It’s not just a matter of the linearity. As I said, I like linear games and much prefer them to more sandbox style games (except for RPGs where it’s better to have more choices). I too like that U2 is a tightly paced game and wouldn’t want to see it turned into some open-world experience. However, there is a way to make linear gameplay not feel so guided, and that’s where I think ND faltered a bit with some of the level design.

I’m specifically getting at situations like coming across a locked door only to see a perfectly carved out path of bricks on the wall for you to climb up to reach the other side. Or like when you come to a broken ladder and boost your partner up, then they find a box or something magically placed up on the ledge to kick down for you to climb up — ND even pokes fun at how contrived these moments are through Nate’s comments.

I’m not saying they ruin the game or anything, but in what is otherwise one of the most immersive games I’ve ever played they break my suspension of belief, that’s all.

As for the “coincidental pathways,” I really didn’t have a problem with it. I don’t really get why people don’t like linear games anymore. It’s a very tightly focused experience. This is your pathway. They aren’t giving you like eight different ways to do it; just one awesome way. The only time I could see complaining about that is when they just haven’t made it 100% clear where that one pathway is.

Great point. I do agree that it helps maintain that “movie feeling.” And in general I do prefer games with more of a linear progression over more open-world style games. But I think ND could have done a much better job creating more organic pathways that aren’t so obvious and unbelievably coincidental. Don’t have any issue with the difficulty of the adventure stuff, just that it’s too guided and forced.

I agree that the puzzles and exploration could have been harder and that ND hold your hand too much. But I think they do that to keep the movie illusion going. That magical feeling of playing a movie would be totally lost if the player was stuck on a puzzle for half an hour or they couldn’t find the way out of the jungle. So I believe ND had to make those parts easy in order to maintain the momentum and natural flow that is a big part of the ‘movie feeling’.

Oh yeah, totally. Games like Heavenly Sword, MGS and the first Uncharted are great cinematic games and are definitely in the conversation for me. I just think Uncharted 2 is the first game to really perfect the melding of video game and movie.

Don’t much care for the supernatural stuff either, but I think it fit better here than in the original. At least it wasn’t a detraction like it was in the original. I thought the final moments of the first game were a bit of a drag compared to the rest of it, but I didn’t get that from U2 at any point.