Yeah mechanically UC2 is pretty frustrating if you have it in you to experiment with that stuff. Its bucket-of-men approach to encounters and limited enemy types start to grate after a while, and that's still the most interactive and player-dependant part of the game. The rest is you just pushing a stick forward to have animations play out, essentially.

It comes down to what type of gamer you are. Me and my blog colleague/mate Dominic are 100% divided on the subject of these really authored games, and that envelops Call of Duty and to an extent even Half Life 2 aswell. The thing that bums me out the most with Uncharted 2 is how little it actually asks of the player, whereas Dominic just doesn't view it like that at all. For him, and presumably to everyone who loves the game to bits, it's simply an interactive piece of entertainment where the mechanics are more of a blunt and safe way of driving the spectacle forward.

I think it's interesting how different people/players experience a thing like this in fundamentally different ways. Regardless of the linearity of Uncharted 2, which I have a reasonable easy time swallowing, the fact that crazy things keep happening as part of "visual narrative" during my interaction as opposed to presenting real obstacles that rely on my participation, almost makes me feel claustrophobic. As if I'm "trapped" in that space where I currently exist in the game world.

I had a similar feeling in COD4, almost entirely redeemed by MW2's much less visible ways of funneling the player along, but in Uncharted - being a third person action game - the interaction with the game world becomes more specific, and so the ways it locks you into the experience become much more visibly intrusive. It's no longer that YOU are in a situation where things happen to YOU, you can see your avatar on the screen and the way the action essentially bends around him.

Someone made the connection to point and click adventure games and how that genre envelops the player in a similar way, awaiting your interaction before moving forward. I think that's an interesting comparison, but the interaction is so different. A scenario in Uncharted 2 plays out like this:

You're at point A, spot point B and move in that direction. Your objective is clear and your means of reaching your objective are also. As you move, thing X happens, but points A and B remain unaffected. Effectively, thing X is little more than visual noise to spice up an otherwise linear path between A and B. To a lot of people this equals excitement, it equals "just like an action movie!", but if you're expecting gameplay elements from a game this simply won't feel very fulfilling.

So it boils down to a big canvas of that example woven together, broken up by what's essentially "arena" type scenarios where baddies keep pouring in. If the staying sensation after the game is done is one of feeling unfulfilled, then I think you're simply the type of gamer that wants gamey bits from your games.

And just to emphasise, I DO NOT feel that what Uncharted 2 does is WRONG or even FLAWED. I can argue FOR pretty much all of its design decisions except enemy variety and subsequently its tendency to linger on the bucket-of-men bits that never really evolve beyond headshot orgies. I do think there is a schism between types of players here though, and it is for once very easy to see just in what core ways this will appeal to one category and leave the other feeling a bit bewildered and lukewarm.

I think it speaks volumes that whichever you gravitate towards, the game is plainly a beast of an accomplishment. Naughty Dog are pretty scary.

LE-NAUGHTO?

Yep, I guess I'm that guy and I'm who says it! Spot on!Nope. There is a certain "strain" of this type of experience. Call of Duty 4 is probably the most obvious one, with Half Life sort of acting as a catalyst for this sub-category of extremely authored games. There are different degrees to which these games "wrap around you" even within that category, but it's fairly easy to spot which ones go for this type of thing in the first place.No. A racing game is 100% player dependant. In fact, a racing game is possibly the very exact opposite of what I am describing here.Let me cut and paste...

And just to emphasise, I DO NOT feel that what Uncharted 2 does is WRONG or even FLAWED. I can argue FOR pretty much all of its design decisions except enemy variety and subsequently its tendency to linger on the bucket-of-men bits that never really evolve beyond headshot orgies. I do think there is a schism between types of players here though, and it is for once very easy to see just in what core ways this will appeal to one category and leave the other feeling a bit bewildered and lukewarm.

Different strokes, blokes and all that.

I get that you're prolly shooting forth from your chair in the notion that Uncharted 2 needs defending from my arguments, but it doesn't.