Uncharted 2 Impressions: Beautiful Destruction

I haven’t played Uncharted 2 in a day, and I’m beginning to get the tremors. I got to play with her for three hours yesterday, and I think about her longingly. I blame tutoring, sleeping too late, and being a general loser.

I remember that during the ad campaign for Gears of War, the game was described as having “beautiful destruction”. I thought it just had jacked dudes blowing up other WWF washouts. I dug the game, but there was nothing beautiful about it.

Uncharted 2? This son of a bitch is beautiful. Running through the war torn streets of Nepal, I felt a little guilty. I was just rocking the camera back and forth, trying to fit everything into the frame. Every little demolished bit of pavement was gorgeous. I shouldn’t be marveling at how beautiful a street littered with bodies can be, but I was.

I keep rambling about the graphics, but they’re more than just pretty pixels. It’s engrossing. It sucks you onto that streetscape.

And yeah, it would be nothing, without the gameplay. Fortunately for me, my last save is just after one of the craziest fucking action sequences I’ve ever seen. Spoilers after the jump.

You still with me? Alright, let’s fucking party!

There’s a portion of Uncharted 2 when you’re running through a hotel while a helicopter is peppering every inch of the building with rockets. As you run through hallways blasted wide open, and leap from open window to open window, trying to find a way out, goons and general thugs are trying to cap your ass. The set-piece climaxes when the helicopter effectively demolishes your building. It begins to crumble, falling hundreds of feet. All the while you’re trying to finish off whatever soldiers still remain, and oh yeah, time the jump into the next building to survive the collapse.

I couldn’t believe what the fuck I had just experienced, I was beside myself.

The gameplay wouldn’t have been as engrossing if it weren’t for the graphics, and the graphics wouldn’t be worth anything if they didn’t contribute to a scrotum-tightening moment of exhilaration and interaction.