As I'm just about finishing the first game, Uncharted 2 has now become one of my most anticipated PS3 titles coming this year.  The gameplay footage and trailer presented so far have been INCREDIBLE on every level.  This one's gonna be huge.

-E3 2009 Trailer
-City Warzone Gameplay
-Rooftop Helicopter Gameplay

But the coolest so far are the interviews with the main voice actors in the series, including Nolan "Nate" North and Emily Rose and Claudia Black, who voice Elena and newcomer Chloe respectively.  North looks remarkably close to Nate, but Rose..... my god, she is like the spitting image of Elena.

Definitely will be picking this one up as well.  Grabbed the first on for cheap and was pleasantly surprised! 

I thought Drake sounded familiar.  Isn't that the same guy who does the voice of "The Prince" on the new Prince of Persia?  (I'm playing through that one right now).

Yeah, that's the Prince of Persia's voice actor as well. I enjoyed that game too, even if the difficulty was toned down for a larger audience.

I *love* Claudia Black and I can't tell you what a pleasant surprise it was to see her attached to Uncharted 2. The game is going to rock!

A fan of Farscape?

Yup.

Finally put the lid on the first Uncharted on Normal mode.  My capsule review: a solid, satisfying action-adventure game, part Tomb Raider (without the frustrating camera and awful checkpoint system) and part Gears of War. (Though not quite as varied in enemy and weaponry selection.)  The graphics are a real stunner, even rivaling the best of today's console gaming, and both music and voice acting are terrifc.   Some of the vehicle sections I could've done without, like the jet ski sections.  But other than that, it's a great quest while it lasts.

Here are some things I'd love to see improved upon for the sequel:

Tone down the waves of enemies that are constantly bombarding you.  I know it's the game's natural way of padding game time, but it didn't take me long to get battle fatigue after the third or fourth encounter in a row.  Not only that, but they swarm you in such a way that survival, at least from the way I've been playing, means having to trek back to the farthest part of the beginning of an area to 'funnel' them toward you in a safe manner.  I found myself having to rely on this tactic more and more as the game went on, rather than being able to utilize the immediate environments for effective cover.   

As Wanderer stated, more enemy types would be great.  Better variety in the weapons could also give you a better fighting chance against swarming enemies.  Should they decide to keep the high encounter rate of battles the same (and for some reason, I think they inevitably will) this could go a long way toward alleviating the aforementioned problems.  Also, more opportunities to use QTE combos for close quarters combat.  They're great to look at, but don't come often enough -- and when they do, it can be difficult to pull 'em off right.   

More boss battles.  The few featured were quite cool, but like Gears 2, it'd be great to have more of them to punctuate the action.

Bring Greg Edmonson back for composing duties.  The soundtrack to the first is a perfect mood-setting blend of the exotic and the exciting.  Besides which, I just want to hear more works from the guy; anyone know if he's done anything else?

Some niggling gameplay and aesthetic fixes are in order.  Make the grenades more effective to use, and further refine how Nate sticks to walls when taking cover.  Fix up the screen-tearing issues, which, from what people are saying about the recently multiplayer beta, Naughty Dog has thankfully done.

This is already a few days old yet, but Playstation Blog hosted a Live Chat with Naughty Dog's Amy Hennig and Evan Wells.  The transcribed chat can be found here, while the bullet point wrap-up, courtesy of NeoGAF, can be found here.

It's all sounding really promising.  Seems ND is really pushing the PS3's capabilities in terms of graphical effects; it definitely shows in recent videos.  90 minutes worth of cinematics does seem to border a bit on overindulgence, so let's hope it's as well paced as the gameplay appears to be.  Also glad to hear about the grenade-throwing refinements.

And here's hoping a release date of "Fall" means earlier than the first game's November 17th.  In any case, I'll definitely want in on that second beta wave. :)

I'm glad that you enjoyed the first game. What did you think of that wretched church battle near the very end?

It'll be nice to be a part of Nate's adventures again. RPGs have more time to develop the characters and it's rare when a character from other genres makes a strong impression.

It was.... wretched.  >_<  I can't even begin to imagine what it'll be like on the Hard and Crushing difficulty levels.

It's a bitch on Hard. But the good news is that once you've beaten the game on Normal, Hard isn't nearly as daunting because of all the skills you've learned.

Not surprisingly, the final battle pissed me off the most. The big bad kills you in one shot no matter what difficulty you're on... but his henchmen pack more of a punch on Hard and it adds up.

Well, thanks to this thread, I've resumed my quest to beat the game on Crushing difficulty.  So far, I'm a little less than halfway through.  Some of those sequences are just brutal.  I only got through the jeep sequence by accumulated luck; essentially, enough enemy bullets happened to miss and I was able to reach an auto-save point.  I can't imagine how much I'm going to hate the jetski part when I get there.

