My interest in games is starting to ware as I become, steadily, more in love with books just like the old days but I was given a loan ofUncharted: Drake’s Fortune by a friend in the work-place so I had to play it and return it, even if I couldn’t really be bothered.
The game is about Nathan Drake, supposed descendant of real-life explorer Sir Francis Drake, and his journey for the treasure of El Dorado. What this amounts to is lots of Tomb Raider-style jumping from pillar to pillar and Gear of War-style shooting segments, which is an odd combination but it works.
First thing you’ll notice is the voice-acting and mannerisms are top-notch, up there with the best of Hollywood which is obviously where the main inspiration for the game is coming from but, sadly, so does the script which relies far too much on old action-movie cliches: foreign baddies who like to espouse the usual dreaded speeches, slightly ridiculous set-pieces and some generally over-the-top moments. Somehow all that adds to the fun of the game; it’s meant to be a whole big cliche, a true hollywood experience along with the likable lead character and the whole, will-they-won’t-they storyline with the female reporter that rides along for the journey. Another thing is the way the characters look: although the game takes the gameplay elements from Gear of War and Tomb Raider it does not take anything from the character models–the people in this game look like real people. Nathan is skinny and rather weak looking, which flies in the face of the huge hulking man-beasts of the Gears-of-War guys and the female reporter looks…eh, I don’t know how to put this nicely so I’ll just say it: she’s got small breasts. This flies in the convention of every singe female character that has ever appeared in video games, especially Lara Croft’s mountainous mammaries and along with her died-blonde hair with the roots showing you have a realistic and sympathetic character, which is just the same as all the characters in the game. The characters you are meant to like you do and those you are meant to hate, you do.
I have to say that the game is too action-heavy, featuring far-too many killing and not enough platforming. I tend to prefer the latter more to the former but it doesn’t overly detract from the overall experience. One event near the end of the game, just as I was seriously beginning to wane of the constant shooting of foreigners, shocked me and really got my blood pumping. It was a surprising moment in the story and really did change-up the action on-screen and it was a great addition. I just won’t spoil it for anyone that wants to play the game.
The game is short and there isn’t any multiplayer unlike the sequel but it is an entertaining game that’s hard to put down once you get started.

Looking back through some old articles I came across this list of the best single player games on PS3: Linkage.

This list was only written in April and yet the time since has probably been the best 6 months of my gaming ‘career.’

Not only have some fantastic solo player campaigns been released but I have also caught up on some single player epics I missed when they came out.

I knew the list needed to be extended and improved, as too many great single player games were missing.

So here you go – the top 10 is now a top 20 and any game from the initial list has it’s original chart position in brackets. You can also check out my full reviews (where possible) by clicking the title of each game:

20. PROTOTYPE

In Prototype you take on the role of Alex Mercer as he awakens during his autopsy ,wondering what the hell is going on. He quickly escapes, realising he now has various superpowers.

Mercer needs to find out what the hell has happened to him and why New York is infected with a virus that has turned half the population into zombies.

Prototype is definitely a game worth playing despite it’s various faults – it was a blast to play through if a little frustrating at times.

19. RESISTANCE 2

After saving England in the previous installment Hale is back in business to rescue the U S of A – since his incapacitation the Chimera have launched a full attack on America and Hale, as part of the Sentinal squad (made up of soldiers injected with the Chimera virus but kept under control), have to step in and stop them in their tracks.

A hard hitting but fun first person shooter.

18. MIRROR’S EDGE (10)

Mirror’s Edge wowed everyone with it’s crisp, clean graphics and it’s unique first person perspective.

The view takes a while to get used to and it had a few really annoying parts where it was difficult to time jumps etc because of the view but Mirror’s Edge is certainly worth playing through as it offers a style of gameplay that is totally unique in the current games market.

17. RAINBOW SIX VEGAS (9)

If you like your first person shooters with a bit of brain behind the brawn then Rainbow Six Vegas may be the game for you.

With a good old fashioned SAS vs Terrorists style plot and lots of fun set pieces Rainbow Six Vegas is definitely worth a shot.

16. RESIDENT EVIL 5

For all it’s faults Resident Evil 5, taken as a whole, is a brilliant game and one that I would recommend. Graphically it’s stunning and while it isn’t a hugely difficult game you’ll enjoy playing through and unravelling the story.

It survives the huge expectation of following Resident Evil 4… just. This is a game that everyone should play as Resi comes to the new generation of consoles.

15. KANE AND LYNCH (8) 

You take control of Adam ‘Kane’ Marcus, a criminal on his way to death row for crimes committed in Venezeula. Kane is busted out of his prison van by a mysterious group called The7 who he worked with previously. They think Kane stole the money from their last job and stashed it somewhere.

If he doesn’t get them the money back in three weeks his wife and daughter will be killed. Kane claims he doesn’t know where it is but he does know who took the cash and will hunt them down. And so begins a thoroughly enjoyable ride into the desperate life of Kane…

14. BATTLEFIELD: BAD COMPANY

Chock full of explosions and with some really impressive destruction of buildings etc, Battlefield: Bad Company is like a huge big budget Hollywood blockbuster.

It’s a great, mindless blast of a game. Add some memorable characters into the mix and you’ve got yourself a very enjoyable, and playable, package.

13. HEAVENLY SWORD (7)

Another game that didn’t garner the respect it deserves, primarily because it didn’t live up to the pre-release hype.

If you like God Of War you will like this game as it’s similar in style but it looks gorgeous in HD and I believe did a few bits (combos/blocking etc) better than the first two God Of War games.

12. ASSASSIN’S CREED (6)

In Assassin’s Creed you play through Desmond Mile’s repressed ancestrial memories as Altair in the Medieval Holy Land (with brief interludes as Desmond struggling to find out what is going on in the present day).

You will need to research targets and carry out assassinations using a variety of options – sword, hidden blade, knife etc.

This game is great fun and I’m looking forward to the sequel which is on it’s way shortly.

11. GHOSTBUSTERS: THE VIDEO GAME

Ghostbusters: The Video Game’s plot is essentially the third movie – set in 1991 you’re a rookie who’s been drafted in to help with the ever increasing ghost workload. A huge paranormal blast sets off a chain of events that only one group of guys can deal with…

For me Ghostbusters was a short (5 hour) game that had me chuckling and geeking out despite it’s flaws – it won’t be to everyone’s tastes but it has a good single player storyline.

10. KILLZONE 2 (5)

Killzone 2’s biggest achievement is, possibly because of the brilliant graphics, sound and AI, that you feel involved and become embedded in the Killzone universal whenever you pick up the pad.

It’s not perfect by any means but it’s easily the best first person shooter I’ve played and I recommend anyone with a remote interest in this genre to check this out immediately!

9. BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM

With some wonderful voice acting from the cast of the animated series, Batman: Arkham Asylum’s story moves at a good pace and familiar enemies are used to good effect throughout.

With such a vivid setting and a memorable selection of bad guys from Batman’s career it’s no surprise that Arkham Asylum is such a great game.

Despite the odds being stacked against it, Batman: Arkham Asylum is a quality title that has had a lot of care put into making it. I’d recommend this to anyone.

8. INFAMOUS

So good it’s the only game this generation I’ve played through twice (seeing it’s rating bumped from 8/10 to 9/10), Infamous is a great game.

You control Cole McGrath, a courier who just happens to be carrying a package containing an electronic bomb when it goes off, devasting the city. Somehow Cole survives and, after coming out of a coma, realises the explosion has given him electrical superpowers.

