I beat Uncharted 2 today, about 3 hours ago. Before yesterday, I had not played a Naughty Dog game for more than 20 minutes (so, discounting demos) in over 6 years. I went in with the lowest of expectations and I'm glad I did. Oh, and spoilers and such.
First things first, it's still the type of game Jak II was. EDIT: You're going to see a bit of references to Jak II in this paragraph and the next only because it's the most recent ND game I've played and it's the only thing of theirs I can compare it to without going back to Crash Bandicoot. It continues the line of thinking that was started with Jak II that gamers need to care about getting to the end of the game, and the only way to do that is with story instead of well-crafted puzzles and obstacles that become progressively more difficult to achieve, but give the player satisfaction for doing so (and therefore making them want to complete the next obstacle). So Uncharted 2 was unfortunately but at least obviously designed with this mindest from the very start. Unlike Jak II, I knew what I was getting into here.
Also unlike Jak II, this was a well-crafted experience for the most part. It feels like whoever was in charge of Jak II either understood what truly went wrong, or simply was fired from the company. If you're going to make this type of game, it makes much more sense to present it in a very linear fashion, so you feel like you're part of this story that's moving forward (unlike Jak II where you're kinda meandering about this city designed by dumb people).
The game is really gorgeous, and I'm glad I got some HDMI cables back during my playthrough of A Crack in Time. It's really refreshing to see a current gen title that's not afraid to mix in some color with its overabundance of shooting. The animation is top-notch here too, but that's to be expected from Naughty Dog, and especially in a game where story is the main focus above all else. The only thing I disliked, and gradually got used to, were the characters. Man, there are some ugly (Flynn, Nathan) and scary (Chloe) looking characters in this game. I think the first guy I saw who actually looked like a person was Karl. Still, it's a step up from the hideous UEIII humans you see everywhere, and again, the animation is so good you eventually stop caring about their looks because the performances are so realistic.
My favorite parts of the game were always the platformingish bits. My favorite had to be Mountaineering and Heart of Ice. It was pretty much uninterrupted problem solving. I do think Naughty Dog was pretty vague in where to go for a lot of it though, and the game didn't really push the boundaries of what could have been done (part of this is thanks to the story, because it gets pretty crazy for the world of Uncharted 2). There were actually more platforming bits than I expected though, and some was even integrated into the boring shooting parts. Although even then, not all of the shooting was boring, but when you clear an area and Your Buddy says "Oh no! Reinforcements!" it kinda kills that feeling of satisfaction you just had. And some segments just drag on for-fucking-ever. By this, I mean more of the shooting in the city in the first half of the game, and less of the part that was Siege and so on.
Finally, the writing was bad, and this is kind of a big thing for a game where story goes first. I guess we should start off with dialogue. For the first half of the game it goes:
Nathan: Quip quip quip
Flynn: Quip quip?
Chloe: Quip!!
Nathan: Quip quip lol quip quip
And boy does it grate. Everyone is so fucking clever. Between Sully, Nathan, Flynn, and Chloe, I was hoping one of them would get it between the eyes. Flynn especially seemed like too much of a buddy for someone who would betray you. Later, the game kinda let up on everybody being a sarcastic asshole, especially once Elena joined up. I still don't know what exactly Nathan Drake does and why, but we don't really need to know that in the latter half of the game anyway.
Lazarevic seemed to just be there because they needed an asshole villain. Gotta say he was at least a step above Praxis, and thank god no villain from nowhere came out to take his spotlight. He was pretty fucking cliche though- yelling "DRRAAAAAAAAAKE" in the final boss fight, giving the "we're the same" speech (which was almost a facepalm moment). I guess he wanted power because he was crazy. Okay, I can buy that, but the whole "save the world!!!" stuff that comes at the end is stupid. I almost wanted Nathan to turn to the camera and say "because we're self-aware."
Also, everything is just TOO GODDAMN CONVENIENT for Nathan. Just so happens there's a gun capable of downing a helicopter on a train! Just so happens there's five propane tanks in the only train car Nathan's able to hobble over to! Just so happens he's rescued just after he finishes walking with a bullet in his gut in freezing temperatures and collapses in snow!
Back to Flynn for a bit, he's a dick. He's not even a guy I'd love to hate. I'd hate to love to hate that guy. And he seems only to exist for a woman in a refrigerator moment that comes at the very end of the game when he blows himself up because the story decided to stop making sense.
On the plus side, at least some funny stuff happens, and some of the non-shooting scenes are different from the platforming parts (like running from the mercs with a wounded John). I enjoyed the ending, and what really scares Nathan Drake. That banter at the end felt much less forced than the stuff at the beginning. Also, I can buy the whole Mutant Supermen thing after the Mutant Monster things were revealed to be fake. Mutant Supermen were such a step down on the scale of crazy stuff that came out of nowhere and didn't belong in the game that I didn't mind their inclusion. I could have also understood the water/sap acting as some sort of drug, but healing scars? That's bullshit.
I have to say though, despite my opinion about the story and how big a focus it is in this game, I really appreciated the initial back and forth and catching up to a rock and a hard place. Drake's hand puppet show about Flynn's betrayal was probably the funniest thing in the game too.
As a side note: I couldn't help but be reminded of Jak II's final boss when fighting Lazarevic. That game had you run in a circle while shooting at it to kill it. It felt like this was a better designed version of that, with the exploding tree sap adding to the strategy.
Overall, I enjoyed the game. On a scale of one to ten, it'd get something like a six or seven from me (so above average or good). And that's way more than can be said about Jak II. This game had fantastic animation and acting, good graphics, and good platforming bits that went a long way to keeping me interested for 9.5 hours. I said before that ND was full of talentless hacks. Well, they're not. At least not anymore. They're clearly a bunch of really talented folks simply pointed in the wrong direction.
