Drake wants in.

The Script is straight out of Spielberg’s top drawer and this is why Naughty Dog spent so much on developing this aspect of the game. As well as the actors, every inch of Uncharted 2 is pawed over by the team of designers, artists and programmers at the studio. Every set piece is directed with care, even down to a tiny drop of water falling in the background. As with the original, the idea is to deliver a Hollywood experience, which also means there will be no loading times to break the game’s movie appeal. There will be no install either – the game will use the same unique system created for the first Uncharted whereby the game caches straight to your PS3’s hard drive as you play. Installs occur behind the scenes. As you play out one section, set piece mission, the next is being loaded in the background, seamlessly.

This is quite a feat when the game is seen running. The ‘traversal gunplay’, Naughty Dog’s new phrase for its mix of platform shooting, is more expensive than in the original. Whereas Drake could only shoot from certain positions in the original game, he can now pull off out a gun and take a potshot at any point in a level. Whether he’s running, swinging or climbing; hanging from a cliff-face or even climbing a rope, Drake can take a shot.

Traversal tricks

What’s more impressive is this mechanic is taken further; Drake can now perform all these actions while on moving objects. There will be moments in Uncharted 2 when you’ll be hanging from the back of a lorry, gun in hand, shooting at hired help. Naughty Dog has teased us journalists with the idea that at one stage in the game Drake will be leaping from truck to truck in a moving convoy, Indiana Jones style. There will also be a train chase in which you use the traversal gunplay to fight over and along a train as it careers to a very explosive end. It’s the concept of moving on moving things that should ensure Uncharted 2 feels like a significant improvement over the original game. Some of this style of play was shown of in a demo that featured Drake making his way through a nondescript war-torn city in Nepal. At one point Drake clambered onto a sign that read ‘Hotel El Dorado’, a neat reference to the events of the original game (Naughty Dog is placing hidden notes like this throughout the game for the fans to spot). As Drake made his way through the backstreets, inching across ledges and ducking behind burned out cars, the stealth gameplay came to the fore. Don’t fear though, Uncharted 2 isn’t Metal Gear Solid – this sequel is no more stealthy than the original, where you could choose to take out enemies with a quiet neck-snap or with a full-on frontal assasult. In the Nepal city fight, Drake bounded up streetlights, leapt from storefront to signpost to air conditioning unit; crawled up a fire escape, jumped across an alley then pulled a bewildered goon from a ledge unawares in a stealthy end to a very hectic combat section.

Climbing overhaul

What’s noticeable is that the climbing mechanic from Uncharted has been overhauled considerably for this sequel. There were moments in the original where the animation would unnaturally fill in gaps as Drake made a grab for a ledge or outcrop that was just too far from reach. In the sequel, the system has been spruced up to look and feel more natural. This partly due to environment being littered with areas to clamber on and jump from, but again, in a very natural way. Just as importantly, how Drake interacts with these objects makes the whole event more believable. For example, while hanging from the Hotel El Dorado’s sign and shooting, the sign becomes a makeshift piece of cover.

Once on the ground, Drake has some more moves at his disposal. The riot-shield carrying enemies he confronts in the Nepalese city can be tackled by first stomping on their shields to stun them, befor stealing the shields which becomes your cover while on the move. This sequel is set to be a lot more expansive too. While the original game neatly fitted its action onto a small island, this title will stretch Drake’s legs and see him flitting about the globe. The Nepal city is one mission, a gritty environment at odds with the colourful greenery of the first game. However other locations will span dark underground tunnels, sweltering swamps, stark blue ice caverns as well as the lush green jungle familiar to players dusting down their boots from Drake’s first adventure. The colour palette, design and tone of this sequel is quite varied. This could be both original game lent the adventure a taught movie quality, with just enough variety to keep you hooked, but not so much as to swamp the plot and characterisation. The core gunplay and controls have been refined too, with Sixaxis control being completely ditched. Where before you could hurl grenades using Sixaxis to direct the arc of the throw; you now just press a face button and drake lobs an explosive in the direction of the crosshair. The upshot is Drake can now throw a grenade without the irksome animation of putting his gun away first.

Disclaimer: When asked about the Multiplayer mode the developers said that they released the beta to test the waters. However, there is a big possibility that there will be a multiplayer mode.

This will be a bigger, more extravagant adventure than Drake’s Fortune, that’s darker, harder and meaner too. Tweaks to the gameplay, technology and plotting should reap real rewards.

Set as favorite

Bookmark

Email this

Trackback(0)

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (5)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

NICE ARTICLE , BUY YOU KILLED IT IN THE END

THERE IS A multiplayer
NOT AS U SAID "The developer a*sures gamers that Uncharted 2 is single-player only"
GO CHECK GAME TRAILERS AND YOU WILL SEE VIDEOS FOR multiplayer
moreover, you can have the beta code for early multiplayer if you bought infamous

KARAM , May 26, 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...

Hey Karam, yeah you are right. We have taken down that part, sorry. Glad you enjoyed the Hands-On.

jp2123 , May 26, 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Confusion

This article mentions that the game "installs to the HD as you play" I take it that they don't mean that literally? I was under the impression that the game streams from the disc during play and sets up and loads the next playable scene during cutscenes but not installing the next 'chapter' while playing one section??

Lostpotato , May 26, 2009 | url

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...

Hey i wish scott was available so he could answer ur qs since he was the one that talked with the devs but he is n the hospital i will try n contact him tomorrow so com baxk un the afternoon

jp2123 , May 26, 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

...

Fear not I am back, finally internet has been restored.

Ok...

I asked the developer if Multiplayer is the main drive for Uncharted 2. As before I even went to have a "hands-on" session I did watch the multiplayer footage. So, there was pure evidence of multiplayer for Uncharted 2 on which there is a beta key when you purchase inFamous. He did say that its "trial & error" so that is why the multiplayer beta has been put in place.

@ Confusion: Again, the developer said that the game will be installing in your HD while your playing. So i.e. If your going through Chapter 1 the other level or part will be loading in the background while your currently playing the game. He said, he wants Uncharted 2 to not be plague with loading issues and with installation happening in the background. It will ease the situation and make the gamer more engaged with the game than waiting to continue.

Wido , May 27, 2009

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Write comment

You must be logged in to post a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.