From there on out the city is your oyster and there is plenty to do as you try to track down the people behind the explosion.

7. BIOSHOCK

Bioshock has a great story to tell and it does it well with some interesting objectives and brilliantly designed levels.

There are several twists and turns in the plot, most of which are not obvious and it’s no surprise to me that a film version is in the works (although I believe currently suspended due to budget concerns).

Dark worlds like Rapture aren’t to everyone’s tastes but you really would be missing out on an awesome story if you decided not to book a trip to the underwater city.

6. GRAND THEFT AUTO IV  (4)

One the biggest selling games of this generation GTA IV features the fortunes (and lack therof) of Niko Bellic – an immigrant arriving in the US at Liberty City to find empty promises and broken dreams from his cousin Roman.

As you work your way up the criminal ladder you’ll encounter all sort of dodgy characters and befriend even more.

Liberty City is a wonderful, if run down, place and Niko Bellic’s story is one you will enjoy playing through so make sure you pick this game up as soon as possible.

5. FALLOUT 3

After a tough few hours at the start you will find yourself rewarded greatly for sticking with this awesome FPS / RPG.

The story line sprawls across the world depending on your actions and you’ll find yourself taking a break from main missions to explore the wasteland or help out other characters.

I could go on and on about various things that happened and how cool it was, how great the story was or whatever.

But Fallout 3 is a game that needs to be experienced first hand and your story will no doubt play out differently to mine.

4. METAL GEAR SOLID 4  (3)

Hideo Kojima’s tale of Solid Snake’s final mission is a brilliant showcase of the Playstation 3’s power.

This is a game that often gives you three or four different ways of approaching things – whether you realise it or not.

Metal Gear Solid 4 rewards those patient enough to stick with it by giving them a great gaming experience, with some memorable boss battles, that they won’t forget.

3. DEAD SPACE (2)

Coming on somewhere between Event Horizon and Aliens, Dead Space is a third person survival horror game.

You take on the role of Isaac Clarke, a ship engineer who finds himself trapped onboard a stricken spaceship infested with an alien outbreak which is threatening to take over the ship.

This was one of the best games I played last year, it’s use of sound is immense and the fear of the unexpected they create is awesome.

I am not a big fan of horror movies or being made to jump all the time but Dead Space kept on the right side of all that by being unpredictable enough to be enjoyable as a ‘horror’ experience.

2. UNCHARTED: DRAKE’S FORTUNE (1)

Uncharted maps the  journey of Nathan Drake as he tries to find the lost treasure of El Dorado encountering, among other things, rival treasure hunters and mercenaries.

The graphics are unbelievable and the gameplay is well paced and well thought out. The characters and story and really well conceived and Nolan North, who voices Drake, is absolutely spot on with his irreverent humour and wisecracks.

At its heart Uncharted is an action adventure game much in the vein of Indiana Jones or Tomb Raider but, and I say this as a fan of both of these, it is better than either of them.

1. UNCHARTED 2: AMONG THIEVES

Uncharted 2 is a complete gaming package. There is plenty of taking out bad guys, lots of puzzles and some wonderful dialogue.

Naughty Dog really have done a great job on the voice acting and the expressiveness of the character models. It is easily the best I’ve come across (though Heavenly Sword was a close second).

I won’t spoil the story but for those who don’t know, Nathan Drake gets pulled back into that murky world of treasure hunting for hire. I loved the story of this game – with a few twists I saw coming and a few I didn’t.

If you own a PS3 there is no reason not to own this game – if you only have an XBox 360 or Wii then get yourself a PS3 Slim and enjoy one of the most finely crafted games I’ve ever experienced.

—————————————————————————————————————

So it’s a double for Nathan Drake as he takes the top two spots with his exploration adventures.

With 5 new games in the top ten it’s great to see the wide variety of game styles on offer to PS3 owners these days.

Hopefully people out there will find this list helpful – feel free to drop me some comments below on the games or if you’d have put anything else in the list?

I love to play and capture  classic games and share the videos with others on the internet, but I prefer to play Next Generation Games (what a stupid word for games released in the last 5 years) for myself.

Uncharted for the PS3 is one of this games that got my full attention since I have it. There was not a single game in the last 5 years that I enjoyed playing that much. Uncharted 2 is out for some weeks now and I started to like the idea to reach the 100% on the first game. I cant remember when I was trying the last time to get a game 100% complete.

Read more about an old flame that has started to burn again in my heart.

100% and nobody cared about it

In my younger days I had a lot of time to play games and to finish them 100%. But honestly… the old era of games did not support any achievement or trophy system that you could share with the world. Nobody cared about my speedruns for Resident Evil 2 on the PSOne.
Playing multiple times through every scenario to reach the well hidden superweapon and to unlock the 3rd and 4th survivor scenarios. No system took a note about successfully accomplished challenges. Some people captured their gameplay on VHS video to share their challenges with the world. Others captured screenshots and lot of other people could not do anything like that.
But now almost every console features internet connection and ranking systems. A new era began: Do and share!

Do and share!

The Xbox gives you achievements, the PS3 rewards you with trophies and the Wii.. (I dont care.. I never was a fan of Nintendo). Now its possible to accomplish different tasks inside your favourite games to get one of this achievements and trophies.
Now there is a reason to take on the challenges to replay a game as much as you want to get every hidden secret the game offers. No more using VHS cassettes or screenshots. You dont even need to capture your gameplay anymore, because the new consoles automatically save your progress and share the results with others.

I want to know it,

I want to know if I can do it again and complete a video game with 100%. My first attempt is Uncharted and I am near to get what I desire. Only 2 Treasures needed for Master Fortune Hunter, and only 3 chapters on Crushing Difficulty stand between me and all trophies.
But the most crushing part of the game needs to be solved tomorrow: The Chapter “Race to Rescue” or how I would call it: “A Race of Survival” because this chapter already was a pain in my ass on the Hard Difficulty. I am very sorry about not to capture me playing this part. But I dont have the hard and software to record from a video game console.

In the end

But its good to know that I can share the results with you. Maybe you will see a shiny 100% when following this link to my trophy list of Uncharted: Drakes Fortune soon.

[Review] Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune.

O meu primeiro jogo para PS3. E o que mais me penou pra finalizar. Caramba, é difícil! Eu quase não jogava mais. Mas aí nesses últimos dias eu peguei pra jogar… e hoje finalmente consegui, e tenho que dizer: Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune é um dos poucos jogos que eu digo “CADÊ O FILME DESSA PORRA?!”

Gente, sério. O jogo é genial, muito foda mesmo. Os gráficos dão um show do início ao fim, deixam jogos como Infamous e God of War (o de PS2, que só tinha gráficos FODAS nas cutscenes) no chinelo. A história de Nathan Drake parece tão acreditável até certo ponto que você muitas vezes tem a sensação de estar controlando um filme. Os cenários e reviravoltas vão mantê-lo na TV por mais tempo do que você espera.

Vamos para a jogabilidade. Antes de começar, eu preciso dizer: É um dos jogos mais frustrantes que você pode imaginar. É simplesmente tão ridiculamente fácil morrer que dá pena. Os inimigos muitas vezes não dão trégua, e sua munição é bem limitada. O máximo que você pode fazer é torcer para que consiga agüentar, senão… bem, reinicia do ultimo checkpoint. Eu morri muito nesse jogo, e mesmo assim continuei tentando, porque você simplesmente PRECISA saber o que acontece.

