Another year’s worth of games draws to a close which means it’s time for more trailers and reveals courtesy of Spike TV and GameTrailers.
This year’s highlight for me were The Last of Us and Metal Gear Rising. The former for being a new property by one of my favorite developers of the generation and the latter for being so nonsensical.
Other than those two, there wasn’t much else to fawn over.
I didn’t want to wait until I finished the co-op or dabbled into the final version of the multiplayer because Uncharted is all about the solo experience. It’s what brought me to this franchise and its the reason why I stayed with it.
I found Naughty Dog’s latest opus to be their best work to date. Uncharted 2 may have brought them into the limelight for many, but it was an evolutionary step towards their interactive action movie vision. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception is a culmination of all the technological advancements, gameplay ideas and lessons learned from the past five years.
I thought Uncharted 2′s multiplayer was surprisingly good, but issues with connectivity and matchmaking prevented me from playing for a brief period of time and I never went back.
Naughty Dog’s take on multiplayer was surprisingly good for their first attempt. It completely destroyed the notion of it being tacked on.
What I enjoyed most about it was its simplicity on the surface. It was a third person shooter where you could climb, take cover and shoot dudes in the face. The depth came through exploration of the game’s levels and abilities. For example, not many people knew that it was possible to pick up ammo while rolling over ammo. Those were simpler times.
In contrast, Uncharted 3′s multiplayer appears to be needlessly complicated at first, but upon closer inspection, it’s just a Call of Duty layer on top of Uncharted 2′s multiplayer.
Sonic Generations
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
TBA 2011
Let’s kick things off with Sonic Generations which features both classic pot belly Sonic and edgy green eyed Sonic. I’m quite aware of the Sonic Cycle which is why I don’t want to get my hopes up. But by bringing back classic Sonic, Sega is actually putting in an honest effort to win back the old school fans. I wish them the best.
If a game’s quality equates to the number of times I’ve played it, then Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune sits on top of my list of games for this generation. A high caliber sequel would be needed to top that kind of accomplishment. Everything I loved and hated from the original had to be improved or amended. Naughty Dog did all that and more. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves isn’t simply more of the same, but improved. There’s all kinds of sorcery in here which I’ve never seen the likes of — well, not seen in a game at least.
Access to the Uncharted 2 multiplayer beta was granted through contests, pre-orders and special consideration from the Game Advisory Panel. I didn’t get in through any of those; I got in through the kindess of strangers. It is what I expected. It’s Uncharted’s cover system, shooting mechanics and fluid animation put through multiplayer paces. And I liked it.
New chick. New location. New screenshots of Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 2: Among Thieves!
Bullshots? I believe so. Still looks gorgeous!