Look, I Have My Own Bucket! | Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Review

<p>Imagine you are sitting in a train&period; Now&comma; imagine you have a bullet lodged in your gut&comma; and you&&num;8217&semi;re bleeding like crazy&period; It doesn&&num;8217&semi;t stop there&period; Now the train you are one is hanging over a cliff&period; Now&comma; since the situation is not dangerous enough&comma; you are thrown out of the train&comma; and you must climb up it to safety&period; That is exactly what happens to Nathan Drake when you start <em>Uncharted 2&colon; Among Thieves<&sol;em>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The first thing you will notice when you start <em>Among Thieves<&sol;em> is just how gorgeous the game looks&period; Naughty Dog has always been the ones to push Sony&&num;8217&semi;s consoles in terms of graphical output&comma; and it shows with each entry in the <em>Uncharted <&sol;em>series&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s a testament to Naughty Dog that a game released in 2009 can be considered one of the best looking games this gen&period; Everything from the character movements to the way the environment looks&comma; <em>Among Thieves<&sol;em> is a graphical tour de force&period; Even the little things&comma; like how the snow sticks to you when rolling&comma; and how your clothes stay wet when swimming is greatly appreciated&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The gameplay is a major step up from <em>Drake&&num;8217&semi;s Fortune<&sol;em> in every major aspect&period; Hand-to-hand combat has been tuned&comma; and aiming your gun is far smoother&period; You also don&&num;8217&semi;t have the problem of your enemies being bullet sponges&period; Sticking to cover and platforming is still a simple and satisfying experience&period; Overall&comma; Among Thieves improved everything that people complained about in <em>Drake&&num;8217&semi;s  <&sol;em>Fortune&comma; and provided the foundation for <em>Drake&&num;8217&semi;s Deception<&sol;em>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;marco-uncharted-2-thieves&sol;www-videogamesps3-com-uncharted-2-among-thieves-drake-with-shield&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-20891"><img class&equals;"alignnone size-large wp-image-20891" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06144701&sol;www-videogamesps3-com-uncharted-2-among-thieves-drake-with-shield-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"590" height&equals;"331" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;">Naughty Dog also upped the amount of intense set pieces in <em>Among Thieves<&sol;em>&period; You will be jumping from a falling train&comma; running from a helicopter trying to gun you down&comma; escaping a falling building&comma; and many others&period; I really don&&num;8217&semi;t want to spoil any other set pieces for you&period; These moments are the ones that set <em>Uncharted<&sol;em> apart from the many other franchise out there&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;">The soundtrack in <em>Among Thieves<&sol;em> is fantastic&period; Composer Greg Edmonson has composed the soundtrack for every game in the <em>Uncharted<&sol;em> series&comma; and he has done a fantastic job&period; His soundtrack fits every moment in <em>Among Thieves<&sol;em>&comma; whether it&&num;8217&semi;s intensifying the action or just setting the mood when wondering in the Tibetan village&period; The voice acting should be praised as well&period; Nolan North did a fantastic job as Nathan Drake&comma; which is expected&period; Claudia Black also does an excellent job voicing Chloe Frazer&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;">The story of <em>Among Thieves<&sol;em> is based around the legend that Marco Polo discovered the fabled city of Shambhala&comma; which houses the Tree of Life&period; Drake is brought back into the seedy world of treasure hunting when old friends Chloe Frazer and Harry Flynn convince him that this is an opportunity of a life time&period; Little does Drake know that his employer is Zoran Lazarevic&comma; a war criminal hell bent on achieving immortality and ruling the world&period; Throughout the story&comma; Drake will travel to Borneo&comma; Nepal&comma; Tibet&comma; and other locations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;20892" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-20892" style&equals;"width&colon; 590px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;marco-uncharted-2-thieves&sol;uncharted-2-06&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-20892"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-20892" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06144647&sol;Uncharted-2-06-1024x585&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"590" height&equals;"337" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-20892" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Drake takes in the view of this war torn city&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;">Zoran Lazarevic is definitely a step up from the main villains of <em>Drake&&num;8217&semi;s Fortune<&sol;em>&comma; but he is still a major cliche&period; In fact&comma; the entire story of <em>Among Thieves<&sol;em> is cliched&comma; especially if you have seen a certain movie franchise&period; However&comma; that is not a knock on <em>Among Thieves<&sol;em>&comma; because I am a sucker for a great adventure story&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;">New characters Chloe Frazer and Harry Flynn are welcomed additions to the <em>Uncharted<&sol;em> universe&period; The way they interact with Drake feels natural&comma; you can definitely sense that they have done more than a few jobs with each other&period; Drake&&num;8217&semi;s Fortune gave suggestions that Drake was more than just an everyday adventure&comma; and <em>Among Thieves <&sol;em>shows it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;">Naughty Dog introduced multiplayer with <em>Among Thieves<&sol;em>&comma; and it was more than just a fun little distraction&period; There was a dedicated fan base there&comma; and many of them have moved onto <em>Drake&&num;8217&semi;s Deception<&sol;em>&period; You might be able to find a few matches here and there&comma; but stick with <em>Drake&&num;8217&semi;s Deception<&sol;em> if you have the need to kill your fellow adventurers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;marco-uncharted-2-thieves&sol;uncharted2&lowbar;6&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-20893"><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-20893" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06144635&sol;uncharted2&lowbar;6&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"500" height&equals;"281" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;">I do have two minor complaints with <em>Among Thieves<&sol;em>&comma; and the first complaint has to do with the random difficulty spikes&period; There will be times where you will blaze through several gun fights&comma; and then find yourself replaying a segment a few times&period; There is one particular gun fight that frustrated me towards the end of the game&period; Nothing too major though&comma; you might just have to rely on the good ol&&num;8217&semi; Nathan Drake luck skills a few times&period; The second minor complaint has to do with the puzzles&comma; I found them too easy&comma; but that is just my preference&comma; and not a knock on the game&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;"><em>Uncharted 2&colon; Among Thieves<&sol;em> is beyond a fantastic game&period; This game is such a huge improvement over <em>Drake&&num;8217&semi;s Fortune<&sol;em>&comma; Naughty Dog has really shown people how to make an excellent sequel&period; There is no doubt in my mind that <em>Among Thieves<&sol;em> deserves the perfect score that I am giving it&period; Personally&comma; this is my favorite game in the whole series&comma; but <em>Drake&&num;8217&semi;s Deception<&sol;em> is a very close number and worthy of its perfect score as well&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;marco-uncharted-2-thieves&sol;uncharted-2-screens&lowbar;07-01&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-20894"><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-20894" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;07&sol;06144625&sol;uncharted-2-screens&lowbar;07-01&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"610" height&equals;"300" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;