Uncharted 2 at Wal Mart Dec 03, 2009 11:01PM PST

Impressions after playing the game:

The graphics are amazing, I will admit, but they're a lot more gritty than they are sleek and shiny. It looks about as good as any game can get, but on occassion I'll look at an overturned, burning truck and wonder "are there a few too many blackish spots on this thing?" Still, this has much more to do with my (not 20/20) eyes adjusting to this look after every graphics-enhanced game I usually play has that shiny thing going on than any notion that the graphics are bad. The graphics are awesome, just a less metallic and polished look than I'm used to. The animation is also amazingly fluid given the detail.

The voice acting is decent given the script. The opening sequence I saw was pretty cliche, just some dialogue before a truck comes behind you and it's too late to get away. To be fair, I saw only one piece of dialogue, so I definitely can't judge the game on this yet.

The controls handle very well though, and the gameplay is fluid and fun. You really only need the instructions to pop up once for you to get the hang of things which may be due to the clever mechanic of not letting the action progress until you've performed what the tutorial prompts you to. This works much better than the "you're doing it wrong, try again" method most game tutorial sequences employ, because it ensures you know what you're doing before the action starts rather than during it. The gameplay itself is solid and fun, though my playtrhrough revealed nothing groundbreaking. Crouch here, shoot there, and move across buildings via ledges etc. So derivative gaming, but still fun nonetheless.

Interestingly enough, we were talking about the game (graphics specifically) earlier, and its supposedly being the best looking game ever. My friend Michael got us started on how trees are the ultimate test of a game's graphics, how N64 and other consoles of yore would cheat by simply having two green and brown plains crossing to make a tree, how still many games "cheat" on their trees and how Uncharted is different because the trees "HAVE LEAVES"; meaning they gave their trees some fine detail.

Speaking about my friend Michael, he went on a rant about Metal Gear Solid 4 and how its cutscenes were so long that he was able to have a leisurely lunch of chili dogs with friends while waiting for a cutscene. I tried several times to interject that while I've only played the first 2 MGS's, this probably wouldn't bother me because I expect my MGS to be half movie; hell, my main reason for playing games can sometimes be to get to the cutscene. But when the man rants, no one gets a word in edgewise, not because he's trying to exclude you (though every disagreement you manage will get you a 10 minute rebuttal) but because I swear he does not breathe during these rants, leaving no time for your interruptions.

In the time he complained about MGS4 I probably could have had a chili dog lunch with friends and walked back to him and the other guy with us in the middle of that street, and he'd still be talking.

QotB (Questions of the Blog): If You're Not Sure How to Respond, QotB is here to help. Pick any or all topics you want to discuss, it might make the comments more interesting.

• Have you played either Uncharted? What are your impressions?

• What particular item do you think is the test for graphics of a game? Do you agree with my friend that it's trees? Do you think like me and always look at the water? Do you not have any particular item you focus on most? Don't care about graphics/care more about the artistry of the visuals?

• Michael said something about Uncharted's graphics being "layered" but did not know what the term meant. He also said they used only 33% of the Cell Processor last time and are aiming for full use with the sequel. Know anything about how accurate this is, or what "layered graphics" means?

• Do you play games partly for cutscenes or not at all? Would you want cutscenes gone completely?

• What are your feelings on MGS series?

Non blog related questions/asides

• What are your feelings on Twilight? Before the rant on MGS, Mike was on how Jacob couldn't be desirable until he changed his movie look from Native American long-hair to buff short-haired guy and how this affects people through mass media (Mass Media 101 being one of our classes together) imagery of what's desirable. Do you think girls liked a short-haired, buff guy anyway or does this have an effect on changing what's seen as desirable?

• If you're interested in any papers I've done this semester, shoot me a message, I might post a blog of it minus any damning personal information.

• If you had Street Fighter II as a kid, which version did you own? All 3 of us on the Wal Mart trip owned Turbo. Know the difference between the installments? (other than I think Cammy was only in Super, right?) Anyway, 100% of people surveyed today said they owned SFII:Turbo =p and they'd like to know what you had/what your favorite was.