What an interesting 12 months its been for Sony - The PS3 went from problem child to serious contender following a rather successful re-launch and re-branding exercise.
In order to assuage negative perceptions of PS3, Sony focused on just how much you can do with the system. A strategy that seems to have worked.
However, despite the European proposition of 'The game is just the start' and the more ballsy American counterpart 'It only does everything', it must be remembered that software shifts systems. Arguably their games line up also improved around about the same time as the price went down and they got their message right.
Part of Sony's resurgence must be attributed to one title in particular then – Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.
As the first of a slew of games that would put clear blue water between the PS3 and 360 in terms of technical performance, Uncharted 2 is a true marvel. It is pretty much impossible to play this and not be impressed at the work by the team at Naughty Dog.
The game really does shine – even today after visual wonders like God of War 3 and FFXIII have graced my TV, Uncharted 2's rich colour palette and striking attention to detail still seem pretty much unmatched.
Take the start of chapter 5 an example – in the space of five minutes you are chased by an exploding jeep and involved in a short firefight before a bus crashes through your opposition. Following this the said bus explodes in your face and you are forced to find a route around the wreckage. Most games wouldn't have this many set pieces in entire levels, in Uncharted 2 this is within a few minutes.
However, it's when the pace slows down the real artistry of Naughty Dog's team comes to the fore – in the previously mentioned level, there's a huge amount of bombastic (I know, I can't believe I used that word either) action, but after the bus explodes you are forced to climb a sign post and enter a bombed out building – suddenly you stop, look around, and then you see the following; flags, fluttering in the wind, reflective rippling puddles in and amongst the surface of the road, all kinds of remains of human life, bicycles, and plants on window sills. Then you enter the building and notice more of that beautiful water effect – only this time it's casting dappled light on the walls. You make your way through the building and come across a bookcase with books and all kinds of objects scattered across the floor.
Put more simply, the attention to detail is staggering. The sheer range of textures and lighting effects on show at once simply boggles the mind. When you combine this level of minute detail with the high-action set pieces that happen in the very same space, all in realtime, it's very hard to think of anything that comes close.
But the real beauty of Uncharted 2 is that all of this technical stuff pales into insignificance compared to what else the game achieves. The soundtrack could easily grace a Hollywood blockbuster and the plot flows beautifully throughout the whole game – it's an almost effortless tale of intrigue, mystery, and revenge.
The controls are as smooth as silk too – while some developers struggle to get controls working well on the Dualshock, Uncharted 2 proves that this isn't some fundamental design flaw of the sensitivity of the analogue sticks. From moving your character around with pleasing (but by no means realistic) mix of weight and agility, to lining up headshots with a sniper rifle, the game controls like a proverbial hot metal implement through a fatty dairy product.
In terms of the plot, the supernatural outcome of the story was controversial with some reviewers at launch, but personally I think the expectation of some larger-than-life twist (a precedent set by the first game) has become somewhat of a hallmark of the Uncharted series. The addition of fantasy elements also prevents the game becoming too serious.
There's been much talk of the place of 'realism' in modern video games – a move towards realism in the gritty Call of Duty sense if you will. But Uncharted 2 shows that realism can be achieved without being 100% realistic – and it's a happy balance. The world and characters of Uncharted are utterly believable, despite a slight tendency towards comic-book hyper-reality. The upshot of this is that the game isn't rendered in 100 shades of brown and has a totally cohesive look where all the elements come together.
All in all then, Uncharted 2 is a poster child for the PS3 and a game which any self respecting gamer should own and cherish. In fact I could only think of two downsides to this game; firstly, it ends. Secondly, finishing it makes the wait for Uncharted 3 almost unbearable.
The bottom line being that you owe it to yourself to play this game – titles like this only come around a few times in any generation and to miss them, well, you know the rest.
