The countdown to Uncharted: The Lost Legacy continues with the second installment of the Uncharted series, Uncharted: Among Thieves. Much like the first game of the Uncharted series, this will be the first time that I’m playing Among Thieves. Let’s take a look at what is in store for Uncharted: Among Thieves. If you haven’t read the review for Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, have a look at it as well.
Uncharted: Among Thieves continues with the story of Nathan (Nate) Drake. When you start the game, you can see that Nate is in pretty bad shape and is in a train in which part of it is hanging over a mountain. It’s interesting how Naughty Dog has started Among Thieves in the middle of something going on. At this time they don’t mention or say anything about how Nate got into such a predicament. Nate has to get out of the train before it falls off the mountain with him in it. Now I do have to admit that since Nate is definitely injured, walking and moving around is much slower with the added effect of him being on a mountain with snow all around. After some exploring, Nate begins to have flashbacks.
The first flashback is when Nate is approached by Harry Flynn and Chloe Frazer. Harry and Chloe had been hired by this nutcase as they put it and they want Nate to help them find this Mongolian oil lamp that supposedly was owned by Marco Polo. At first, Nate hesitated but after finding out about the legend of 13 ships that had disappeared during Polo’s trip, Nate decided to join in and they even agree to pull a fast on the nutcase. Then once alone, Chloe manages to convince Nate that they should pull a fast one over on Harry who is supposed to be Chloe’s boyfriend. I was surprised during this little bit between Chloe and Nate since I didn’t know that Chloe and Nate were a thing. Anyways, Nate, Harry, and Chloe go after the lamp. At this point, Chloe goes off to turn off the lights while Nate and Harry get the lamp. While doing that, you learn to become a stealthy fighter, having to take out the guards from behind and even using a tranquilizer gun. After getting to the lamp, Nate figures out that the treasure in the ships is located in Shambhala and Harry turns on Nate. So Nate escapes only to be caught and put in prison. After spending three months in the jail, Victor (Sully) Sullivan rescues Nate out of the prison and he brought Chloe with him. They tell Nate on this plan to get to Shambhala since Harry and the nutcase, Zoran Lazarevic is in the area of the boats.
The trio then head towards where Lazarevic is located where Chloe then goes to the camp as she continues to play undercover. Sully and Nate head toward the camp setting off the bombs as a distraction, Nate manages to find the next stop on the way to find Shambhala. Then Nate and Sully fight off some of Lazarevic’s men and met up with Chloe to say where the next stop is. They find the phurba that is needed to find Shambhala after which they are stopped by Flynn and Chloe turns sides to protect her cover which she does from time to time in the game. Nate and Sully escape and the next thing you know you’re in Nepal while Nate and Chloe are looking for the next piece of the puzzle. In the war tore city, they travel towards the temple they need to get to, only to find Elena Fisher and her cameraman Jeff on the way. The foursome heads to the temple where Chloe and Nate figure out why they need to go to next. Then the mercenaries shoot at the foursome and Jeff becomes injured. They manage to get away from the mercenaries for the moment only to be found by them. Chloe turns sides again. I won’t give too much away at this point but Elena and Nate get away and decide to head towards the train where Chloe is heading with Lazarevic. Nate then gets on the train only to have a fight with Chloe and to get shot at (no it’s not Chloe!). Then Nate explodes the train and now we’re back to where we started in the game. This time I do find that it was easier to move Nate around even after he was shot at and him going through the snow. So he fights some mercenaries and gets rescued by a Tibetan man, Tenzin, who takes him to a village where he is healed and Elena is there and introduces Nate to Karl Scharf who had to lead his own team.
Tenzin and Nate enter this cave looking for Scharf’s team in the caverns. Let’s just say if you didn’t like the monsters in the first Uncharted game, let’s just say that this one has their own monsters but this time they can be even worse. Once you leave the caverns, you find the village is on fire and Scarf is kidnapped. You go and follow him and his kidnappers. After some fighting, you get to Scharf and he warns you to destroy the stone. Nate then finds Chloe and gets the Phurba from her. After solving some puzzles, Nate found the secret entrance to Shambhala. I’m not going to give away much to the ending now but Nate and Elena enter the secret entrance only to be followed by Lazarevic and his mercenaries and the fun begins with fighting with the locals and mercenaries. The good news is that it’s going to be Nate, Elena, and Chloe. Now you fight Lazarevic without the girls but once you do, the trio leaves Shambhala only for it to end in the Tibetan town Nate was healed at.
I do have to say that with each passing game, the graphics seem to get better especially with the characters. It seems like they are getting better in detail. I really noticed it when I had seen Elena for the first time in the game. It looked like she definitely gotten an upgrade from the first game. Sully and Nate also looked like they had become more refined as well. A bad thing I found so far with the game is I don’t think that they really go into detail as to how Chloe and Nate had this relationship before the game and why they had split up. Same thing with Elena and Nate. I was getting the feeling that Naughty Dog was trying to make it seem that during the time between Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and Uncharted: Among Thieves, Elena and Nate were a couple and they broke up. I kinda wish they would have cleared that up in some way instead of making me wonder what is the backstory between Chloe and Nate and what happens between Elena and Nate between the first and second game. Other than those little blips in the story, I find that the story is probably just a good if not better than the first game. What makes it even better is that unlike the first game where it seems like you are by yourself more than half of the game, it seems like you are with someone and that does come as huge relief especially when fighting the mercenaries and you don’t have to take them all out by yourself. The controls, especially moving the character around issue that I was having in the first game, let’s just say that with Among Thieves, I am not having the issues that I was having with Drake’s Fortune which is making me think that it was just the game that was giving me issues with the joysticks. In other words, the gameplay appears to be much smoother than the first game, which is always a good sign. What made me love the characters with their personalities in the first game, is carried over into the second game. With the addition of Chloe, I can see why some might mention her being the female version of Nate. I really do love the interaction that she and Elena have the first time that they meet. Even though it is a somewhat serious type feeling to the game, they do have some comedic relief going on that had continued from the first game. I would have to say that the actors did a really good job of bringing out the characters as well as the writers. I loved the jabs that Nate and Flynn gave each other. Overall I enjoyed this sequel in the Uncharted series. I would have to say that not many games get me hooked and wanting to play non-stop but somehow the Uncharted team has done an excellent job with the series that once I start playing, I don’t want to stop while I have seen that a lot of games I play, I can play for a couple of hours then go to something else. I would definitely recommend Uncharted: Among Thieves.
I would give Uncharted: Among Thieves a 9.8 out of 10
Pros: Graphics, Story, Characters, Gameplay, More Puzzles, Lots of Climbing
Cons: Monsters, Lots of Climbing
This game was reviewed on PS4. Uncharted: Among Thieves is part of the bundle Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection in which you can get it from PlayStation here.
