ONE-WAY TICKET TO INTENSITY, PLEASE
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is one of those sequels that adds very little in terms of new ideas. Instead, it treats the first game as a test run—tweaking, refining, and correcting what was already there to finally fulfill the potential of a promising concept. Developer Naughty Dog fine-tunes the gunplay, fixes the broken platforming, tightens the level design, sharpens the pacing, introduces a few welcome changes of scenery, experiments modestly with the narrative, and replaces the cardboard cutouts of the first game with a cast of genuinely memorable characters.
All in all, we have a winner on our hands. Sleeker and leaner than Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Uncharted 2 is intense from start to finish, offering only brief moments of respite. The PS4 remaster is once again handled with great care by Bluepoint Games. I’d have to play the PS3 original and this version back-to-back to fully appreciate the technical improvements, but simply being able to control Nathan Drake with the DualShock 4—still my favorite controller overall—makes this the definitive version, at least for now.
The story is slightly more mature than its predecessor, even as Drake and his companions maintain their trademark banter. Drake is noticeably naughtier in his interactions with the excellent new love interest Chloe Frazer (superbly voiced by Claudia Black), a dark-haired Australian beauty and possible femme fatale. She and Drake are birds of a feather, which may explain why his trust in her is constantly wavering. Her knack for double-crossing leaves him unsure of where her allegiances truly lie.
This time around, the treasure hunt follows a trail left behind by Marco Polo in his search for the lost kingdom of Shambhala and the mythical Cintamani Stone, rumored to be worth tens of millions of dollars. The journey takes Drake from a museum in Turkey, through the jungles of Borneo, and ultimately to the Himalayas, with much of the game set in Tibet. A string of unforgettable set pieces—most famously the iconic train sequence—propels the story from one location to the next.
Naughty Dog is so proud of that train sequence that the game opens in its aftermath, in medias res, before later circling back as the narrative catches up. It’s an outstanding moment, encapsulating the game’s best mechanics within a single, elaborate scenario. It almost feels like a self-contained mini-game embedded in the larger adventure—and the same could be said for many other sequences. A bystander could pick up the controller at almost any moment and be just as captivated as someone who played from the very beginning.
The character cast is excellent and brought to life by a stellar voice ensemble. The grizzled Victor Sullivan tags along briefly before being replaced by Chloe, and soon Drake’s old flame Elena Fisher returns, adding a love triangle to the already high-stakes adventure. Another standout addition is Harry Flynn, a charismatic thief who draws Nathan into the treasure hunt in the first place.
Even the villains have seen a marked improvement. Having played Uncharted 2 before, I immediately remembered their roles—particularly the monstrous main antagonist Lazarevic—as soon as they appeared on screen. That certainly couldn’t be said of the bland, forgettable villains from the first game.
Mechanically, Uncharted 2 employs the same core elements as its predecessor—combat, light puzzles, and platforming—but with a far better sense of flow and progression. One sequence bleeds seamlessly into the next, often punctuated by heart-stopping firefights against overwhelming odds, to the point where you might barely notice the chapter transitions at the top of the screen. Divided into 26 chapters, the campaign runs for roughly 10–11 hours.
Visually, the game remains striking. There’s an almost extravagant attention to architectural detail, drawing you into humid jungles, bustling cities, and ancient temples. Even when the relentless pacing prevents you from fully taking it all in, you’re constantly aware of the craftsmanship surrounding you—and grateful for it. The dynamic soundtrack amplifies the tension, and the way it fades once a scene concludes is a small reward in itself. It signals safety, a checkpoint, and a brief chance to breathe and absorb your surroundings.
A handful of new gameplay features are so minor they barely warrant mention. You can now pick up and use riot shields, throw gas canisters, and shoot them mid-air for explosive results. We also get an early taste of Naughty Dog’s later storytelling approach through slower exploration segments, such as Drake wandering a Tibetan village and interacting with its inhabitants to acclimate himself—and the player—to an unfamiliar culture.
I’m left with very few complaints, most of which are lingering remnants from the first game. The story is still somewhat trite, and the strict linearity—combined with a lack of side content—diminishes any real sense of archaeological discovery. The treasure hunt is little more than a narrative excuse, albeit a well-executed one, for constant action. Some animations still look awkward under certain circumstances, but at least they function reliably this time. I never missed a jump I meant to make; when I fell to my death, it was my own mistake.
The most glaring flaw is the inclusion of stealth mechanics that Naughty Dog never quite masters. The game encourages stealth by rewarding silent takedowns with bonus weapons, but the system only holds up for a few enemies before you’re inevitably discovered and forced into open combat. One early section in Turkey—where detection results in instant failure—reveals just how frustrating the game could have been had stealth been a central pillar. Thankfully, it isn’t.
Instead, Uncharted 2 feels like a studio learning quickly and well. The mechanical screws are tightened, pushing the experience closer to the playable action-movie fantasy the first game aspired to be. Drake still feels slightly flimsy at times, but his improved responsiveness enables more thrilling encounters—including helicopter battles and a spectacular chase through a Tibetan village under siege by a tank.
All Uncharted games share a remarkable approachability. The controls are intuitive, the interface clean, and the player is rarely pulled away from the action by menus or clutter. Face buttons, shoulder buttons, and the d-pad cover nearly everything you need. While the cinematics tell yet another familiar treasure-hunt story, the character interactions—already strong in the first game—are even better here, lending the adventure warmth and personality.
It successfully merges cinematic storytelling with interactive gameplay without compromising either. The storytelling is polished, the pacing superb, and players are given enough freedom to express their preferred style of action. With Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, it’s clear that Naughty Dog finally dialed in every parameter—and delivered the definitive cinematic action game of its era.
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