Shoulder View está se tornando bem famosa: A aventura é completamente em terceira pessoa, só podendo mudar para a primeira se adquirir um sniper… que você só vai usar contra inimigos que estão longe. Sério, não há absolutamente nenhum jeito de chegar silencioso e matar alguém na surdina para não acionar a trupe toda. É um aspecto meio negativo do jogo, considerando que Nathan é um badass desgraçado e poderia muito bem quebrar o pescoço de alguém.

Os personagens são carismáticos, você realmente consegue gostar deles. O jogo até mesmo lhe dá dicas se você passa muito tempo em um desafio. Ah! Os desafios. Malditos puzzles, isso sim. Você pode ter algum problema com um ou dois, mas o enfoque do jogo é a ação e a história.

Com uma linha de acontecimentos fantástica, troféus interessantes, boa jogabilidade, personagens ótimos e gráficos deslumbrantes, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune nos introduz a um novo mundo incrível, que eu espero ter sido bem mais explorado em Uncharted 2. SNEAK IN RECOMENDA!

Avaliação Final:

Jogabilidade: 9/10

Gráficos: 10/10

Trilha Sonora: 10/10

Diversão na primeira vez jogando: 9/10

Diversão nas próximas: 9/10

Prende a atenção do jogador: 9/10

Média: 9,6/10

Yes, o game é quase perfeito.

You would think that with “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves” being the biggest Sony release of the year that a salesman at a particular gaming store would know what Uncharted was all about. Oddly enough though, when I went to pre-order the title a couple weeks before its release I was asked by an employee of this company what Uncharted was. After overcoming my shock at this individual’s ignorance I gave him the following description, “Its like Tomb Raider with a dude, but better.”

Obviously that description is very generic because “Uncharted”, as a series, is so much more than that. However I stick by that description because on a base level “Uncharted” is “Tomb Raider” with a dude, but better. So much better.

I have to confess, “Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune” almost slipped me by. I bought the game upon release but amidst all the great games that were released during Holiday 2007 it kept getting overpassed and sat in its cellophane prison on my game shelf for longer than it deserved to. Once I finally got around to it though the game shined as something special. A mix of “Tomb Raider” styled platforming adventure gameplay and Gears of War styled combat, all wrapped in a cinematic, Indiana Jones as played by Nathan Fillion, veneer.

For me, personally, the game stroked a nostalgic nerve the hearkened back to the days of my childhood where I was a great archaeologist (adventurer) hunting for treasure trying to stay one step ahead of the Nazi’s. “Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune” was not without its flaws though and in retrospect I may have been too forgiving of those flaws when I wrote my review. Regardless of if I was overly generous in my critical analysis of the game or not, there is little denying that the game was one of the best Playstation 3 exclusives at the time. There was little doubt in my mind that “Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune” would warrant a sequel, however I never fathomed the amount of hype “Uncharted 2” would have to carry on its proverbial back.

2009 has been a fantastic year for the Playstation 3 in terms of exclusive games. “Killzone 2” and “inFAMOUS” really raised the expectations of what games on the Playstation 3 could be and those expectations were of course painted onto “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves”. Hype can be a both a blessing and a curse. It can help to bolster interest and early sales but it also creates expectations that sometimes cannot be matched. The anticipation and expectations for “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves” were off the charts and you want to know how it holds up.

If you are reading this review to help you make up your mind about purchasing the game, let me make it very easy for you. Buy it.

If you are reading this review to validate your purchase of the game, I’ll make it easy for you as well. Good job. Great purchase. Pat yourself on the back because you have bought one of the best games of this generation.

“Uncharted 2: Among Thieves” is a great game and nothing anyone says will change that fact. If you consider yourself a gamer, you owe it to yourself to play it. The game does what every great sequel should do, it improves on every aspect of the original while staying true to its roots. The game does a great job of acclimating both fans of the original and potential newcomers to the controls and after a few minutes of the game starting I was once again fully engaged in Nathan Drake’s adventures.

Developer Naughty Dog embraced the action-adventure movie motif for “Uncharted 2” even more so than they did for the original. The game starts off roughly halfway through the story with Nate waking up injured inside a train wreck that is hanging precariously off the edge of a snowy cliff. As Nate makes his way out of the wreckage Naughty Dog employs the use of flashbacks and non-linear storytelling to introduce (or reintroduce players as the case may be) players to Nate’s world of treasure hunting and lays out the ground work for the entire story. While not entirely original, it is a welcome change from the standard gaming story conventions.

The story itself places Drake on the trail of Marco Polo and his lost fleet and quickly spirals into a search for the mythical Kingdom of Shambhala. Of course no one goes on an adventure of this magnitude by themselves and Nate will find himself allied with a mix of old and new friends and foes as he follows the adventure on its course. The story is filled with all the beautiful locales, twists, turns and betrayals people have come to expect from the genre and it does so with what may be the best voice acting ever put into a game.

Voice acting is not the only thing that sounds great in the game though. Greg Edmonson, the composer of the short-lived television series “Firefly” and the original “Uncharted”, returns to score “Uncharted 2” and it may be my second favorite aspect of the game as a whole (next to Drake’s voice acting). It is understated and bombastic as need be but it is always there driving the player onward in just the right way. In many ways it rivals feature film compositions and in my opinion only the Halo soundtracks do a better job in a game.

Adding to everything is the games visuals. The game has some of the best graphics on the Playstation 3, or any system for that matter. Few action games have reached the level of graphical detail that “Uncharted 2” does. The locations that Nate visits throughout the course of his adventure are near photo-realistic and the expansive vistas are a sight to behold. In addition to looking pretty the game moves great as well. The animations are spot on. Characters never feel robotic in the least which adds a real human feel to their movements and the environments themselves have a lifelike feel to them which really helps engage the gamer.

The gameplay is a refined version of what was going on in “Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune” as “Uncharted 2” is still very much a healthy mixture of “Tomb Raider” and “Gears of War”. Everything has been touched up though. The platforming segments are decidedly better designed, the camera works more to the benefit of the player instead of as a showcase for the beautiful graphics and as a result camera influenced deaths are minimal. As great as it is to not get killed by missing a leap do to a wonky camera it is even better to not have to worry about shoddy collision detection when in a firefight.

The gun-play in “Uncharted 2” is much improved over its older sibling and while it is still the weakest aspect of the game, shootouts are now more balanced towards exhilarating instead of frustrating. Once again Naughty Dog gives players an armory full of weapons to use against your adversaries. Everything from handguns to rocket launchers are available. I for one found myself progressing through the majority of the game using the 92FS handgun and the M4 assault rifle but everyone should find a weapon that works for them. Just remember to engage in your shootouts behind some cover.

Using cover in these shootouts is a necessity and it too has been improved, depending upon how you look at it. Figuring out the strategy of moving from cover to cover was something the first game did particularly well, it added a strategic element to those sometimes frustrating shootouts. “Uncharted 2” is very much the same but with the addition of destructible cover which adds another wrinkle into the already frantic firefights. I personally had very little issue with the cover mechanic other than Nate attempting to take cover in the wrong position sometimes, leaving him exposed and with a poor viewpoint. I’d like to blame it on my poor gaming skills but I also tinkered with the cover mechanic outside of a battle and there are certain fixtures that Nate will only stick to one way which can be frustrating especially as you are being fired on by a team of mercenaries.

Shooting people is not the only way for Drake to take out the big bad guys though. One of the most fun aspects of the game for me is the hand to hand combat. Engaging in fisticuffs is both exciting, especially if bullets are flying, and fully satisfying. Knowing when to engage in hand to hand combat is something that requires split second timing and sound judgment because doing so at the wrong time could very well result in Nate becoming a bullet sponge.

