LO3: Task 1 - Review - Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Review

Price: £40.00

Platform: Playstation 3 (Exclusive)

Rating: PEGI 15

Developer: Naughty Dog

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment.

Engine: Naught Dog Engine 2.0, Havok

Uncharted 2 is a third person shooter action adventure platformer.

The conventions of a third person shooter is that you can see your whole character and when you aim with weaponry you see over the shoulder of the character with cross-hairs over in front the gun. Uncharted does this excellently and even has a feature called gun-n-run where you can shoot while running and the cross hairs get significantly wider. It takes all the features of a third person shooter and uses it to their advantages.

Comparing it to the other Naughty Dog series Jak and Daxter which is also a platformer and action game with shooter elements, uncharted is much superior as the weaponry and aiming system is more advanced and allows for precise aiming etc. The game also handles better in its platformer elements as you engage with the environment better. But I am comparing it to a Playstation 2 title.

The game opens with you on train in a blizzard hanging of the edge of a cliff and you have several bullet wounds and are covered in blood. After the game teaches you to climb you escape from train and work your way through various wreckages, when you find the puma dagger and pass out in the blizzard. There is then a flashback to you on a resort calmly drinking and enjoying yourself when you are approached by an old friend and his colleague who offers you a job proposition to rob an artefact from a museum for client. During the heist you see various flashbacks to the resort explaining many motives in the game and also more detail into the artefact and the client. You then play the game from the heist up until the train wreck and advance beyond that point.

The story gives you motivation to play the game, as it is a thrilling story with an excellent journey and a fantastic end.

There is a lot of betrayal in this game and it is hard to trust characters etc. that leads to a lot of hesitation and mistrust towards characters. There are also characters you care for and gives you feeling that you need to protect them. This changes all the ways you interact with the characters in the game.

Uncharted games always have elements of historical fiction and in this game it is arguably the strongest of the trilogy, and this engages with target audience as it is a superb story.

The game runs on the Naughty Dog Engine 2.0 (Developed purely for this game). However it uses the Havok physics engine.

The main production process for most of the games animation is motion capture.

Skeleton  - Motion capture

Animated skeleton – Render

Environmental Design – Animate it, render

Like most shooter you need mechanics like grenades throwing and how that interacts with the environment etc. The game also features some destructible environments that require some sort of physic programming. One of the games main features is its free-running/climbing feature that will require a certain level of physic programming or thing like rope swings etc. This enhances the gameplay by giving intense climbing scene with the sense of scale the game gives off when climbing.

Our main protagonist Nathan Drake is a treasure hunter who claims he is related to Sir Francis Drake and is pretty much an all rounder as he can do most things. This is relevant to the target audience as he is in many ways our stereotypical hero and he also is handy with guns, climbing and puzzles. Which is relevant to  the target audience as all these features are needed to link in with the motives and story. This appeals to the target audience as he Is a likeable character and entertains you with various one-liners and interesting character development.

It matches the genre as he is in most forms a stereotypical hero and fits most of the requirements needed for the game.

The whole cast for Uncharted 2 is strong from the stereotypical hero to the fanservice Chloe, to the right hand man Sully, to your innocent Elena to the crazy Russian villain Lazarevic. Even though you can argue most of the character are typical stereotypes to the action adventure genre, they are all strong and have plenty of development and emotional scene attached to them.

Puzzles in the game can be quite challenging the first time round and some difficult gunplay sections and quick time events. There is also a difficulty mode called “crushing” where all the HUD is removed and enemies become weaker and your health is reduced.

The level design is not like a typical level design where there is an obvious route, many scenes in the game are in jungles and other uncharted ways where the route is cleverly hidden, or has multiple routes. There are also intense action scenes (like running along the roof of a moving train while trying to avoid the helicopter trying to kill you) and engaging story.

Progression and survival is key to the game as if you jump to far (while climbing) or miss a shot you can be killed and have to restart from last checkpoint.

The gameplay engages the narrative with intense chases etc. with key character etc.

The gameplay constantly evolves by not using the same scene and scenarios over again there is almost a different and new type of gameplay to every section that smoothly transits without you knowing.

The target audience is anybody interested in an action adventure third person shooter with multiplayer and puzzle aspects. The main audience however would be players who played the previous game Uncharted: Drakes Fortune.

Well Uncharted 2 is a direct sequel to the Uncharted: Drakes Fortune that is an indication that it is for the target audience, plus the title Uncharted implies it is a adventure or mysterious game.

It directly appeals to the audience with an engaging storyline that shows you elements of historical fiction with puzzle side activities and gunplay.

Comparing it to the first game it is far superior as it has a more believable story line, they have added a better combat system with the ability to counter attack and enhanced stealth. It also comes with a multiplayer that the first game didn’t and is graphically superior in almost every way.

Uncharted 2 is exclusive to Playstation 3. As Sony owns Naughty Dog and they’ve only ever developed games for Playstation.

It would make no difference what console the game is on. It is just that Sony owns Naughty Dog.

Overall, this is a fantastic game with a beautiful elegant story set throughout a variety of wonderfully animated environment with solid shooter action and fun competitive and co-operative multiplayer, making this game worthy of a place on your shelf for any PlayStation 3 owner. Recommended for those who like 3^rd person action, wonderful story telling and fans of the series.