this game has to offer by far, providing a rush the combat and platforming doesn't even come close to providing, one very good example of this shit is a sequence in a building with a gunship outside trying to kill you, the madness that ensues is literally like an interactive version of a Roland Emmerich movie, it's awesome.

Uncharted 2 steps it up, with a superior and more emotional story, improved combat, smarter puzzles, and an overall larger scale than the first, the game does suffer somewhat form some of the issues that have stayed from the first, and the difficulty spike does make the combat feel more derivative, as well as being annoying, but the amount of fun this game offers, and emotional punch and fun characters more than make up for that, this game is fantastic, and an absolute much play.