In association with the hand to hand combat are stealth movements. When undetected Drake can get the drop on his opponents by sneaking up on them and performing a one hit kill on them. Outside of a few instances though players are never really forced to use the mechanic if they do not want to but utilizing it can help to make the game much easier.

The overall improved combat also makes multiplayer in “Uncharted 2” something other than the bad idea I initially thought it to be. Multiplayer in “Uncharted 2” is quite obviously inspired by many of the aspects present in both “Gears of War” and “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare”. The modes are your generic multiplayer mode, like Deathmatch, Elimination, Capture the Flag (treasure), Zones, King of the Hill as well as a co-op mode that plays very much like Horde mode from “Gears of War”. There is a leveling and perk system (called boosters) and it makes for an interesting persistent gaming experience but what makes the multiplayer in “Uncharted 2” stand out so much is that the game is an action-platformer and the platforming segments have been added to the multiplayer as well.

Naughty Dog delivered on something that was at best a risky idea to begin with. While it is true that the Playstation 3 has a number of good multiplayer games, “Uncharted 2” is going to scratch the itch that “Gears of War” did for XBOX 360 owners and I have a feeling that gamers will still be playing “Uncharted 2” all the way up to the inevitable release of “Uncharted 3”.

For the most part “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves” is a beautiful diamond, maybe on an engagement ring between you and your Playstation 3. But like many diamonds there are some flaws and while the stone itself may still be gorgeous, those flaws will always be there.

The level design of the game is near perfect but a couple of them just don’t work and I found myself wondering where I was to go next. One of these instances in particular left me with a very sour taste in my mouth. While being chased by a tank through a small village I came upon a point where my next destination was not clear to me on my 60 inch television screen. I ended up dying more than my fair share of times in this location and at one point actually shut the game off in frustration. I know I am not the only one to have experienced this either as some high profile and highly respected members of the game press have also lamented about this particular segment.

The other big issue I had with the game revolves around the end boss. While I have no intention of spoiling it for anyone, suffice it to say that after 25 levels and over 10 hours of gameplay that does so much to make you forget you are playing a game (and for the most part succeeds) the end boss is felled by a generic repetitive gaming convention that actually left me with a bad taste in my mouth when it was over. It certainly did not spoil the game for me but it did leave me feeling more than a slight bit let down.

Everyone has their own personal caveats so everyones experience is going to be different. These issues effected me personally and they may not do so to you. You may in fact find other aspects of the game to be flawed or you may not experience anything that grates on your nerves at all, I can not say for certain how you will experience the game. I can however say that from a technical standpoint “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves” is a highly polished game. And if you, like me, grew up on Indiana Jones, Allan Quatermain (as played by Richard Chamberlain) and like game like “Tomb Raider” and “Gears of War” then you can do no better than “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves”. It truly is a fantastic game.

5 out of 5

You would think that with “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves” being the biggest Sony release of the year that a salesman at a particular gaming store would know what Uncharted was all about. Oddly enough though, when I went to pre-order the title a couple weeks before its release I was asked by an employee of this company what Uncharted was. After overcoming my shock at this individual’s ignorance I gave him the following description, “Its like Tomb Raider with a dude, but better.”

Obviously that description is very generic because “Uncharted”, as a series, is so much more than that. However I stick by that description because on a base level “Uncharted” is “Tomb Raider” with a dude, but better. So much better.

I have to confess, “Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune” almost slipped me by. I bought the game upon release but amidst all the great games that were released during Holiday 2007 it kept getting overpassed and sat in its cellophane prison on my game shelf for longer than it deserved to. Once I finally got around to it though the game shined as something special. A mix of “Tomb Raider” styled platforming adventure gameplay and Gears of War styled combat, all wrapped in a cinematic, Indiana Jones as played by Nathan Fillion, veneer.

For me, personally, the game stroked a nostalgic nerve the hearkened back to the days of my childhood where I was a great archaeologist (adventurer) hunting for treasure trying to stay one step ahead of the Nazi’s. “Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune” was not without its flaws though and in retrospect I may have been too forgiving of those flaws when I wrote my review. Regardless of if I was overly generous in my critical analysis of the game or not, there is little denying that the game was one of the best Playstation 3 exclusives at the time. There was little doubt in my mind that “Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune” would warrant a sequel, however I never fathomed the amount of hype “Uncharted 2” would have to carry on its proverbial back.

2009 has been a fantastic year for the Playstation 3 in terms of exclusive games. “Killzone 2” and “inFAMOUS” really raised the expectations of what games on the Playstation 3 could be and those expectations were of course painted onto “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves”. Hype can be a both a blessing and a curse. It can help to bolster interest and early sales but it also creates expectations that sometimes cannot be matched. The anticipation and expectations for “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves” were off the charts and you want to know how it holds up.

If you are reading this review to help you make up your mind about purchasing the game, let me make it very easy for you. Buy it.

If you are reading this review to validate your purchase of the game, I’ll make it easy for you as well. Good job. Great purchase. Pat yourself on the back because you have bought one of the best games of this generation.

“Uncharted 2: Among Thieves” is a great game and nothing anyone says will change that fact. If you consider yourself a gamer, you owe it to yourself to play it. The game does what every great sequel should do, it improves on every aspect of the original while staying true to its roots. The game does a great job of acclimating both fans of the original and potential newcomers to the controls and after a few minutes of the game starting I was once again fully engaged in Nathan Drake’s adventures.

Developer Naughty Dog embraced the action-adventure movie motif for “Uncharted 2” even more so than they did for the original. The game starts off roughly halfway through the story with Nate waking up injured inside a train wreck that is hanging precariously off the edge of a snowy cliff. As Nate makes his way out of the wreckage Naughty Dog employs the use of flashbacks and non-linear storytelling to introduce (or reintroduce players as the case may be) players to Nate’s world of treasure hunting and lays out the ground work for the entire story. While not entirely original, it is a welcome change from the standard gaming story conventions.

The story itself places Drake on the trail of Marco Polo and his lost fleet and quickly spirals into a search for the mythical Kingdom of Shambhala. Of course no one goes on an adventure of this magnitude by themselves and Nate will find himself allied with a mix of old and new friends and foes as he follows the adventure on its course. The story is filled with all the beautiful locales, twists, turns and betrayals people have come to expect from the genre and it does so with what may be the best voice acting ever put into a game.

Voice acting is not the only thing that sounds great in the game though. Greg Edmonson, the composer of the short-lived television series “Firefly” and the original “Uncharted”, returns to score “Uncharted 2” and it may be my second favorite aspect of the game as a whole (next to Drake’s voice acting). It is understated and bombastic as need be but it is always there driving the player onward in just the right way. In many ways it rivals feature film compositions and in my opinion only the Halo soundtracks do a better job in a game.

Adding to everything is the games visuals. The game has some of the best graphics on the Playstation 3, or any system for that matter. Few action games have reached the level of graphical detail that “Uncharted 2” does. The locations that Nate visits throughout the course of his adventure are near photo-realistic and the expansive vistas are a sight to behold. In addition to looking pretty the game moves great as well. The animations are spot on. Characters never feel robotic in the least which adds a real human feel to their movements and the environments themselves have a lifelike feel to them which really helps engage the gamer.

