Uncharted 2: Review

Uncharted 2 is a really, really, really good game. From a technical perspective it is at the top of its game. The modeling, the textures, the animation and sound design are all second to none. I defy you to find a game that looks, feels, and sounds better than this. It is unfortunate then that the one thing that keeps it from being "OMG! THE GREATEST GAME EVAR!" is the same thing that dampens the emotional resonance of many games: Narrative.

This isn't to say the narrative is bad. Not at all, its just not great. The story would fit well within the pulp adventure serials that inspired Uncharted 2 and Indiana Jones. Because of the instituional suppositions of the medium, what works for a movie, as we've seen time and time again, isn't give a chance to work for a game. Bioshock is prime example of this phenomenon. An entirely engaging and immersive gameplay experience hampered by the trappings of its medium.

Uncharted 2 aims to please, and please it does. You really care for the characters, thanks in no small part to the wonderful voice acting and motion capture. There is an instance in particular fairly late in the game in which I actually became choked up, and could feel the tears begin to well, much the same way a movie or book would typically make me feel. I  have never had this experience with a game before. I've felt terror, excitement, frustration and joy while playing games. But never have I felt compassion or genuine sadness. Again, this is entirely due to character performance and dialogue and had little to do with the story structure as a whole.

The biggest issue I had with Uncharted 2 is that it could have gone so much further, but about 3/4's of the way in it realized it was video game and had to throw in some video-gamey bits. Similar to Drake's Fortune, which had its own problems, but with all they learned from a gameplay and technical point of view between 1 and 2, they didn't seem to learn much in the way of how to tell your story.

Without spoiling it, the game itself sets up expectations that it does not follow through with. Not due to story content or action per se, but from the way it tells its story. It would be like if I wrote a novel in which the first half is told from the characters perspective then in the middle it abruptly switches to third person. Where as third person makes you feel like you're watching something, first person makes you feel like you're doing something.

I won't knock it for it's fairly straightforward linear level design, I'll chalk that up to the economics of telling your story the way you want to tell it. Because after all, Uncharted 2 is nothing with out Nathan Drake and what happens to him, as well as his friends, and knowing that something will happen and watching something happen are two entirely different experiences. I can only hope that the inevitable third installment will do for narrative with this game did for aesthetics and game design.