Uncharted 2
Before Naughty Dog created the groundbreaking (and heartbreaking) Last of Us, they worked on a game series nearly as fantastic and considerably more lighthearted. I for some reason skipped out on the first Uncharted game when it came out, but after the amazing response Uncharted 2 received I decided to put it off no longer.
Uncharted is what happens when you essentially reboot Tomb Raider and turn Lara Croft back into a guy. That in itself would have detracted my interest from the series if developer Naughty Dog wasn't so talented at creating incredible characters and fantastic stories. In the end though, Uncharted 2 ends up being very much it's own piece and at that a much stronger game from pretty much every angle. Everything from the shooting mechanics to the accuracy in which you climb about, the strength of the game engine's rendering abilities and the incredible cinematics. Uncharted 2 had really superseded the Tomb Raider franchise. Not that I should be comparing the two per se, but I did actually end up playing Uncharted 2 sandwiched between Tomb Raider: Legends and Tomb Raider: Underworld.
Uncharted 2 is just one of these game that sums up what video games are currently capable of. If you wanted to take someone from the 90's who hasn't seen a videogame for 25 years and wanted to show them what games are like now, this is what you would show them. It's tight, perfected and maintains that cinematic feel that we've been trying to achieve for so often in games for decades. Landscapes stretch out to the edge of the horizon, elemental effects render as they would in real life, characters move with the fluidity of real life. Uncharted 2 is a real accomplishment.
Of course, Uncharted 2 looking amazing is just half of it. What Naughty Dog does so well is very evident in this series, because by the end of the game you have become very invested in the characters and the relationships that developed along the way. Uncharted 2 could have just as easily been a beautiful but shallow game, but instead it will maintain a place in gaming history with some of the greatest video game narratives and characters of all time. Of course, I'm sure everyone who's reading this already knows how great Uncharted is, and for those that don't it's about time you made a place for it in your life.
Uncharted is what happens when you essentially reboot Tomb Raider and turn Lara Croft back into a guy. That in itself would have detracted my interest from the series if developer Naughty Dog wasn't so talented at creating incredible characters and fantastic stories. In the end though, Uncharted 2 ends up being very much it's own piece and at that a much stronger game from pretty much every angle. Everything from the shooting mechanics to the accuracy in which you climb about, the strength of the game engine's rendering abilities and the incredible cinematics. Uncharted 2 had really superseded the Tomb Raider franchise. Not that I should be comparing the two per se, but I did actually end up playing Uncharted 2 sandwiched between Tomb Raider: Legends and Tomb Raider: Underworld.
Uncharted 2 is just one of these game that sums up what video games are currently capable of. If you wanted to take someone from the 90's who hasn't seen a videogame for 25 years and wanted to show them what games are like now, this is what you would show them. It's tight, perfected and maintains that cinematic feel that we've been trying to achieve for so often in games for decades. Landscapes stretch out to the edge of the horizon, elemental effects render as they would in real life, characters move with the fluidity of real life. Uncharted 2 is a real accomplishment.
Of course, Uncharted 2 looking amazing is just half of it. What Naughty Dog does so well is very evident in this series, because by the end of the game you have become very invested in the characters and the relationships that developed along the way. Uncharted 2 could have just as easily been a beautiful but shallow game, but instead it will maintain a place in gaming history with some of the greatest video game narratives and characters of all time. Of course, I'm sure everyone who's reading this already knows how great Uncharted is, and for those that don't it's about time you made a place for it in your life.
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