The gameplay is a refined version of what was going on in “Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune” as “Uncharted 2” is still very much a healthy mixture of “Tomb Raider” and “Gears of War”. Everything has been touched up though. The platforming segments are decidedly better designed, the camera works more to the benefit of the player instead of as a showcase for the beautiful graphics and as a result camera influenced deaths are minimal. As great as it is to not get killed by missing a leap do to a wonky camera it is even better to not have to worry about shoddy collision detection when in a firefight.

The gun-play in “Uncharted 2” is much improved over its older sibling and while it is still the weakest aspect of the game, shootouts are now more balanced towards exhilarating instead of frustrating. Once again Naughty Dog gives players an armory full of weapons to use against your adversaries. Everything from handguns to rocket launchers are available. I for one found myself progressing through the majority of the game using the 92FS handgun and the M4 assault rifle but everyone should find a weapon that works for them. Just remember to engage in your shootouts behind some cover.

Using cover in these shootouts is a necessity and it too has been improved, depending upon how you look at it. Figuring out the strategy of moving from cover to cover was something the first game did particularly well, it added a strategic element to those sometimes frustrating shootouts. “Uncharted 2” is very much the same but with the addition of destructible cover which adds another wrinkle into the already frantic firefights. I personally had very little issue with the cover mechanic other than Nate attempting to take cover in the wrong position sometimes, leaving him exposed and with a poor viewpoint. I’d like to blame it on my poor gaming skills but I also tinkered with the cover mechanic outside of a battle and there are certain fixtures that Nate will only stick to one way which can be frustrating especially as you are being fired on by a team of mercenaries.

Shooting people is not the only way for Drake to take out the big bad guys though. One of the most fun aspects of the game for me is the hand to hand combat. Engaging in fisticuffs is both exciting, especially if bullets are flying, and fully satisfying. Knowing when to engage in hand to hand combat is something that requires split second timing and sound judgment because doing so at the wrong time could very well result in Nate becoming a bullet sponge.

In association with the hand to hand combat are stealth movements. When undetected Drake can get the drop on his opponents by sneaking up on them and performing a one hit kill on them. Outside of a few instances though players are never really forced to use the mechanic if they do not want to but utilizing it can help to make the game much easier.

The overall improved combat also makes multiplayer in “Uncharted 2” something other than the bad idea I initially thought it to be. Multiplayer in “Uncharted 2” is quite obviously inspired by many of the aspects present in both “Gears of War” and “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare”. The modes are your generic multiplayer mode, like Deathmatch, Elimination, Capture the Flag (treasure), Zones, King of the Hill as well as a co-op mode that plays very much like Horde mode from “Gears of War”. There is a leveling and perk system (called boosters) and it makes for an interesting persistent gaming experience but what makes the multiplayer in “Uncharted 2” stand out so much is that the game is an action-platformer and the platforming segments have been added to the multiplayer as well.

Naughty Dog delivered on something that was at best a risky idea to begin with. While it is true that the Playstation 3 has a number of good multiplayer games, “Uncharted 2” is going to scratch the itch that “Gears of War” did for XBOX 360 owners and I have a feeling that gamers will still be playing “Uncharted 2” all the way up to the inevitable release of “Uncharted 3”.

For the most part “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves” is a beautiful diamond, maybe on an engagement ring between you and your Playstation 3. But like many diamonds there are some flaws and while the stone itself may still be gorgeous, those flaws will always be there.

The level design of the game is near perfect but a couple of them just don’t work and I found myself wondering where I was to go next. One of these instances in particular left me with a very sour taste in my mouth. While being chased by a tank through a small village I came upon a point where my next destination was not clear to me on my 60 inch television screen. I ended up dying more than my fair share of times in this location and at one point actually shut the game off in frustration. I know I am not the only one to have experienced this either as some high profile and highly respected members of the game press have also lamented about this particular segment.

The other big issue I had with the game revolves around the end boss. While I have no intention of spoiling it for anyone, suffice it to say that after 25 levels and over 10 hours of gameplay that does so much to make you forget you are playing a game (and for the most part succeeds) the end boss is felled by a generic repetitive gaming convention that actually left me with a bad taste in my mouth when it was over. It certainly did not spoil the game for me but it did leave me feeling more than a slight bit let down.

Everyone has their own personal caveats so everyones experience is going to be different. These issues effected me personally and they may not do so to you. You may in fact find other aspects of the game to be flawed or you may not experience anything that grates on your nerves at all, I can not say for certain how you will experience the game. I can however say that from a technical standpoint “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves” is a highly polished game. And if you, like me, grew up on Indiana Jones, Allan Quatermain (as played by Richard Chamberlain) and like game like “Tomb Raider” and “Gears of War” then you can do no better than “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves”. It truly is a fantastic game.

5 out of 5

Por: Juan Carlos Delgado

¿Qué rayos es esto? Este es el secreto mejor guardado por la gente de Naughty Dog, es un cómic dinámico que cuenta la historia de Nathan Drake antes de su aventura en Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune.

Este no es un cómic cualquiera, cuenta con efectos tridimensionales, transiciones, movimiento y voces. Este proyecto se dividió en cuatro publicaciones y hoy llega la primera edición. Este primer capitulo será totalmente gratis, así que no te lo pierdas y espera los restantes en el mes de noviembre.

via: PlayStation.Blog

The first Uncharted game Drake’s Fortune was one of the flagship games around the Playstation 3’s release; it was one of the first console exclusive games and served not only as a product with an engrossing narrative and tried and true gameplay mechanics, but it was a graphical benchmark with visuals that even by today’s standards are still stunning to look at.

When Naughty Dog announced they were to release Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, they claimed they were going to improve every aspect of the game, including graphics, and after playing it all the way through, I can happily say that they have indeed stood by their words.

It could be said that Uncharted 2 is a rip-off of a big budget Hollywood blockbuster; cheesy foreign villain, sassy sidekick and wise-cracking protagonist included. To be honest, you wouldn’t be far off the mark; but whilst I usually take a distaste toward such movies, interacting with one is a completely different matter. Apart from the aforementioned trademark characters, you also get your standard set pieces; explosions, helicopter chases, double crossing allies, explosions, gunfights on a train, the last ditch attempt, explosions, an aging partner who’s ‘getting too old for this shit’ and more explosions. But even if you’re a movie snob like me, you won’t care because Uncharted 2 is just unbridled and at times, brainless fun.

The game takes place a couple of years after the first game where the main protagonist Nathan Drake meets up with his old suspiciously British and treasure hunting friend Harry Flynn, who’s teamed up with Drake’s partially suspiciously British and glassy-eyed ex-beau, Chloe Frazer, who tell him of a client who’s asked them to steal a Mongolian Oil lamp which may hold the secret to Marco Polo’s lost fleet, and the treasures which were lost with them. With this, Drake and friends embark on an adventure of epic proportions and takes them to exotic locales and discover dangerous truths along the way. Pretty standard, right?

EXPLOSIONS!!!1!1!! YEAH!!!1!11!

As I said before, the gameplay is pretty much your usual action adventure formula; Drake has to navigate through treacherous and often dazzling landscapes, and clues to your progression often aren’t too obvious, making the player put themselves in Drake’s shoes and consider how they would progress. There are no fancy gameplay gimmicks at work here; no bullet time or speed boosts, Drake is very human (apart from his uncanny ability to heal almost instantaneously from bullet wounds).

