Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Needless to say, this one wasn’t difficult to determine.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is one of the few games that my roomate and resident web designer Charlie will sit and watch me play. Why? Well, first and foremost, it’s just as fast-paced and entertaining as the best Indiana Jones movies. But secondly, the game is absolutely gorgeous to behold. I can say this time and time again, but it’s something that has to be experienced in order to fully understand, and those of you who have played the game know exactly what I’m talking about anyway.
So, rather than continue paraphrasing what I’ve said before on more than one occasion, I’m going to take a more direct approach and include a snippet from the truly massive review that I wrote for the game back in October:
Uncharted 2 is simply a piece of artwork. Never before have I played a game that so frequently made me (and Charlie, who doesn’t even play videogames) open my mouth and say “wow.” (Or some other, more inappopriate expletive). To put it simply, the game features the most inspired and skillful art direction I’ve ever seen in my life. Uncharted 2 defies the gritty-grey aesthetics featured in so many of today’s games, and instead presents us with a world that’s lush, organic, colorful, and above all, larger-than-life. If you don’t find yourself frequently stopping just to take in the sights, be it the view of a cityscape in Nepal, or the ruins of a tainted paradise, then you might want to do a little soul-searching.
Anyone who likes to say “graphics don’t matter” clearly hasn’t played Uncharted.
In this age of big-budget titles with brutally long development cycles, it’s nice to see that one studio, at least, knows how to spend that money wisely, and utilize the visual aspect of a game for the betterment of the experience as a whole. Uncharted 2 is 2009’s best visual experience hands-down, and these days, that’s saying a lot… because there’s no shortage of pretty games out there these days.
Runner Up: Batman: Arkham Asylum
Tags: Best Visual Experience, Riddles' Picks 2009, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves