Why Uncharted 2 Could Spell Bad News for the Games Industry
Before I get into this, I imagine you saw the title and thought ‘What?! This guy’s clearly an idiot. Uncharted 2 is bloody awesome, keep your opinions to yourself before the wrath of the internet eats you whole.’ Bravo, you fell right into my cunning, yet journalistically clichéd trap, you poor thing. I only just finished Uncharted 2, I know, I’m a terrible person. I couldn’t start playing it until the Saturday afternoon and being such the social butterfly/part-time waiter I am, didn’t get to complete it until today.
Alas, I was too late to review the game for ResumePlay, I can however provide my thoughts and musings into what this could possibly mean for future games. Uncharted 2 is a brilliant game, a game which exists in such a form that it can be 
most likened to an Indiana Jones film, only with slightly fewer Nazis. Let’s face it, the acting and general characterization of most characters in the majority of games, is lackluster. For example, in Fallout 3, a game which up until this point was my favourite game of the year, feels like a pair of speakers attached to a particularly cardboardy standee and conveying all the emotion and acting prowess of Paris Hilton on downers. The fact that all of the cut scenes in Uncharted 2, as well as flowing seamlessly into and out of the action, are all acted in Mocap and voice-recorded at the same time. Thus, we’re essentially seeing live action, merely rendered with textures. Whilst the storyline of Uncharted 2 wasn’t necessarily Oscar winning and rightly so, considering it’s a bloody game, it puts majority of film to shame, let alone games.
The bottom line is that this could spell bad news for the games industry, although bare with me for one second. I’m going to take you on a trip back to 2008, specifically to the month of May and even more specifically to May20th/23rd, depending on where you live. I know that Haze is to video games is really an Reductio ad Hitlerum, but it’s a bloody 
good example. Uncharted 2 could have prevented that. After developers acknowledge that Naughty Dog have raised the bar in all facets of game design, I’d even argue that in terms of atmosphere and sheer grandeur, it manages to outshine Bioshock. Hopefully this means that, perhaps, more effort will be put into games and more attention to detail. Perhaps they might even realize that quality over quantity. I don’t want a new game every six months in the longest running series of stupidly clichéd nonsense; we want originality and craft.
Uncharted 2 achieved what Metal Gear Solid 4 so desperately tried to achieve, without the need for literally hours and hours of cut scenes; Hideo Kojima’s hours and hours of endless verbal diarrhea, which was way too much for my stomach to handle. I’m not saying Metal Gear Solid 4 had a bad storyline, mainly because I’ve not played through it due to becoming bored, but in what I saw, it was so clumsily and haphazardly drawn out, that it completely excludes anybody aside from the absolute hardcore gamer or Metal Gear fan.
In short: bad news for mediocre developers, good news for the consumer. Now Modern Warfare 2 had better be pretty spectacular. And I lied, it’s a fantastic thing for the games industry. Bring it on!
As an aside, I noticed something quite bewildering, yet funny, today. In GAME, the UK equivalent to Gamestop, on my receipt for Uncharted 2, the product code was ‘UNCHARTERED2xxxxx’. The bloody idiots.
43 Comments
You are right my friend Call Of duty Modern warfare 2 had better be this good.
yeah i agree with that especially that people @ game are idiots! When i went to preorder it they asked me what platform i wanted it on and that was by a manager! I mean surely if you work in the games industry you should know it is only on the ps3 i mean most other people do!
good article. Uncharted 2 really has quality that can truly only be achieved after spending countless hours working on it. like you said, it might even be more atmospheric than games like bioshock. naughty dog really went all out with this title and didnt leave ANYTHING out that the consumer could want. i got my epic campaign, (the best since half life 2) with 100 treasures to find and lots of unlockables, engaging multiplayer with a good amount of modes and customizable perks or “boosters,” a co op mode which is super fun and difficult and lastly a machima mode along with cinema mode. naughty dog is my hero, they didnt just squeeze this game out to try to make some cash, they truly looked at what their fans wanted and they delivered on all fronts in a way no other game has before.