When it comes to combat, it’s largely gun-based with a dash of fisticuffs thrown in for good measure, and I’ll say this now – you will get into a LOT of gunfights, far more than the first game. Following the standard of modern games with gunplay, your health is regenerative, which to be honest if you’re looking for something truly challenging it can be a helping hand you didn’t ask for, but staying in good health can be a task in itself when you’re flanked by dozens of henchmen and all you have for cover is a wooden box that’s being torn to pieces. Hand to hand combat can be very cool, and now players can use proper stealth attacks which reward them with double ammo. There isn’t a giant arsenal of weapons available in Uncharted 2, but there are significant differences between the ones found to suit all situations, including old favourites like AK-47’s and Desert Eagles, along with heavy hitters like RPG’s and grenade launchers.

Whilst Uncharted 2 is at times driven by its cut-scenes, what really makes it stand out is that a lot of the action throughout the game doesn’t deny the player of participation; the world can be falling apart around you, and it’s up to you to get Drake out safely. It puts you straight in the deep end with a bullet-wounded Drake (which is apparently the only bullet which has ever harmed him) stuck an old train precariously hanging off the edge of a cliff in the middle of the Himalayas. From the get-go you have to navigate your way out of the cabin, as it falls apart and rocks from the cliffs fall down upon you. It’s moments like these that have you truly gripped and leave your heart racing, and because of your role in them they feel much more than simple set-pieces, and it’s not like this is the only one, these happen all the way throughout the game, each one as exciting as the next (the fight on the moving train is particularly spectacular).

I end up doing stuff like every day in my personal life. It gets a bit annoying to be honest...

The main standout new feature of Uncharted 2 is its multiplayer mode. With a lot of actions games the multiplayer feels very tacked on and become weak counterparts of the single player campaign, especially with modes like deathmatch, but Uncharted 2 offers a wide range of modes from classics like base capture, team deathmatch, and Uncharted’s take on capture the flag called ‘Plunder’, where you have to bring a treasure back to your home base, but you can only use your sidearm in the process. Along with these competitive modes you have co-op missions, in which you can team up with 2-4 others online, and either make your way through maps and fight waves of enemies to find a treasure, or in ‘Gold Rush’ much like ‘Plunder’, you have to drag the treasure back while your teammates defend you. All modes are a lot of fun and very addictive; much like a lot of multiplayer FPS games there’s also a ranking system which rewards you as you play. It would’ve been nice to play single-player levels in co-op, which wouldn’t have been too hard seeing as a lot of the time you’re accompanied with someone else, but the maps available while few in number are still a lot of fun to play.

Nate joins Sony's anti-piracy campaign...

Overall Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is a tremendous achievement, it’s by far the best looking game available on any console right now, the voice acting is top notch with (the now almost famous) Nolan North regaling his role as Nathan Drake, the musical score perfectly accompanies the action, and it’s one of the most engrossing experiences I’ve ever had in an action game. The multiplayer is a welcome addition which will bring players back long after finishing the 13 hour+ campaign but could stand to have a few tweaks like speeding up matchmaking times and more (FREE!) maps.

It’s an experience no Playstation 3 should go without, now if you don’t mind I’m off for a lie-down; I’m gettin’ too old for this shit…

- 94/100

There aren’t a lot of video games that interest my wife, and certainly not to the point where she’ll give me the evil eye if she catches me playing the game without her! The one game that she likes a lot and has even tried her hand at has been Uncharted on the PS3.

The game is an action-adventure of sorts and features the fictional Nathan Drake, a modern-day Indiana Jones. The first title in the series was a massive hit, given its cast of well-defined heroes and characters, very cinematic film-like visuals, great voice-acting and a film-esque motion picture score, and high production values all-round. Heck – the game was so popular and well-received I even ended up using some of its production features as part of my series of Introduction to Computer Games lectures 2 years ago.

I’ve been eagerly waiting for its sequel Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and over the last several days, been putting an hour or so each evening, especially now before the term reopens and I still have a bit of free time at night. The first game looked really good. The second and new game looks fantastic – Naughty Dog, the game’s developer, reportedly fully used the processor power of the PS3 in this second game compared to just 30% for the first game.

Among Thieves takes Drake across the globe in a search for the Cintamani Stone from Shambhala, the mythical kingdom in ancient Buddhist and Hindu lore that’s supposedly hidden somewhere in Inner Asia. The journey takes Drake and his friends through quite a few places: including a Turkish museum of antiquity, the jungles of Borneo, Nepalese cities, the Himalayas, and an ancient monastery on top of a mountain. If nothing else, you’d marvel at how photo realistically is each area created on-screen that a lot of times I could just pan the camera around to soak in the sights.

I recalled reading somewhere that women gamers are among Uncharted’s biggest fans, and it’s hard not to guess why. It’s the quirky yet likable hero and that he’s supported by strong female characters that don’t just wait around to be rescued. Women kick butt in these two games, and their interactions with Drake belay a mix of feminine cuteness, slightly flirtatious innuendo, and the sort of old familiarity you’d normally find only in either the oldest of friends or in the minds of some of the smartest dialog and scrip writers in entertainment.

The game since its launch earlier this week has won heaps of praise from not just game publishing sites but also from general entertainment. I’ve just finished my first play through for Among Thieves too, and am now looking forward to the online multiplayer component when I can get to it (any GET students want to do co-op with me LOL?)

There’s a rumor that Harrison Ford is considering a fifth outing as Indiana Jones if the script that’s in the works is of any good. But that’s not going to be in the theatres – if ever at all – for the next few years. In the mean time, I will be returning again to both of Nathan Drake’s adventures a few more times.

Oh yeah – the trailer below.:)

No le hagas el feo, bien que te gusta.

Gran juego con excelente musica.

Pass: funnyml.blogspot.com

Uncharted 2 OST

01 – Nate’s Theme 2.0
02 – The City’s Secret
03 – Bustin’ Chops
04 – Reunion
05 – Breaking And Entering
06 – Desperate Times
07 – Helicopter And Tank
08 – Marco Polo
09 – The Monastery
10 – Refuge [2:10]
11 – Warzone
12 – Train Wrecked
13 – Cat And Mouse
14 – Cornered
15 – The Gates Of Shambhala
16 – Broken Paradise
17 – Brutal Combo Mambo
18 – Among Thieves
19 – A Rock And A Hard Place
20 – The Road To Shambhala (performed by Carmen Rizzo)

Pass: guntz

Uncharted OST Part 1.

Uncharted OST Part 2.

01. Nate’s Theme
02. Grave Robbing
03. Sir Francis Drake
04. The Search for El Dorado
05. Uncharted Island
06. Plane-Wrecked
07. The Fortress
08. Unlocking the Past
09. Drowned City
10. Trapped
11. Heading Upriver
12. Sanctuary?
13. Treasure Vault
14. A Bitter End
15. Unwelcome Guests
16. The Bunker
17. Drake’s Elegy
18. El Goddamn Dorado
19. Showdown
20. Uncharted Theme

21. Uncharted: The El Dorado Megamix BY DJ SHADOW

fuente: forums.ffshrine.org

agradecimiento: FunnyML (Uncharted 2)

Domingo (Uncharted 1)

Now, I’m not sure how similar Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and Uncharted:  Among Thieves are because I haven’t played the first. The first entry in the series just passed right under my radar (my empty wallet being the radar jammer!) I didn’t regret this fact until just recently, when I fired up Uncharted 2… I beat it in two days, and I write this just a few minutes after watching the ending credits while the game is still fresh in my mind. Okay, maybe not RIGHT after; I did fool around with a few of the neat extras you can get after beating the game, like making the main character a skeleton and playing in no-gravity mode. Once this review is done, I might just pour a few more hours into this game by trying my hand at the “crushing” difficulty, which I’m sure will cause my blood pressure to skyrocket because I was already foaming at the mouth on the normal difficulty. I guess if there’s one thing I want to get across in this first paragraph, it’s that there’s plenty of fun to be had in Uncharted: Among Thieves.