First things first, it's still the type of game Jak II was. EDIT: You're going to see a bit of references to Jak II in this paragraph and the next only because it's the most recent ND game I've played and it's the only thing of theirs I can compare it to without going back to Crash Bandicoot. It continues the line of thinking that was started with Jak II that gamers need to care about getting to the end of the game, and the only way to do that is with story instead of well-crafted puzzles and obstacles that become progressively more difficult to achieve, but give the player satisfaction for doing so (and therefore making them want to complete the next obstacle). So Uncharted 2 was unfortunately but at least obviously designed with this mindest from the very start. Unlike Jak II, I knew what I was getting into here.
Also unlike Jak II, this was a well-crafted experience for the most part. It feels like whoever was in charge of Jak II either understood what truly went wrong, or simply was fired from the company. If you're going to make this type of game, it makes much more sense to present it in a very linear fashion, so you feel like you're part of this story that's moving forward (unlike Jak II where you're kinda meandering about this city designed by dumb people).
The game is really gorgeous, and I'm glad I got some HDMI cables back during my playthrough of A Crack in Time. It's really refreshing to see a current gen title that's not afraid to mix in some color with its overabundance of shooting. The animation is top-notch here too, but that's to be expected from Naughty Dog, and especially in a game where story is the main focus above all else. The only thing I disliked, and gradually got used to, were the characters. Man, there are some ugly (Flynn, Nathan) and scary (Chloe) looking characters in this game. I think the first guy I saw who actually looked like a person was Karl. Still, it's a step up from the hideous UEIII humans you see everywhere, and again, the animation is so good you eventually stop caring about their looks because the performances are so realistic.
My favorite parts of the game were always the platformingish bits. My favorite had to be Mountaineering and Heart of Ice. It was pretty much uninterrupted problem solving. I do think Naughty Dog was pretty vague in where to go for a lot of it though, and the game didn't really push the boundaries of what could have been done (part of this is thanks to the story, because it gets pretty crazy for the world of Uncharted 2). There were actually more platforming bits than I expected though, and some was even integrated into the boring shooting parts. Although even then, not all of the shooting was boring, but when you clear an area and Your Buddy says "Oh no! Reinforcements!" it kinda kills that feeling of satisfaction you just had. And some segments just drag on for-fucking-ever. By this, I mean more of the shooting in the city in the first half of the game, and less of the part that was Siege and so on.
Finally, the writing was bad, and this is kind of a big thing for a game where story goes first. I guess we should start off with dialogue. For the first half of the game it goes:
Nathan: Quip quip quip
Flynn: Quip quip?
Chloe: Quip!!
Nathan: Quip quip lol quip quip
And boy does it grate. Everyone is so fucking clever. Between Sully, Nathan, Flynn, and Chloe, I was hoping one of them would get it between the eyes. Flynn especially seemed like too much of a buddy for someone who would betray you. Later, the game kinda let up on everybody being a sarcastic asshole, especially once Elena joined up. I still don't know what exactly Nathan Drake does and why, but we don't really need to know that in the latter half of the game anyway.
Lazarevic seemed to just be there because they needed an asshole villain. Gotta say he was at least a step above Praxis, and thank god no villain from nowhere came out to take his spotlight. He was pretty fucking cliche though- yelling "DRRAAAAAAAAAKE" in the final boss fight, giving the "we're the same" speech (which was almost a facepalm moment). I guess he wanted power because he was crazy. Okay, I can buy that, but the whole "save the world!!!" stuff that comes at the end is stupid. I almost wanted Nathan to turn to the camera and say "because we're self-aware."
Also, everything is just TOO GODDAMN CONVENIENT for Nathan. Just so happens there's a gun capable of downing a helicopter on a train! Just so happens there's five propane tanks in the only train car Nathan's able to hobble over to! Just so happens he's rescued just after he finishes walking with a bullet in his gut in freezing temperatures and collapses in snow!
Back to Flynn for a bit, he's a dick. He's not even a guy I'd love to hate. I'd hate to love to hate that guy. And he seems only to exist for a woman in a refrigerator moment that comes at the very end of the game when he blows himself up because the story decided to stop making sense.
On the plus side, at least some funny stuff happens, and some of the non-shooting scenes are different from the platforming parts (like running from the mercs with a wounded John). I enjoyed the ending, and what really scares Nathan Drake. That banter at the end felt much less forced than the stuff at the beginning. Also, I can buy the whole Mutant Supermen thing after the Mutant Monster things were revealed to be fake. Mutant Supermen were such a step down on the scale of crazy stuff that came out of nowhere and didn't belong in the game that I didn't mind their inclusion. I could have also understood the water/sap acting as some sort of drug, but healing scars? That's bullshit.
I have to say though, despite my opinion about the story and how big a focus it is in this game, I really appreciated the initial back and forth and catching up to a rock and a hard place. Drake's hand puppet show about Flynn's betrayal was probably the funniest thing in the game too.
As a side note: I couldn't help but be reminded of Jak II's final boss when fighting Lazarevic. That game had you run in a circle while shooting at it to kill it. It felt like this was a better designed version of that, with the exploding tree sap adding to the strategy.
Overall, I enjoyed the game. On a scale of one to ten, it'd get something like a six or seven from me (so above average or good). And that's way more than can be said about Jak II. This game had fantastic animation and acting, good graphics, and good platforming bits that went a long way to keeping me interested for 9.5 hours. I said before that ND was full of talentless hacks. Well, they're not. At least not anymore. They're clearly a bunch of really talented folks simply pointed in the wrong direction.