You guys checked out those recent GT-exclusive videos?

-Ice Caves Gameplay
-Lengthy Cutscene
-Multiplayer Camera Tool Gameplay

The cutscene definitely shows off the improved character renders and mo-cap work.  The powdery underfoot snow effect looks terrific in the Ice Caves video, and the ability to replay matches and manipulate the camera in the Multiplayer one looks like it could be a cool little gimmick.

At one point in the Ice Caves footage, Nate quips, "Guess I'm doin' it the hard way."  We wouldn't want it any other way. ;)

I've recently picked up the first game, and I'm really enjoying it now.
I just hit chapter 8, so I'm probably not very far yet.

I'm staying away as much as possible from any footage of the sequel, cos I don't want anything to be spoiled.

Release date, final box art, and preorder bonus reveals are go!

http://kotaku.com/5319113/uncharted-2-r … s-revealed

October 13th definitely sounds like a great time slot.  It's a little disappointing that all the preorder bonuses are downloadables, but I'll wager I'll be going with GameStop, if just to get in on the multiplayer beta.

No jet skis in U2!  A huzzah in unison!

I did get through Crushing, and the jetski part actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  The first church battle was a royal pain; it probably took me an hour to clear.  The second church battle was considerably easier, but only because I happened to have 8 sniper bullets.  The worst part for me was one scene in Chapter 13; it took me over ninety minutes to pass it.  Guys swarming with shotguns + grenade launchers = bad news.

You people suck.
I'm going through crushing now, and it's pretty much a walk in the park.
Sure, I die a LOT, but there haven't been any notable bottlenecks so far.
This game's WAY too easy.

Says the man who somehow got through Gears 2 on Hardcore.  Just admit it, dude, you're using a cheat device of sorts, aren't you?!  Aren't you?!

The only cheat device I use is MY BRAIN.

Which admittedly has been banned in most countries.

Seriously though, regenerating health and very generous checkpoints have made a lot of games nowadays much easier.

I will admit though, without that, I'm nothing (unless we're talking Megaman).
I couldn't drag myself through SH Homecoming for instance.
Now THAT game was hard!

In a really really annoying and unfair way.

.... You know I meant "Insane", right? ;)

So, it looks like 1up.com is wrapping up their week-long U2 coverage with an exclusive five minute gameplay clip from the single-player mode.  If you're planning to go into the game completely fresh, skipping is probably advised.  Needless to say, it's looking awesome.

Brand new gameplay from PAX '09:

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/pax-0 … ed-2/55527

You know, I was sort of bummed that Gears 3 doesn't appear to be anywhere close to being on the immediate horizon -- but this is making it looking like the very best substitute until it happens.  Even better, dare I say, what with all of the dynamic environments integrated with what I'm hoping will be further refined duck and cover gameplay.

Also, this one's shy of a week old, but this tech interview with Naughty Dog's Christophe Balestra makes for a good read.  It seems to further reaffirm that ND is seriously pushing the PS3 to its limits with U2:

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009 … on-360.ars

And it appears that Greg Edmonson is indeed coming back for composing duties.  His style is very much evident in this new five minute preview of the soundtrack, but it sounds like he's going with a bit more of an East-Asia flair this time around:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttgOxU8JgX0

Anyone else participating in the second beta wave?  It's been a blast so far.  The movement mechanics feel like a solid fusion of Metal Gear Online and Gears of War.  But then it adds its own spin, like being able to scramble and shimmy up buildings and ledges, and do button-context close quarters take-downs.  It's such a great feeling getting the drop on your enemy from behind, and doing one a quick take-down.

Co-op Arena is not unlike Gears 2's Horde Mode -- and even on Easy, it's a difficult endeavor.  Co-op Objective is a whole lot of fun, too, and is my favorite of the bunch.  I'm hoping there's going to be a lot more of these types of mission in the final game.

The only thing I'm hoping for in the final game is that they allow for you to actually choose which specific Death Match modes you can play in.  As a beta experience, it's fine to have the voting system in place -- but I'd love to be able to mix it up on my own accord later on.

And can I just say it looks damned weird to see Elena hoisting around a gatling gun?  &_&

You're all missing the point. Uncharted 2 has a system for automatic Twitter updates!!! This is truly the next generation of mind-blowing, gender-bending, life-changing gaming.

IGN's got their (really) early review up: 9.5
As does GamesRadar: 10/10

Have I mentioned how tickled pink I am that Edmonson's brought back "Nate's Theme" for the sequel?  Recorded from the beta:

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves / Nate's Theme
http://www.mediafire.com/?mzg5nfmezmn

I'll be pre-ordering this sucker once October rolls around. Very excited!

While that's good and everything, I wonder just how much of the "rating" has to do with the hype?  Surely GTA4 and other games given the media treatment (Halo 3 I'm looking at you) weren't that good.

It's stuff like this that makes me wonder about the games that really leave an impression once it's over, but didn't get the best score.  Shadow of the Colossus hovered right around the 8 - 8.5 mark, but is one of the most poignant games I've played.  Does that make it a "worse" game?  Hell no.

The first Uncharted was one of the most awesome games I've played in a long time.  It's the only game of the current generation (except for Viva Pinata..... oh more poor soul  ~_~) that I've felt driven to complete every achievement on, buy the soundtrack for, and champion to any of my friends that hadn't seen it.  I'm incredibly excited for the sequel, and it's the first game in a long time that I actually lament there not being a[n actually obtainable] collector's edition for!  Unfortunately, in my experience my enthusiastic gushing hasn't sold too many people on the first Uncharted, not that that diminishes my enjoyment at all.

Anyway, I've been waiting for forever for someone to post in the Game Music forum about Uncharted, and finally did a search today, bringing me to this thread.  I can't tell you how much I love Greg Edmonson's work on this series.  Thanks so much, Angela, for posting that clip of Nate's Theme... it was a favorite of mine from the original (how many times has the damn title music ever made you say that!), and I'm glad to see it making a comeback.  I'm really late to the game as far as the multiplayer beta goes... is it shut down now in preparation for next month's launch, or is there still any way to get in?

Long story short, it's not just hype, those review scores are real.  I totally hear you about cult favorite games not getting the recognition (or numbers) they deserve, but if Among Thieves tracks with the quality of the first title, you can be sure it's a true 10/10.

There's no doubting that the game is going to be a massive commercial success, and a darling with the critics.  A great many numbers will be bandied about in the ratings circuit, some possibly inflated. (Case in point: PSM3-FR just recently bestowed a score of 21/20.)  Those aside, the game's got a loyal backing from the gamers: as Sephiro, myself, and others have observed, the first title was pretty damned good.   Among Thieves at least has that pedigree behind it, so it'll just be a matter of time before we see if our approval gels with the hype. 

You can still get in, provided you can snag a code somewhere online -- or preorder the game from Gamestop.  The beta opens publicly starting September 30th, and will run all the way up to the October 13th release date of the game.

If you get in, feel free to add me to your Friends list: a_liu2008  .... I'd definitely be up for some rounds. :) 

Yeah, it's a shame they're not releasing that Fortune Hunter Edition for public consumption.  Given the rarity, it'll be interesting to see what sort of prices they'll fetch on auction.

At the very least, I'm hoping they'll release a soundtrack sold separately.  I am *loving* the music in that five minute sample, especially the action cues, which are utilized to great effect during the more significant enemy encounters in the beta game demo.

I've since made the track into an mp3 -- and tacked on the new version of "Nate's Theme" to the end:

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - Original Score Suite:
http://www.mediafire.com/?cmm5mzximda

Secret of Mana, my friend.

Touché.

I played this at TGS today.  Wow wow wow.  I'm not sure how much worth any commentary of mine will have, as I've never played the original so don't know how much was just carried over from that, but wow.

The environments are super-detailed.  The animation is superb, from cover-and-shooting to hand-to-hand combat to the Prince of Persia-like climbing, swinging, and other aerial feats.  It took my un-Uncharted hands a while to get used to the many controls but just watching the game is a joy.

When I finally get a PS3 later this year, this and its predecessor are at the top of my list of games to get.

Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII.  <3 Hamauzu.

Another voice actor interview, featuring North, Black, Rose, and newcomer Rene Auberjonois.  This one's a quickie, clocking in at a little under three minutes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXiseWmHvzM

There's also word that there's going to be a special hour-long making of bonus video featured on the same Blu-ray as the game itself.  Very cool.

Normally, I kinda shrug my shoulders when companies flog the content creation process like they are doing something truly great for mankind (though it usually comes from the film industry rather than videogames).  I guess it's part of being a rabidly obsessed fanboy, but I found the development process they chronicled on the first Uncharted to be absolutely fascinating.  Seeing the voice actors also do the motion capture for their characters struck me as both a no-brainer and a seriously effective way to turn Nate, Elena, Sully, et al. into actual, honest-to-God performances (rather than "X does the movements, Y does the voice, and Z does the artwork).  That the artists also made the characters have a passing similarity to the actors also helps.