Uncharted 2

Admittedly it has been a while since my last post, but I have excuses. Firstly, uni just started so I've had lots of coffee to drink and things to be intellectual about. Also, I'm notoriously lazy. But never fear as in my time since the last post I have had a chance to play through Naughty Dog's Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.

Let me just start by saying that Uncharted 2 is quite good and well worth playing. The gameplay is simple yet rewarding, the storyline...well the storyline is...well, the storyline is like the special kid in your primary school class. He is nice enough, but you don't really want to be associated with him. Trust me, that will make more sense later on. I even had a chance to play the online part of the game which was also quite good.

The gameplay is like I said simple, you have a gun, and you point it at bad guys and bullets come out killing them. You can take cover so that when they point their guns at you, you don't die. That is about as complex as the combat gets, but it is surprisingly fun.

What makes it fun is that Uncharted 2 managed to do what Assassin's Creed 2 came so close to doing but failed miserably at. It managed to find a balance between stealth gameplay and straight out action. In Uncharted 2 you often are given an option to run through enemy compounds unnoticed taking guards out one at a time.

What is so great about it, is that the combat can be so challenging at times that the only possible way to get through compounds is with stealth. And when you are spotted, combat can be quite harrowing, making stealth, atleast to thin enemy ranks almost an imperative.

Moving back to the actual combat, it works because unlike almost every game, you're main character isn't some sort of invincible death machine. Getting hit by bullets hurts, and enemies will fight back in melee combat, meaning that a level of stratergy is involved.

So, if you want a game just for gameplay then this one is the game for you. However, we now move into the storyline, which was...well, it was intresting.

The storyline was about as cliched as a french men in a stripey shirt, smoking a ciggerate while eating cheese on top of the Eiffel Tower. One instance that really got me down, was when you were captured by the big boss guy, he didn't shoot you straight out because he "wanted you to see the treasure before you died" and maybe sit down for this bit as the innovation may make you pass out...you escape.

The writing, was also a bit iffy. It's been said that it is very similar to a Joss Whedon sort of script, which is very true. It consists of snarky, cynical heroines, smart talking chisled heros, and some bald russian. What's intresting is that the writing actually won an award at the American Writers Guild. Which I guess is a reflection of Video Games becoming a more accepted medium, but also a sign that people have shit taste.

The dialogue, was corny, overwritten and cliched. But then again maybe it was self aware? which makes it okay? I'm not sure if the game was taking the piss or not, but if so, then maybe it does deserve that award.

The online was also a lot of fun, it did just suffer from the age old problem of people on the internet being assholes.

For instance at one point I was doing a co-op mission, and I needed my teammate, to come stand near me and press Triangle for the mission to proceed. His character did a laughing animation for 10 seconds, threw a grenade at me, and then quit.

That is what we call internet faggotry. And if you're out there reading this Slordin234...I'll get you.

But all in all, get Uncharted 2. It was fun.

Assassin's Creed 2

In keeping with my new found video game blogging I am now the proud owner of a ps3 console. And the only way I can find to describe how it makes me feel is to quote seminal artist 50cent when I say, "that shit is pretty damn good."

Indeed the ps3 is pretty damn good. I have just finished Assassin's Creed 2 and at the outset let me say that this game is one of the better games I have played.



The story follows that of a young Assassin in renaissance Italy on his quest to avenge his murdered family, along the way he discovers a huge conspiracy and sets out on a quest to stop it. during said quest his morality is thrown into doubt as he begins to question whether or not it is okay for him to kill people for the greater good and is thrown into a spiral of self doubt.

That about sums up the first 80% of the game, and so far the story is excellent, then the following happens.

Leonardo Da Vinci makes you a gun, every character you have ever met in the game shows up to help you like some kind of Assassin equivalent of the Super Friends, Machiavelli tells you that he is an Assassin, you then clone yourself to fight with the pope, and it turns out that the entire story has been about aliens the whole time. I'm not joking.

way to ruin a great story, ubisoft, but then again ubisoft are french so it's probably a metaphor for Satre's existential crisis or something.

So, the story could have been brilliant but was actually lame. Oh and if you are familiar with the story and are reading this and saying to yourself:

"but he hasn't even mentioned, Desmond, or the Animus, or the imminent pole reversal!"

That's because if I went into any of that, my head would explode from having to comprehend the shitness of the story telling.

So, the story is a bit of a let down, but that's no matter as the gameplay is as they say "fucking amazing"

and it is.

It is similar to the first in that it is a sandbox style of gameplay, meaning that you are free to go anywhere. You are also amazingly skilled at parcour, so running across the rooftops of Venice and casually dropping two stories onto some poor guard and killing him is amazingly satisfying.

and moving away from the sandboxing the linear missions are great as well, with the right balance of stealth gameplay and action. Unfortunately the combat system is still ultimately flawed, in that it is practically impossible for any number of guards to actually kill you. As they decide the most efficent way to deal with you, is to stand in a circle awkwardly and take turns attacking you.

But disregarding that, the stealth elements and sandboxing make up for it.

There is however the issue of the broken economy system. In this game you can make money and spend it on things like armour, weapons, bullets, prostitutes etc. you're even given a villa that you can upgrade to receive a higher income.

Anyway, the problem with the system is that you end up with a stupid amount of money, and nothing to spend it on. You get the best armour for free, and once you have the best sword, there is literally nothing to buy and you just end up with a huge fortune and nothing to do with it.

This is however a minor grumble of mine, as the economy is most of the time, irrelevant to the actual gameplay.

But all these problems are pretty minor and the game is, as far as I'm concerned, excellent. Definitely worth buying, and then possibly playing.