Pros

This is the closest I’ve ever seen a game come to being an interactive action movie, and I mean that in the best possible way. All of the most action-packed bits of the story are left up to you, the player, to orchestrate from over Drake’s shoulder. The rest is told in cutscenes, which are absolutely stunning by the way. Sure, the storyline itself is cliche, but the average gamer will be having such a blast with blowing away enemies and climbing around like a spider monkey that most of the overdone action-movie staples will go unnoticed. It’s the player’s choice whether to gun down everybody in sight and live up to the typical portrayal of an action hero, or take a more stealthy approach and leave a trail of broken necks in your wake; either way, you feel like a badass doing it.

What would Nicolas Cage do!?

The third-person shooter genre has been rife with the good, the bad, and the unplayable over the last few years as developers struggle to recreate what was accomplished in a few key examples of the genre. That struggle isn’t evident in Uncharted 2; its control set takes advantage of what works (D-pad for weapon selection, bumpers for using weapons, etc.) and leaves out the rest. You get access to a huge collection of weapons, but Drake is limited to carrying one two-handed and one one-handed weapon at a time, so you’re motivated to pick favourites and “stick to your guns” so to speak. Also, the developers did a good job placing plenty of the right kind of weapons in an area based on context, so even if you’re not packing a sniper rifle the entire game you’ll still be prepared when enemies attack from a distance.

The graphics and sound are both very slick. I was especially impressed with the way the character’s mouths moved in relation to the voice acting, and that glorious union between audio and video is there in every aspect of the game. The game leads Drake into a wide assortment of locales, all of them convincingly portrayed and always providing a suitable backdrop for whatever action happens to be taking place. The effects are really sweet too, especially the explosions, and that’s important because you’ll be seeing A LOT of them in Uncharted 2. Seriously. If I saw as many explosions in a day as Drake did, I would definitely give up treasure hunting. Hell, I would give up going outside.

The technical aspects of the game are tough to find complaints about; while the initial load is pretty long, I didn’t notice anything else that really delayed my enjoyment of Drake’s adventures. I also didn’t encounter any glitches except when Drake jumped onto the rim of a pickup truck’s back portion, stuttered for a few seconds, and teleported to the ground next to the truck. The controls are also very responsive when Drake is manoeuvring along a cliff face or jumping from ledge to ledge, and he always tends to go in the right direction instead of leaping off into the deep, painful unknown. The combat is seamless; you aim, you shoot, and occasionally you punch and unless you so some of these things at the wrong time you won’t get smoked. For instance, it makes sense that you’ll be blown away if you try to have a fistfight with one of your adversaries in the middle of a huge firefight. Other than the fact that Drake can take so many bullets and not die, the gameplay is true to life in a physical sense, and it’s all very technically sound.

Finally, this part of the game is probably my favourite; the bonus content is AWESOME. Provided you collect enough treasure throughout the campaign, you can purchase character skins, rendering modes, weapons, even tweaks/cheats. Few games have as much quality in their bonus content as Uncharted 2 has, and the tweaks alone can add hours upon hours to the time you’ll spend playing this game. The bonus content will also sweeten another trip through the campaign on a tougher difficulty, which you’ll inevitably take if you like this game as much as I do.

Cons

The downside of Uncharted 2’s faithfulness to action movies is definitely its hollywood storyline. This probably won’t matter to anyone who hasn’t seen an Indiana Jones flick (all 2 of you), but everyone else might feel like the events of Uncharted 2 have all happened in some movie they’ve seen. Also, the amount of crumbling terrain, explosions, and disasters in general that Drake deals with on a regular basis will really push your ability to suspend your disbelief. The betrayals, the brutal villain with the accent, the urgent need to prevent said villain from reaching a well-known mythical object in order to SAVE THE WORLD – it’s all been done before.

Do ya feel lucky...punk?

The story basically runs like this: You’re Nathan Drake, a professional treasure hunter who would provide a lovely complement to Lara Croft in a romantic relationship. (He OBVIOUSLY has a thing for English chicks, so why not?) You start out with seeing Nathan in very dire straits before witnessing a convenient flashback to happier times, when Nathan received the job that put him in such a pickle. The job requires that he infiltrate a high-security museum to recover an ancient artifact that has ties to Marco Polo. Basically, the job goes horribly wrong and he ends up in prison for awhile before he’s pulled out by his good friend Sullivan and an English (See?) hottie by the name of Chloe. From that point on Nathan and company travel the world on the heels of the bald, disfigured villain that wants to locate a relic known as the Cintamani Stone because he’s convinced it will give him the ability to conquer the world. The plotline ties in rather well with the mythology surrounding Shamballah and the more questionable aspects of Marco Polo’s journey through Asia.

You like me! You really, really, like me!

Here’s the Deal

Uncharted 2 is an excellent third-person shooter with an emphasis on intense firefights and puzzles that require you to use the environment creatively. While the story is probably nothing you haven’t seen before, the game’s polish in several key aspects will fully immerse you and really bring you closer to the characters. When you’ve worn out the campaign, there’s also plenty of bonus content to keep you interested. I can’t speak for the first game, but Uncharted 2:  Among Thieves is an excellent title for the PS3. 9/10 Mike D

I know a lot of the games I’m reviewing are old news…but if you haven’t played them it’s a perfect time to. You can find most of these games around $20 now and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves comes outs next month (October). Anyway let’s get to the review!

Now I started Uncharted around a month ago so I don’t remember every detail. Uncharted is an action adventure/TPS that’s exclusive to the PS3. This game has excellent graphics, even better than games that are published now. The first thing I thought when I started this game was “Wow this is a Tomb Raider rip-off with bad movement response”, but fortunately it steers away from that aspect fairly on in the game. So let’s start off with the story. You play as Nate, the descendent of Sir Francis Drake, who finds clues left by his ancestor to a great treasure. You set off in search of “El Derado” with your little posse which includes your dear friend Sully who is also a treasure hunter and this stupid annoying girl named Elena who is documenting the whole thing for a TV show. You travel to the Amazon following Drake’s clues. Of course there have to be some bad guys, which just so happen to be looking for the same treasure. So now you have to navigate all these weird locations and figure out clues and shoot bad guys. So now it’s a race to the finish, who can find the treasure first? The closer you get to finding El Derado, the more weird stuff starts to happen. You will soon find out that finding El Derado may not be such a good idea no matter how rich it could make you.

The game mechanics are ok. There is a lot of jumping and swinging like in Tomb Raider but I think that Tomb Raider has a way better control response. There were times I felt like smashing my damn controller because I would push the analog stick one way and Drake would move the other and I just generally felt like I wasn’t totally in control of him. The shooting itself was pretty fluid and the reload/gun swap buttons were easy to remember. The AI is smarter than your average run of the mill nameless cronies. They will flank you if you give them an opportunity to and have fairly good aim. There are puzzle rooms  like in Tomb Raider, which can be annoying as hell if you can’t figure them out right away. One thing I didn’t like is that the game basically plays it’s self (esp in the beginning) by telling you exactly where to go and what button to press. You get to collect “treasures” along the way which are basically pointless.

