U

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)
• Publisher: SCEA
• Developer: Naughty Dog
• Release Date: Q4 2009
• Screenshots
• Trailer
• What We Saw:

The three-player cooperative demo we played at Sony’s E3 booth was pretty surprising. Set in a run down marketplace in urban Nepal, the campaign segment relied more on action-heavy combat than urban platforming.

• What We Think:

Mitch: Three players seem strange for a cooperative game, but it works really well. Having Nathan and his new lady friend push a heavy bookcase out of a window while the cigar-chomping Sully covered them from below is a cool way to stay involved with each other; seeing six enemies swarm your trio is challenging without being crowded; and there are a lot of smartly-placed cover points that allow your team to cover each other. Naughty Dog is sticking with the same stuff that made Uncharted such a great action/adventure game, like witty dialogue, wall-climbing and big jumps, gorgeous visuals and painstakingly detailed animation.

The biggest issue with the first Uncharted, its clumsy shooting, has leaked into the sequel. None of the guns feel accurate, and enemies can soak up more than their fair share of headshots before dropping dead. The time-based melee combat is still flimsy and tough to grasp, but with three of you running around it’s much easier to get the drop on an enemy from behind for an insta-kill. The most promising part of the co-op game is the scoring system, a points-based method of tracking who’s playing the best in your group, whether it’s earning kills or reviving fallen allies. It’s an encouraging way to ensure that your buds actually go out of their way to pick you up when you’re wounded, too -- something my demo kiosk teammates didn’t seem to understand.
If Uncharted 2 doesn’t improve on its combat, it’ll still be a fantastic adventure game. The new setting, supposedly darker story and great co-op mode easily make Among Thieves something you should be looking forward to.

Undead Knights (PSP)
• Publisher: Tecmo
• Developer: Tecmo
• Release Date: Fall 2009
• What We Saw:

The developer led demo showed off the game's premise which appears to be Overload with zombies instead of minions. You play as one of three characters, all of which were betrayed by a jealous queen, murdered and, as a result of a deal with a demon, given the ability to turn people into zombies and lead a squad of up to ten zombies into battle. The player is able to get into the fray as well, using their player specific melee weapons as well as pick up zombies to use as weapons or as shields, whatever the need may be. Along with the 20 missions spread out over four castles, there will be a handful of multiplayer modes playable by up to four people via the PSP's ad-hoc networking feature.

• What We Think:

Brandon: Maybe it's just the dearth of PSP games talking, but this game looked like it could be fun. I'm usually either running from, shooting, or getting eaten by zombies, so having a chance to command them will be a welcome change. The game seems to have a nice mix of commands without being too complicated for the PSP's inherent control limitations. The game has a potential to be quite repetitive, so it will be interesting to see how differently the three different characters play. Those looking to rock the PSP Go will be left in the dark for this one as it's UMD only which I find interesting, but I'm probably the only person who does.