I agree with everything but the MGS4 part as Im a fan and all of that made sense to me. Usually people say “THERESASKIPOPTIONOOB” but then you miss onward of 4 hours of the actual game so yeah I get that but it's still such a great game…
Anyway well done Laika you've broken Resumeplay! =D *Goes about trying to get it fixed*
Hey don't mess with MGS or I'll kill you with my Railgun /jk
Good article but It could be better if you didn't talk about my hero lol
I played Unchartered 2 and when I saw the next video for MW2, I was really got the feeling of, “Wow, all games fucking suck in comparison to my Uncharted 2.”
And I'm kind of right. I am not excited about any game anymore. Ok, I am about Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2.
a clever article to be honest, but ppl need to stop compare a western game to a japanese one !!
there is NO Western Developed game that matches a japanese game level of Cinematic/Design TO DATE !
Uncharted 2 is a good game but OVERHYPED by a bunch of arrogant idiots who call themselves “Naughty Dog”
Question: what if FFXIII and Uncharted 2 got released at the same day which game will win ? the firt one right .
“ppl need to stop COMPARE a western game to a japanese one !!”…..”FFXIII is my game !! your holy Uncharted is nothing COMPARED to it !!!!”
Really? hmm
“ppl need to stop COMPARE a western game to a japanese one !!”…..”FFXIII is my game !! your holy Uncharted is nothing COMPARED to it !!!!”
Really? hmm
Disagree with the MGS4 comparison. In terms of MGS4 the cutscenes are sometimes the only way to convey the information that MGS4 does. It goes way more in depth into the characters personalities and nuances than Uncharted 2 ever does. It has history behind it and a variety of characters from funny to badass to tragic. If Uncharted 2 does teach MGS something it's to involve gameplay into the cutscenes more, at least in terms of ones that involve action. Otherwise MGS4 strives for a presentation that Uncharted 2 doesn't do simply because that's not the sort of game or story that it is, also MGS' method is a style of its own that fans have always loved. Definately though, Hideo Kojima can draw a lot of inspiration for telling stories from things that Uncharted 2 does. But overall the cutscene is never going away because there are things that only non-interactive cutscenes can do for storytelling in games. But I agree with the philosophy of trying to give the player as much interactive control and have cutscenes be as brief as possible. When considering the future of games, it's wise to consider the strong points that games like MGS4, Uncharted 2 and Heavy Rain are bringing to the table.
You may be able to secure more clicks by advertising an outlandish claim and feeding off the curiosity of your readers, which is a snotty journalism by the way.
Let me see if I have this correct; developers should stop producing titles that elevate gaming to an artistic form of expression, solely because it makes consumers more aware of lower quality titles.
Yeah, right… Maybe we should stop making good movies too…
Opinions are like assholes Laika, everyone has one & they all usually stink.
WTF?
Guys, this is a PRO Uncharted 2 article. Read the entire article. It's a challenge to the Games Industry to match quality. It just takes some reading in between the lines.
Yep we all know it, Unfarted2 and everything on the POS3 sucks so bad, it isnt even funny anymore. Lack of AA? why? I dont want to see pixels anymore.
Overhyped to the max but only the fanboy can't see it, sad how very sad.
why are Asians so arrogant and up themselves?
seriously, how can you say uncharted 2 has nothing against FFXIII when you have not played FFXIII?
go back to your bridge troll.
ill be surprised if you even played uncharted 2 because at my tafe theres like 100 Asians and trying to talk them into playing a “western game” is like trying to convince xbots halo sucks.
im still trying to find how this is a bad thing.
you say “t’s a bloody game, it puts majority of film to shame, let alone games”
thats a bad thing?
another
“it manages to outshine Bioshock”
thats a bad thing? bioshock is still one of my favorite games.
“Hopefully this means that, perhaps, more effort will be put into games and more attention to detail. Perhaps they might even realize that quality over quantity. I don’t want a new game every six months in the longest running series of stupidly clichéd nonsense; we want originality and craft”
how is that a bad thing?
THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT IVE BEEN SAYING FOR YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this is what i want, back in the day developers made their passion.
since they were so passionate about there games they wanted them to be good.
now games are seen as a bank, most developers dont care how good a game is as long as it brings in the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
you say uncharted 2 might make developers wake up and smell the cheese and change their attitude and make high quality games.
how the %$#% is that a bad thing?
you dont want quality games?
O come now you should not talk about yourself that way
So Basically you're saying “I don’t want a new game every six months in the longest running series of stupidly clichéd nonsense; we want originality and craft.”
And that's after playing Uncharted 2? A game that has no originality in it whatsoever, and all it does is copy ideas from other games and nicely meld them together?
What this is basically signaling the industry is this: don't experiment and waste your time on new ideas that might work and might now. Wait for other people to develop their good ideas, and then refine them and put them in your own game.
So yes, bad news for the games industry indeed.
Uncharted 2 is a fantastic game but it's not good enough to put me off all other games for good, LOL. If i'm perfectly honest, i still think Jak & Daxter is better than Uncharted.
Anyway, no game, no matter how good it is, could stop me wanting Assassin's Creed 2, God Of War 3 and Gran Turismo 5.
LOL, looks like we've got some poor soul here who just can't fathom that Uncharted 2 has recieved better reviews than any Xbox 360 exclusive game in history. Then again……so did LittleBigPlanet – next you'll be telling us that THAT wasn't original………LOL.
Uncharted 2 recieved better reviews than any exclusive on the Xbox Please – Fix – Me. So by saying it sucks you're basically saying that every 360 game mega – sucks? LOL, self – ownage at it's finest.
This is a good example of why in – breeding is a bad thing…………….
I like it how you compare the game to one that no one has played through and assume its going to be better than Uncharted. Your right to say don't compare Western and Jap, but don't compare RPG's with Shooters. As for me i'm a huge FF fan but FFXIII dosen't appeal to me. Naughty Dog didn't hype up Uncharted 2, gamers and journelists did because the previews we saw were awsome. If every single game ever made was released today Uncharted 2 would be the best, i'm not saying its the best game ever made as time of release is a contributing factor, but at least play the game through a couple of times, and just watch it at least once and you will see the shear scale of the game (the background on the train sequence dosen't repeat once and everything looks great). I'm assuming you own a 360 or you are on the dole and can only afford one game a year and are pissed of that other people can enjoy a game you can't. Either way lay of Uncharted 2, it didn't do anything to you exept make you wish you had a PS3. So get a job and own both consoles like i do so you can enjoy all the best in gaming.
You remember who is usually reading these right Nathan? :/
Likes how Halo carbon copies every decent sci-fi & FPS on the market? It all makes sense now.
no originality ay?
name 1 other game that has you in a train hanging off the edge off a cliff and you have to climb your way out.
AND
a building collapse while your in it.
AND
a hellicopter battle like 4 times.
AND
a tank battle
AND
a train chase scene while a helli is blowing up the carriages.
also name 1 game that has some assembly programming used in it lately.
yes thats right uncharted 2 has some assembly language in it.
THATS how dedicated naughty dog were to making this the best of the best, you have to be either extremely talented and ballsy or plain INSANE! to do this because its impossible to debug.
1 syntax error will take months to find let alone fix.
name 1 other game that does all that, come on i dare ya.
thats right NO other game does.
thats not “original”?
i am a proud ps3 owner you can even call me a ps3fanboy but i dont worship it like some ppl do and cry/defend every single exclusive game on it !!
i didn't say that Uncharted 2 is a bad game but NOT perfect !
the shooting feels so slow i mean when you fire a bullet from your gun you can see the bullet flying, that delays the hit on the target if you know what i mean umm is that good for a Shooter game ?
the game has the worst jumping animation ever plus the characters design are meh ! the only good “HUMAN” looking character is Elena, the rest are “Generic” !
oh when i compared FFXIII with Uncharted 2 i compared a true over the top quality game to OVERRATED/OVERHYPED game aka “Uncharted 2″
do you udarstand now
Well played Sir! Well played…
You'd have to be a fool to not recognize how amazing this game is. I'm not saying you have to like it, but it's stupid to say that it's unoriginal or visually lacking. I wouldn't want the ceiling of the sistine chapel in my house, but it's still a damn good painting.
