PPP : Uncharted 2 Review

Due to the release of the third game in the Uncharted series, I thought I'd review the second one as I've just completed playing it. Yes I know, I'm late.


This game has a massive 26 gripping chapters of which I enjoyed them all, it takes at least 12-15 hours just to complete the story mode alone. It took me exactly 12 hours to complete it on the hard level so I feel proud of myself. The first Uncharted, Drake's Fortune was enjoyable but it lacked a certain spark necessary to make it an instant classic. This sequel takes everything it has and enhances it to a whole different level.


The Animation & Graphics : 

The animation and graphics to this game are defiantly one of the best in terms of realism that I've scene being run on the PlayStation 3 engine. For example when you decide to to dip in a pond or a river, your clothes get saturated and the light bounces against the material in such a realistic way. You can see the individual threads on the garments. They also added a snow engine to this game & it works perfectly with the mountain environments. The frame rate runs smooth on the screen as I did not witness any lagging, very important for online players and the screen resolution used is 1280x720p.

Game play : The most important part of any game is obviously the game play and this game definitely delivered. It featured gun play of course, as you will be battling with Lazarevic's army, it offered stealth missions, Prince of Persia style wall climbing and also of course the puzzles. Just like on the first Uncharted, you get a surprise of non human creatures attacking you, this time they were protecting the Mountains of Shambala. There are other things added to this game that made it seem like it was a blockbuster movie such as battling enemies while you're on moving vehicles, huge explosions, battling a chopper while you're escaping a collapsing building or trying to rescue yourself from a train which is literally hanging off a cliff.  

Characters & Voice Acting : 

The voice acting from all the characters is stunning, all the emotions they portrayed were on point and I can gladly say it is one of the best voice acting i've heard in gaming so far. During most cut-scenes, It felt like I was watching a live action sequence, I like how they used a mixture of accents such as, American, British, Russian and Australian accents.

Overall Verdict : The best way to describe this game is it is literally a blockbuster film, only you get to control the actions of Drake. The story is very engaging, it includes suspense, romance, thrills and light banter every now and then. I high recommend it to any PlayStation 3 owner and i'm fully confident that the third game will deliver an even better experience. 10/10

PPP : 127 Hours Review

On my recent visits to the library, I encountered a film that I've always wanted to watch. 127 Hours is a spectacular true story about a man who went to seek adventure in the wild, alone, without telling anyone. I think you can pretty much sum up what's going to happen after that. He emerged after five long days without an arm and dangerously dehydrated. The film spends a considerable amount of time engaging the audience with the character to show what exactly had happened during his time alone in the wild.


This is a true story of Aron Ralston portrayed by James Franco in this plot driven film. The question imposed in my mind was how is the director (Danny Boyle) going to fulfill the plot, considering that 90% of the film has only one character on screen?


What they did was clever, you'd expect to go to the cinemas expecting to see James Franco cut off his arm off with a dull knife for a considerable amount of time, but instead that is not the case. That scene was under a minute long. I was quiet fascinated by how they used juxtapositioning on that scene, they used a feel good song on an un-relating scene. The film is filled with flash backs of himself showing how he neglects his family and how he would change all of that if he had a second chance, the film almost has no dialogue.


The camera angles used where the most interesting part to me, the character's habitat was a very claustrophobic place and seemed impossible to achieve some shots using a very large camera rig. The director even mentioned that some shots had to be filmed on the actual location of the event, which was in the middle of Canyons in Utah. He stated that it took at least 2 hours to transport the cast, crew and equipment by helicopters to get to the actual location, though some of the footage was filmed at the studio.

Below are some of the screen shots I took that show good elements of camera angles :