Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

About Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves dropped on PlayStation 3 in October 2009 as the direct sequel to Drake's Fortune. Naughty Dog built this title around treasure hunter Nathan Drake who hunts for Marco Polo's lost fleet and the Cintamani Stone. The story starts with a museum heist in Istanbul that goes wrong when partner Harry Flynn double crosses the crew. You play through a linear campaign where Drake teams up with old friend Sully and mole Chloe Frazer to stop war criminal Zoran Lazarević. This action adventure game runs on Sony hardware and mixes third person shooting with platforming challenges across exotic locations like Borneo and Nepal.

Gameplay

You control Nathan Drake from a third person camera while navigating complex environments. A typical session involves sprinting across crumbling ruins, sliding under collapsing beams, and climbing sheer rock faces without falling. Combat uses cover mechanics where you peek around corners to shoot enemies or execute quick melee takedowns during cinematic set pieces. You might spend five minutes pushing a giant boulder through a temple or fighting off waves of mercenaries on a moving train. The multiplayer mode offers competitive matches while co-op lets two players tackle the story together. Controls feel tight as you transition between running, jumping, and aiming without loading screens interrupting the flow.

What Players Think

PlayPile members rate this title highly with critics giving it a Metacritic score of 96 out of 100 and OpenCritic at 93. Reviewers from Giant Bomb gave it a perfect 100 while GameSpot matched that score despite some confusion in their review text about the fourth game. IGDB shows 2156 ratings averaging 92 points with 97.18 percent of critics recommending it. Community moods lean heavily nostalgic and cooperative with four votes each for those categories. Players often cite the story-driven nature as a top reason to play. Average playtime sits around thirty hours for a full campaign run. The data suggests this remains a benchmark for the genre years after release.

PlayPile's Take

This game is worth your time if you want a polished action adventure with tight controls and a gripping narrative. It costs money on the PS3 but delivers over thirty hours of content plus multiplayer modes. You will earn achievements by completing difficult sections or finding all collectibles scattered through the levels. Critics agree it sets a high bar for the series though some later entries claim to be better. The story gets complicated with double crosses and war crimes but stays engaging until the end. Skip this if you dislike linear shooters but grab it if you want a classic console experience that still holds up today.

Storyline

Two years after the events of the first game, treasure hunter Nathan Drake (Nolan North) is approached by former associate Harry Flynn (Steve Valentine) and Flynn's girlfriend Chloe Frazer (Claudia Black) to help steal a Mongolian oil lamp connected to Marco Polo's doomed 1292 voyage from China. The group plans to cheat Flynn's client and take Polo's treasure for themselves. Unbeknownst to Flynn, Chloe and Nate had worked together before, and Chloe plans on blackmailing Flynn and escaping with Nate and whatever treasure they find. Nate and Flynn break into a museum in Istanbul and find the lamp, which contains a map and flammable resin that reveals Polo's fleet was shipwrecked in Borneo, and was carrying the Cintamani Stone from the fabled city of Shambhala. Flynn double-crosses Nate, leaving him to be arrested. Three months later, Chloe helps free Nate with his longtime friend Victor Sullivan (Richard McGonagle). She reveals that Flynn is working for Zoran Lazarević (Graham McTavish), a Serbian war criminal seeking the stone. In Borneo, Nate and Sully infiltrate Lazarević's camp, with Chloe as a mole. Nate discovers that the stone never left Shambhala, and locates a temple containing the bodies of Polo's crew, as well as a phurba and map detailing that its carrier will gain passage to Shambhala through a temple in Nepal. Nate and Sully escape after being cornered by Flynn and his men.