Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

A classic adventure game, Uncharted 2 helped change to course of the action adventure genre towards a more cinematic and action oriented route. Uncharted Drake's Fortune may have laid out the ground work for this franchise, but Uncharted 2 took those elements and refined them to create a thrilling and concise adventure. The climbing mechanics are much more intricate, the pacing more exciting, the environments more interesting, the performances more organic, and the plot more dynamic! Uncharted 2 also puts forth the series' first real set pieces, with the iconic dangling from the derailed train, the epic convoy chase sequence, and jumping out of a collapsing building! This game really was a defining moment for the series!

The plot here is pretty well organised and written. It features the same cast of protagonists from the previous game only it introduces a new love interest-ish Chloe, and the two villains; Flint (a snobby old partner who betrays you) and Lazarević (a terrifying Russian war lord). Drake and Lazarević are essentially in a desperate race to find the hidden city of Shambhala which is said to house the cintamani stone, an ancient treasure which supposedly grants the user unimaginable power! Realistic? Prolly not, but even the Indiana Jones movies had some weird supernatural s*** in them! :P The chemistry between the characters is staggering, and the dialog is fantastic! There are tons of memorable conversations in this game; like when Elena first meets Chloe and immediately gets salty , introducing herself as "last year's model", or Drake telling Sully that he has a nice a** as they're scale cliffs, and the hilarious banter between Drake and Flint near the end of the game when the two are forced to cooperate. My only major complaint with the narrative is that Sully takes a back seat for the vast majority of the game, which is pretty well mended by how engaging many of the other characters are.

I think the setting in this game being primarily in Napal was a great choice. Napal is a friggin gorgeous country and Naughty Dog makes great use of the aesthetic whether you're in a city crumbling from the revolution, a small remote village in the mountains, or inside an ancient temple, there are lots of impressive views! The game also puts more emphasis on adventure I found. I absolutely loved exploring the temples in this game, especially since the climbing mechanics were so on point. The whole cavern exploration sequence with Tenzin was a breath of fresh air even if the only enemies you run into during the expedition were those giant scary guardian things! 0_o And on that note I wasn't too bothered by the guardians, sure they were a b**** to battle against but I thought they were pretty cool in a narrative sense but also that they added some variety to the combat late in the game.

Let's talk about the combat, because it's prolly the area of the game that I dislike the most. Uncharted 2 may be more of a proper adventure than Drake's Fortune, but I still feel like it relies too heavily on boring gun fights and shooter tropes. I hated the sequences where you'd be locked in an area forced to fend off waves of enemies, I also never felt comfortable with the game's complex cover system leaving me helplessly vulnerable to getting shot at many times. My least favourite sequences in the entire game were having to take down a tank or armoured air crafts all by my self! It took forever to destroy those things and they never gave you enough ammo so you'd have to run around like an idiot trying to find some! >:( But at the end of the day the combat mechanics work and are tolerable enough to get you through to the next section.

All that said and done this game is wonderful! A thrilling and cinematic adventure that has stood the test of time for the most part. I'd recommend this one to any and all action adventure fans! :D