This article doesn't even mention the immensely unique multiplayer aspects, which allows the same melee and platforming as the compain. Nothing beats hanging off the side of a cliff and pulling some fool off to his death.
If people don't like the game then ok for them. if they generally don't find UC2 to their tastes then power to them. They obviously have specific tastes for games and UC2 isn't one of them.
But the “LOL UC2 SO UNORIGINAL & SHIT” are not welcome…ever >:(
You compared a game yet to be released anywhere, which you have never played, with no understand as to how it will actually turn out, with a game that is currently in stores and has universal…
Do you understand now?
Hey guess what did every one hear! there is a new uncharted 2 killer coming on the xbox, never before seen original and graphics that would make your eye balls RROD…….
It's HALO RACING 2010, wow you can customize your car with master chief looks, upgrade a whopping 50 cars on two discs with “wart” hog suspension and wait for it….your own photo realistic 1000 000 pixel bobbel head of the AI in Halo 1-100 wow!!!!! awesome
i'll stick to UNCHARTED 2 thanks eat your heart out xbox fanboys, drop your pride and see a great game for what it really is and more!
show me one game today on the xbox that could match story telling entertainment like U2 i dare you!!!!!
I doubt modern warefare can one up this. especially this late in the game. But all the power to em. They simply don't have the time to realize what naughty dog did, and emulate it for their own game. I'm sure the story in this MW is just as bad as the first.
Rarely do people who work in video games stores know ANYTHING about video games. Which used to boggle my mind when I'd apply with a wealth of knowledge in both retail and gaming and get turned down.
Last time I was in GameStop to pick up Demon's Souls, the girl asked me if I wanted to pre-order it… If your not smart enough to realize the game is on the shelf right behind you, what are the chances you have any idea what your talking about when it comes to the games themselves.
Good thing you have a wonderful site by the name of ResumePlay to get all your gaming reviews and information from!
! /end shameless plug
HALOZ JOO NOOB! ITS STORY IS AWESOMESUACE!
oh god how I hate Halo…
Its a great article, but I disagree with the MGS4 comments. Both these games are play like movis but just like real movies there are diffrent types of movies made for diffrent people. In your article you compare uncharted 2 to an indiana jones movie, sticking to that comparison, comparing Uncharted 2 to MGS4 is like comparing a Lucas film to a Terintino. George Lucas films are normaly more animated and active, while the apeal of Terintino films, like that of kojima's games is their depth of detail and complexity of their stories. Picking between the two depends soley on personal prefrence.
Following up on that, the moment I and several of my friends finished MGS4 we all had the same reactiont that inspired this article. “This game makes every other game, movie, book, iv ever come across seem worthless and i dnt kno if ill ever be able to enjoy anything this good ever again” and that is why i am DIEING to get my hands on UC2.
Careful, Metal Gear Solid was a masterpeice. I'm telling my mum on you!
Yeah, Uncharted 2 was spectacular too. And MW2 has a lot to live up to.
Haha, nice one. From one journslist to another: nice article and opening. You got me hook line and sinker.
Hey that's just mean. Maybe where you live you're surrounded by retards but here, we know our shit thank you very much.
Sorry, that's was my intended meaning, that the people in the store i go to are like that. My bad.
I am still in awe of Uncharted 2. I think games are going to have to work very hard to top how polished Naughty Dog's product has become.
And PS – thank God, I thought I was the only one who thought MGS 4 was boring. :/