Nathan Drake’s inaugural adventure last year proved to be one of the most rewarding titles we’ve played on Sony’s black box thus far. Featuring gripping narrative, sumptuous visuals and beautifully crafted environments, Uncharted combines explosive shootouts with pugnacious pirates with a healthy dose of acrobatic-fuelled platform/wall hopping exploration thrown in for good measure.
Taking all of the above into account, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Naughty Dog opted to continue Drake’s escapades with an inevitable sequel, so you can imagine our delight when we learned that the first trailer for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves would put in an appearance at Spike TV’s Video Game Awards 2008. See below for our impressions.
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Mike Harradence
Senior Editor
In a somehow fitting mood, the trailer puts wisecracking hero Nathan Drake in a particularly bleak situation, as he regains consciousness slumped in the seat of a train carriage. Upon further investigation, we discover that the carriage in fact hangs precariously off the edge of a mountain, the wreckage of what is presumably the remainder of the vehicle burning nearby. The trailer ends with Drake hanging onto the edge of the carriage before it begins its inexorable descent into the depths below.
Quite frankly, the teaser had us aching for more, especially as we were given a tasty snippet of actual gameplay from the likes of God of War III. Despite this, the trailer certainly sets us up for things to come, implying a sense of isolation for the young, brash Drake, who lies battered and bloodied facing impending doom. From what we’ve seen so far, the game definitely appears to be swapping the sun-soaked islands of the original title for environmentally hazardous locales such as the mountainous region shown in the teaser – a welcome change, as it’ll certainly keep things fresh.
Regardless, I can’t help but feel abit short changed by it all, and at the very least expected a couple of seconds worth of Drake battling it out with the regular gun-touting goons and a glimpse at some of the new gameplay mechanics in action, along with a couple of new locations. Nonetheless, it’s doubtful the game will be pipped to the post as my most anticipated PS3 outing of 2009. Still, the ball’s in your court now, Naughty Dog – don’t disappoint.
Justin Pinter
Senior Journalist
Uncharted is the best new IP on the PlayStation 3, period. When Drake’s Fortune released last year, I was love struck. Never before had my eyes seen such epic landscapes and lush jungles in a game. Naughty Dog definitely out did themselves, providing amazing visuals, fluid controls, adventurous storyline, and a comical hero.
Now, as we all know, what’s better than one? Two! Uncharted 2 that is. Naughty Dog returns to the series, this time dropping Nathan Drake in a whole new location. From what we can see in the trailer, instead of swinging from jungle vines, Drake will be scaling mountain cliffs and climbing his way out of derailed trains.
After watching the latest trailer, we know off the bat that it’s a cut-scene. However, just like the first Uncharted, the cut-scenes are rendered utilizing the in-game engine, so we can expect the game to look pretty close to what was shown. Naughty Dog has already confirmed that the teaser trailer was rendered in real time, which looked identical graphically to this new trailer.
With this in mind, one of the first things you can see that have been improved is the texture work. Everything from facial textures and hair to various environmental aspects, the texture work has obviously seen a significant improvement. In addition, the lighting effects and depth of field seems to be enhanced. Although if there is one thing I would like to see fixed or improved upon in Uncharted 2, it’s screen tearing. We have yet to see actual gameplay footage, but when we do, it’ll be the first thing I look for.
Overall, however, I was very impressed with the new trailer and I’m very excited for what’s to come. Let’s just hope Sony doesn’t keep us waiting for long.