Games Played, Musings on Game Design

Uncharted 2: A first look

6 Comments

I just played the first bit of Uncharted 2, and made this tweet: “Uncharted 2 has the best acting and dialogue I’ve ever seen/heard in a game. EVER.”

However, I feel I need to clarify my point. Seeing as I’ve just resigned myself to the fact that all voice acting in all games is going to be shitty, regardless of how good the game is, such a compliment seems meaningless without qualifiers.

So, here is a better metaphor. You know the L-Curve, right?

http://www.lcurve.org/

Now, instead of family income, pretend that graph is for “quality of voice acting in games.” The majority of the football field encompasses “all games.” The last stack there at the end is Uncharted 2. You’ll have to zoom out several times.

There, I feel like my comment has been qualified.

6 thoughts on “Uncharted 2: A first look”

    1. Yeah, it’s for PS3. The story is great, it’s kind of a cross between the rugged Indiana Jones artifact-hunting style story with a spy/heist story. So far, at least. The characters are really well done, it’s really easy to connect with them!

  2. Hmm that curve is already impressive as is, but to emphasize your point a bit more i’d suggest a scientific approach by comparing the “voice acting awesomeness” of Uncharted 2 in comparison to great acting games “Metal Gear Solid 4”. Last one is the best regarding in game acting thus far IMO, but i haven’t played Uncharted 2 yet.

    In other words: YOU CAN’T JUST MAKE STATEMENTS WITHOUT COMPARISON AND RELATION, GIRL! ^^

    1. Fair enough fair enough, it only encompasses games I have played, and I haven’t played MGS4 (was that the one where everyone complained about the excessive cutscenes?)

      However, even Batman: Arkham Asylum, which I LOVED, and which had good voice acting, was still very “gamey.” People said things that you’d never hear them say in a good movie or a tv show, unless it was a cartoon.

      Mostly, Uncharted 2 has this natural quality about its acting that I haven’t ever seen before, even in the newer games I’ve played.

  3. I haven’t played Uncharted 2 because my roommate Carlos hasn’t gotten a PS3 yet (what a jerk) but I wouldn’t say that all video game voice acting is bad. Yes, major games that everyone has seen in the last few years sucks and makes me wonder why the hell they even bother trying, but have you ever played the LucasArts adventures? the voice acting and characters has been top notch/blown everyone away since 1993… it’s been carried over to more recent games like Psychonauts and Brutal Legend. Perhaps their gameplay and overall execution of keeping the gameplay going is not as top notch as other games out there, but they always nailed down the character and voice acting.

    Here’s an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQOUBNv4cAs

    Anyway, I will give Uncharted 2 a try when I can, though!

    1. The voice acting in that clip isn’t bad. But that’s the thing, it’s just “not bad.” It’s not spectacular by any stretch of the means.

      And I played Psychonauts, and it was very funny and cleverly written, but it is still very gamey. Uncharted 2 is the first time I’ve forgotten I was playing a game because of the voice acting.

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