The lights are on
Uncharted 2 Among Thieves is Naughty Dog's latest installment chronicling the perilous adventures of fortune hunter Nathan Drake. You (Nathan) awake injured inside a train cart as it dangles over the edge of a cliff. Without hesitation, you slowly attempt to scale the falling locomotive evading boulders and maunuvering by leaps and bounds until you manage to clasp onto land as the train descends, this is mereley the first five minutes of this amazing game. Aside from the epic obstacles you conquer throughout the campaign, the interprtation and overall storyline is superb. The cast, including new and old characters, are realistic and dynamic with voice actors embodying them; a quality that chisels the new standard. Boasting the might of the Naughty Dog Engine 2.0, Uncharted 2 is aswell a (video game) technological achievement to behold. The graphics are breathtaking with levels such as the jungles of Borneo delivering a true sense of visual immersion. Character models are complex with extreme photo-realisim from lip movement during talking sequences to respitory cycles along with articulation and parkour rivaling notable titles like Assassin's Creed. The gameplay is smooth depicting an incredible amount of polish from all aspects. Shooting, climbing, taking cover they are all executed perfectly with a tight control sheme to boot. Uncharted 2 Among Thieves is without a doubt the epitomy of many fronts and has rightfully seized its place amongst video game legends.
The Halo series, whether you love or hate it, is amongst the most iconic sagas in the video gaming industry. This newest addition has been met with a deuge of postive and negative raves, but as Bungie stated themselves "this is a game meant for the fans", this is true. Halo 3: ODST(as the name implies) casts you as a rook in a squad of battle hardended Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. As you progress through the introductory, the slipspace event of New Mombasa thrusts you solemnly into the maw of ruthless Covenant forces, attempting to unravel the mystery of your missing team and eventually regrouping with them in the process. Bungie executed this very well; using Mombasa's AI, VIRGL, to guide you throughout the crumbled city by signs and other various ways. This noir complimented, almost sandbox-like setting really provides players with a new perspective and playing expirence in the Halo games, such as references to the Fall of Reach for example hidden within the city. There are even Dialogues strewn throught the former metropolis chroniciling a girl as she overcomes the obstacles presented by the new crisis. Onto the mechanics and gameplay; Bungie made some slight tweaks, such as camera height walking speed etc., but new equipment(Silenced SMG and the extremley addicting new magnum, each w/ a scope too boot) have meshed with game very smoothley, but probably the best new feature would be the VISR. VISR not only act as basic night vision it also creates outlines highlighting enemies and points of interests, when you play you'll realize the shadow of the night actually influences gameplay. Aside from the storyline, ODST's new four player Co-Op survival mode is what will extend the longevity and appeal of this title. Unleashing hordes of Covenant w/ skull multipliers will have you(and your friends) challenged and satisfied. As with every game, ODST has both PROS and CONS; ODST has a wonderful story but one major hinder is its campaigns length, easily beaten within 4-5 hour(s) period on any difficulty, but if you remeber it was intended to be DLC intially, so its tolerable,plus those audio logs are pretty well hidden and it recquires some extra effort to recover them all. So, inconclusion, Halo 3: ODST is an enjoyable title that is worthwhile for any Halo fan looking for something to bide thier time until...well you know...REACH!