I recently picked up last year’s Game of the Year award recipient, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Honestly, I didn’t know much about the game other than that the lead character resembled Captain Hammer and that there was a strong female lead. I bought Uncharted 2 specifically because it had won Game of the Year. I wanted to know exactly what made the game so damned special. Of course, I have my own criteria of what I thought a Game of the Year be:

1. Well-written and acted characters (if story has a narrative arc)
2. Fluid controls
3. Well-stated and achievable goals
4. Challenge without frustration (or at least that positive frustration that makes you jump that impossible gap over and over and over once more)
5. Attractive art style
6. Fun! Exciting! Entertaining!

I don’t think that my list is too demanding. I’m not exactly sure how IGN or the VGAs come to their decision but I can’t imagine that their list does not include most of these considerations. How has Uncharted 2 measured up so far? Read on, intrepid gamer, for my super important, all encompassing opinion.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves definitely wins in the character development / narrative development category. The story is exciting. The characters are funny and somewhat complex. I didn’t feel the urge to poke myself in the eye every time a female character was on-screen. This is a good thing. What games like Uncharted and Dead Space have over games like Alan Wake is that the narrative is tucked into every nuance of the game and is a surface conceit. Also, neither game pretends to be “scholarly” or a game for “readers and writers.” Alan Wake‘s main conceit was that an active force was scripting the experience. And that active force is supposedly a comparable writer to Stephen King. What a dangerous comparision! This means that Alan Wake should be as well-written as The Dark Tower or  Carrie. Yeash. What a way to set the bar impossibly high.  Of course, Uncharted and Dead Space are both scripted but they don’t throw it in your face that you as a player are helpless to change events.

Games are little worlds where players can pretend to be gods. Acknowledging the script is for actors not for viewers or players. Otherwise, one feels distracted and torn between God-like and a fool. I can only think of a few examples where acknowledging scripts is effective and one is Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, a Tom Stoppard play, and the other is Adaption, a Spike Jonze movie. Notice both of these works are theatre-based and not game-based. Uncharted 2 sweeps the player into the action and moves them along at the pace of an action film. As does Dead Space and a horror film. This is not to say that I believe that a video game can be a theatre experience anymore than a theatre experience can be a video game. The two mediums can borrow from each other but I think the attempt to make every game interaction film quality is near-sighted. Game narrative pacing should definitely utilize dramatic tropes. Films should attempt to engage viewers in a more varied internal stimulation. Books, theatre, film, and games are all related in that they tell stories but they are vastly different. (Oh and Nathan Fillion would be freakin’ awesome as Drake.)

The film narrative to game narrative relationship is an area that Naughty Dog both succeeds and fails in. There are certain cinematic choices that are a determent to completely fluid controls. How so, you ask? Take, for example, when Drake has to jump a suspiciously large gap. Normally, I would run as fast as I can towards the edge of the gap and launch my character as far as possible to guarantee a safe landing. Not so in Uncharted 2. In Uncharted 2 each jump is cinematic. Drake as to have a mid-air flail and struggle to pull himself onto the ledge. This means that no matter the gap size, if Drake has to travel in a direction, he will always make the jump. Therefore, I cannot judge correctly if I can make a jump or not. I have to willingly fling my character over gaps of various size and assume that Drake will make it because it’s in the script. If it is the correct direction, Drake will make it 100% of the time. I have found that this cinematic jump mechanic has seriously cut down on the challenge and exploratory anxiety normally associated with taking such a risk. It seems that the only time I fail and fall is by complete random mistake and not due to challenge.

Oh, you Naughty Dog!

Another control issue arises when the player attempts to sneak up on a bad guy and use the sleeper kill tactic. For some odd reason, the button that I always push for the sleeper attack no longer functions in the same manner if I am hiding behind something. Now, instead of just tapping the square button, I have to move forward and tap the square button and hope that the guard does not become aware of my awkward fumbling.  Of course, most of the times I try and sneak behind a railing to grab a guy, Drake completely spazzes out and jumps right into the open.  I’m sure there are smoother operators than I out there, but after playing a game like Splinter Cell: Conviction, I know that there are better duck, cover and eliminate options available. Instead I am as stealthy as if Sam Fisher was a stroke victim trying to get the lid off the apple sauce. In fact, Tommy and I were discussing the fact that Naughty Dog seems to frequently employ sub-par control mechanics. Even Crash Bandicoot was off in some manner that made jumping an especially confusing experience. Which is lame because Naughty Dog does excellently in almost every other facet of game-play.

Another aspect of Uncharted 2 that feels a little lackluster is the navigability of the world. Although I am generally a map fan, I can deal with games that don’t include them as long as I can still figure out where to go. I get it. It is highly unlikely that Nathan Drake has a pre-rendered map of the exotic locations he finds himself in. I guess Naughty Dog wanted to help out the player through an ever present hint system But the addition of a hint system is not a solution for lost players. Either the levels must be streamlined in a way that moves the player towards the goal.or the Player needs some sort of messaging that they’ve already explored this damn rocky corner 17 times. Oh and it looks suspiciously like plenty of other rocky corners, so good luck telling the difference. Games like God of War 1 & 2 don’t employ a map and, even with occasional path confusion, I never feel like the world is impossible to keep track of, rather, it’s because I’ve messed up somewhere along the way or I am not looking in the right manner. In Uncharted 2, I find myself wandering around more often than I would like. Or I find myself keeping an eye on the NPC to see where they are hanging out and figure that the path must be close by. This is just another hint system mechanic. It’s almost as if Naughty Dog knows that it’s difficult to find one’s way and didn’t spend enough time creating level designs.

Uncharted 2 does set up the puzzle elements and unique action skills rather well. I feel like I always know the next step to take when it comes to puzzle rooms. The challenges are well thought out and suit the narration well. New mechanics are easy to employ, which is awesome because you usually have to use the new skill in the midst of a swarm of bullets. These portions are the most enjoyable parts of the game. There is a great train scene (no not the opening train scene that you play through twice) that has Drake ducking low signs and sneaking into windows that really shines.

I am currently playing it on hard mode but have been jogging through. When exactly does this game get difficult? Or is the difficulty just dealing with the lame control mechanic? Anywho…

The last two items on my list are completely met by Uncharted 2. The art and set pieces are immense and very Indiana Jones-like. The characters look and move well. Furthermore, even with my complaints, I have found Uncharted 2 to be a blast. It really is very fun and entertaining. I care about the characters and want to see how events resolve. It’s like Crash Bandicoot all over again. There’s something wonky there but I don’t care. I’m having a great time.

Do I consider Uncharted 2: Among Thieves to have met all my Game of the Year criteria? Not really. Do I actually know what that means? Not really. Would I buy another “Game of the Year”? Probably. Will I still gripe about it like a petulant four year old? You betcha.