Yesterday I had the privilege to head over to Naughty Dog to get a good look at Uncharted 2, and to my surprise their offices are literally right across the street from GameTrailers. They gave an hour and a half presentation covering just about every aspect of the game. It was mostly talking and power point, but they did play through a small section and show us some behind-the-scenes footage that may not ever be made available to the public. I did an interview with one of the directors there, but we werent allowed to shoot anything else so welcome to my mega-blog.
Story/Setup
They didnt specify how long the sequel takes place after the first game, but Nathan is out on another adventure and this time around players are going to see a bit more of the shady side of his character. The legend in this case revolves around Marco Polos lost fleet. In history, Marco Polo left China with a fleet of 14 ships, but when he arrived in Persia, only one ship with eighteen survivors remained. The game apparently starts out in a museum where Drake lifts an artifact that sets him on Marco Polos trail, eventually leading him to a swamp in the South Pacific, then to Nepal and the Himalayas in the search for Shambala and the legendary Cintamani Stone a huge sapphire possibly worth billions.
Naughty Dog hints at a much larger cast of characters, but so far we only know of Sully and Drakes new partner/girlfriend Chloe Frazer. Shes come back from farther in Drakes past, shes Australian, and shes in every way equal or better than Nathan but more flashy and impulsive. In one cut-scene, Drake was behind cover trying to defend himself from some guards and a truck-mounted turret, and Chloe shows up with a rocket launcher, blasting them out of the road in one shot.
Gameplay Demo
The small section of gameplay they showed was in Nepal City, the same area seen in recent screen shots. The city is about 1/4 of the way through the game and its in the midst of civil war with ravaged buildings and burning vehicles. Nathan tries to sneak into the city by pretending to be a reporter, but when the guards get suspicious, he busts through the gate.
The beginning of the demo opens with a bunch of soldiers searching for Nathan, only to soon be run over by a runaway bus. The wrecked bus blocks the street, forcing Nathan to climb across some crumbling buildings, using shop signs and street lights to traverse and narrowly avoids impaling himself on some exposed rebar.
The developers then used this opportunity to show off some of the games expanded stealth gameplay what theyre calling action-stealth since they dont want the pacing to get slowed down. They hung just below one guy waiting for the right moment to grab and toss him off the side of a building. Then back on ground level they snuck up behind another soldier standing in a doorway, grabbed him and knocked him out on the brick wall. Stealth kills can apparently net you more grenades or better weapons in the right situations, and using cover keeps you safe from soldiers line of sight as well as bullets.
The other big gameplay feature that they talked about but didnt really show is traversal gunplay which basically means that Drake can now shoot back when hes climbing on walls. They even talked about being able to hang from a sign on the side of a building, using it for cover, and peeking out over the top to fire.
Theyre aiming for a much broader range of enemies and AI behaviors. Some enemies carry big shields, which you can also pick up for portable cover if you take them down. Soldiers will also hunt for Nathan and follow him to his last seen location if you try to run away, sounding like something youd expect from Metal Gear or Assassins Creed.
Tech/Art
Unknown to many, one of Naughty Dogs teams actually works full-time on tech for PS3 developers to get the most out of the system, giving the developer a bit of an advantage. They estimate that in the first Uncharted, they were only utilizing the SPUs to about 30% but now theyre actually running them at 100% which gives them a lot more processing power to work with.
In the first game, they used two different character models for cut-scenes and gameplay, but now they have the same character model for both. They also proved to us that the scene in the VGA trailer was indeed real time, showing us the scene again and moving the camera around inside and outside of the train in 3D space.
There are more interactive items in the environment, more animations for Drake for different situations (walking across the moving train, etc.), and new shaders for things like snow, ice, and fur (Nathan will be getting a coat to keep him warm). It sounds like they want the snow and ice to be just as impressive as the water was in the first game and theyre working on effects for footprints, sparkling, and translucence.
The art team is obsessively gathering references for all the different environments and thinking through back-stories for the use of every room in the game. One artist even ran to a house that caught on fire and asked the owner if he could take pictures for reference.
Acting
One thing I came away really respecting about Naughty Dog is their approach to character performances, treating it just like a film shoot. Its no secret that most video game dialogue is done with one actor at a time, reading scripts in a sound booth. But for Uncharted 2, Naughty Dog is bringing the actors to a motion capture studio, capturing their movements and dialogue simultaneously and getting the actors interacting with each other. They showed off audition tapes for Chloes actress and the biggest reason they chose her for the role was her natural chemistry with Nathan. And their improvisations and body language are making big improvements to the depth of the characters in each scene.
Out on a Limb
Thats about all there is to tell, but I think Naughty Dog is holding on to some secrets. With all this talk of Chloe being Nathans equal in every way, I cant help but think that theyre leading up to an announcement about co-op gameplay or at the least, youll play as Chloe at some point. I didnt get any straight answers when I asked, but I think its a likely possibility. In any case, the game is looking great so far and Im looking forward to playing it this fall.
We'll also have a two-part interview up later today.
Täytyy sanoa että odotukset ovat aivan huipussaan tämän pelin kohdalla, Uncharted: DF oli jo aivan mahtava peli ja jos tämä vielä käyttää 100% tehoista niin tästä tulee (toivottavasti) vielä hienompi
