And I played them all back-to-back just a couple summers ago so my memory on them is more fresh than most, I'd think.


Uncharted 1 is a supremely average game. The graphics don't hold up well in the transition to true high definition, the villain is pretty anonymous, the final chapters of the game are terribly cheap and the characters are just sketches of what they become.

Uncharted 2 is a huge step up, and to where I am now (about to board the train!) still a really enjoyable thrill ride. Knowing what to do in certain fights, like the helicopter boss, has made for a breezier second run. It's still annoying that enemies are such bullet sponges (and that it feels more like dart fights than bullet fights) but I've been enjoying the combat. Like my first time through, I anticipate switching to Easy for the final chapters which, my first time through, nearly ruined a really good time the same way they totally did for the first Uncharted.

I don't think I'll get through Uncharted 3 in time, but my first time through the series I enjoyed that one the most. Unlike a lot of people, I thought they really rounded out the series well there. The villain was actually villainous and had some great monologues, the storytelling in general was just tighter and more fully functional. It still had its moments where people just pop-in conveniently (this was and is my biggest issue with Chloe in Uncharted 2) but in general it was the most polished Uncharted got with the storytelling. It was also the first time I found a combat scenario I just flat out enjoyed, the boot graveyard right before you get on the shipping container proper. In fact, unlike the other two games, after beating Uncharted 3 I immediately restarted it to play on Hard rather than kick it down to Easy just to see the ending and never come back.

There's a lot to complain about with these first two games, but overall the spectacle of it all still shines through, I think, and I do still find the set pieces enjoyable and stunning since few studios have attempted to match them. You can only experience a gunfight in a collapsing hotel once, but that doesn't make it any less impressive the second time around.


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"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
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