I died a lot in this game. There are parts that you will have to probably look up online bc you have no idea how the hell to continue. It’s definitely a contrast between easy gun fights and random ridiculously hard parts. There’s a part where you have to drive a jet ski as Drake and shoot a pistol as Elena at the same time all while trying to avoid barrels of explosives in the water and people shooting at you and going upstream against the current. Needless to say I quit after awhile. If something takes me more than 6 or 7 reloads I will quit. The scenery is awesome. Tons of lush jungle and ancient buildings. They definitely got the right amount of game play and cutscenes though. I hate when I play a game and I feel like I’m watching more cutscenes than I’m actually playing (cough cough MGS4). It was just enough to get you into the story.There is good selection of guns. My favorite was the M4 because it seemed more powerful than the other machine guns. There is also a melee attack that makes your enemy drop double ammo when you kill him.

I thought the end boss fight was good. Wasn’t too easy or too hard. The end left me wanting more and thankfully I don’t have to wait that long for it haha. One other thing that I hated about this game was Elena. She was completely useless and got in the way whenever I had her with me. For some reason it’s a good idea to throw a female side kick in a game (she’s not even hot) when she is just a little dumb puppy following you around, anyway I digress.  There’s pretty much a little bit of everything in this game. Platforming, third person shooting, exploring, and even a little survival horror to liven up the mix. I think this game is a must have for any gamer. It’s definitely worth $20 or more and I would suggest buying it.

Overall Score: 8.5/10

Replay Value: 7.5/10

Graphics: 9.5/10
(all .5’s weird)

Προβλήματα με το firmware 3.0 για το PS3 | byteme

Μπορεί το firmware 3.0 για το PS3 να προσθέτει αρκετά νέα στοιχεία στο περιβάλλον εργασίας και όχι μόνο της κονσόλας, ωστόσο ήδη αναφέρθηκαν τα πρώτα προβλήματα που αφορούν το Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Το παιχνίδι λοιπόν σύμφωνα με αρκετούς χρήστες «παγώνει» και «κολλάει» αδικαιολόγητα συχνά με τη Naughty Dog να ψάχνει την αιτία.[next]

Χωρίς Single Player demo το Uncharted 2 – Gameover.gr

Καθώς το ενδιαφέρον για την επόμενη περιπέτεια του Nathan Drake κορυφώνεται, η Naughty Dog έσπευσε να καταρίψει τις φήμες περί ενός Single Player demo του Uncharted 2.[next]

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• Uncharted 2 single-player footage is rad, spoiler-filled (joystiq.com)
• Uncharted 2 to dwarf original, Nate Drake’s shirt will be more tucked in (joystiq.com)

As rumours persist of a PS3 Slim and/or price drop set to be officially announced at this year’s Gamescon and a PSPGo already on the way (already with its own rumoured price drop), Sony just wanted remind us yet again of the current value of each of the three formats (plus PSN) in the current Playstation family.  On top of the value illustrated through each systems’ list of first and third party titles, multimedia features, and interoperability, the possible announcement of a slimmer PS3, an app (not only games) store in support of the upcoming PSPgo,  firmware advances, and a possible price cut for both, would only further peak the interest in the Playstation brand for those who have not yet paid attention…hmmmm…Sean C.
(notice the lack of final prices in the newest edition of the console value chart further below from Sony….hmmmm x2)

P.S. Be sure to also note the confirmation of two new additions to the PS3’s Greatest Hits lineup starting Aug.16 with 2 of my personal favorites in Uncharted: Drakes Fortune and SOCOM: Confrontation.

Official release below:

PlayStation: Your Entertainment Hub

PlayStation continues to set the standard for entertainment at home and on the go. With three successful platforms that deliver a
decade’s worth of entertainment in every box, an unparalleled line-up of 350 first and third-party games hitting across its multi-platforms this fiscal year, and a rich offering of games, movies and entertainment content, the company is staged yet again for a tremendous holiday season and year.

PlayStation 3 (PS3) is Just Getting Warmed Up
We know our consumers demand a premium entertainment experience. When you compare all the features against other industry offerings, there is no doubt that the PlayStation 3 provides the most complete entertainment system on the market today – right out of the box. Not only are consumers provided a best-in-class Blu-ray player that comes with 80 GB of storage for photos and music, built-in Wi-Fi, and thousands of innovative games that appeal to hardcore gamers and families alike, the PS3 offers future-proof technology and free access to rich and ever-evolving PlayStation Network content and services.

In only its third year of its lifecycle, the PS3 system has sold 24 million hardware units and nearly 190 million software units worldwide. In the first half of 2009 alone, PS3 exclusives Killzone 2, MLB 09 The Show,and inFAMOUS received critical acclaim and success with continued sales expected throughout the year. The PS3 software library also features a higher percentage of titles scoring 80 or above than any other console of its generation according to Metacritic data.

SCEA will continue to raise the bar this fiscal year with more than 25 exclusive titles to hit the platform. The highly-anticipated titles include UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves, Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time, God of War III, MAG, ModNation Racers, Heavy Rain and many more. In addition, SCEA will expand its “Greatest Hits” library with two new best-selling titles. Starting August 16, stand alone version of SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune will be available for $29.99  CDN MSRP.

PlayStation Network Feeds the Living Room with Compelling Digital Content
With more than 26 million user accounts and more than 540 million pieces of content downloaded worldwide to date, there is no denying the tremendous user appetite for digital content. In July 2009, paid downloads on PlayStation Network increased 114% over the past year.

There are more than 200 downloadable games and 1500 pieces of add-on game content for the PS3 and PSP systems available via the PlayStation Store, including innovative exclusive smash hits such as Flower, Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake and PixelJunk Eden and dozens of PS one Classics, such as Final Fantasy VII. Leading into the launch of PSPgo this fall and into the holidays, the PlayStation Store will expand significantly with downloadable content for the PSP platform, including highly anticipated titles such as Gran Turismo and PSone classics.

PSP (PlayStation Portable) Sets the Bar for Best-in-Class Entertainment on the Go
With nearly 53 million hardware units sold to date around the world, PSP is the only mobile entertainment device to offer console-quality gaming, music, movies, photos, wireless Internet, Skype, and on-the-go access to your living room’s entertainment content through PS3 interconnectivity. PSP is on pace for a truly break-out year, now with direct access to the PlayStation Network’s video delivery service, new digital content services such as Media Go!, and nearly 100 titles launching this fiscal year, including LittleBigPlanet PSP, Gran Turismo PSP,SOCOM: U.S Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3, Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier, Final Fantasy Dissidia, Madden NFL 10 and more. PlayStation is also offering many new hardware options to meet consumers’ varying needs and preferences, including the PSP-3000, the brand new Limited Edition Hannah Montana PSP (PlayStation Portable) Entertainment Pack with a lilac PSP, and PlayStation’s first digital-only portable device, the PSPgo system, coming this October.

PlayStation 2 Continues To Prove It Still Has Game
Now in its ninth year, more than 139 million PlayStation 2 entertainment systems and an unprecedented 1.4 billion PlayStation 2 software units have been sold life-to-date around the globe. With a $99 CDN purchase price, a library of over 10,240 titles, plus more than 100 additional titles slated this fiscal year — including SingStar: Queen, MotorStorm: Artic Edge and more — PlayStation 2 continues to offer a great value for budget-conscience families and gamers

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune finally makes it’s way into the PS3 Platinum games. On August 16, you can purchase the game for a much lower price of $29.99.

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is one of PS3’s best game’s so if you haven’t played this awesome game then here’s the best time to pick yourself up a copy.