Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune(U:DF) was released back in November 2007, and shook the industry by displaying some of the best graphical features  seen on any console to date. Sony finally had an answer to all of the disbelievers of the PS3’s graphical capabilities and the power of the Cell processor. U:DF used the PS3’s Cell processor and GPU in parallel to generate countless layers of character animations, dynamic real-time shadowing, advanced dynamic fluid effects, and photo realistic graphics. There’s no doubt that U:DF is one of the best looking and most entertaining adventure games we’ve ever laid eyes on, but the question remains, was Uncharted a one-hit wonder?  Naughty Dog answered that question recently by releasing Uncharted 2: Among Thieves(U2:AT). We seized this opportunity to put both versions of Uncharted under our Lens to see if Naughty Dog could recreate the magic and deliver another masterpiece.

Graphics: U:DF looks beautiful, and interestingly enough utilizes only 30% of the Cell’s SPU’s. Unbelievably, Naughty Dog estimated that U2:AT would utilize 90 to 100% of the PS3’s resources, and as a result, U2:AT would look more realistic than U:DF. We’re glad to report that Naughty Dog has done just that with U2:AT, and raised the graphical bar once more. It’s noticeable that U2:AT environments have had an upgrade by increasing texture quality, adding  Screen Space Ambient Occlusion, and realistic particle physics. Each bullet expelled from your weapon will interact differently with the material it encounters in the environment by emitting particles that bounce around and interact realistically with the game’s surroundings.  Furthermore, the exaggerated explosions found in U:DF have been dimmed down for the better. Explosions now look more realistic and natural.  There’s even an additional “concussion” visual effect that surrounds explosions pushing away objects in their vicinity. Lastly, all of U2:AT’s animations were mo-capped, making character animations fluid and realistic. The attention to detail in U2:AT is off the charts, and as much as we wanted to, to list all of them would be ridiculous.

Performance: The only gripe we had with U:DF was the ever-present screen tearing.  This was especially noticeable when there was an explosion. Amazingly, U2:AT has totally eliminated this problem; the entire game is v-locked and maintains a steady frame rate throughout.  Even during the most chaotic moments, the game never shows a performance hitch. U2:AT’s performance truly is a generational leap over U:DF. Below are some stats from our analysis:

Uncharted Avg. FPS: 29.20 / Uncharted 2 Avg. FPS: 29.64
Uncharted Avg. Frame Tear: 11.50% / Uncharted 2 Avg Frame Tear: 0.0%

Loading: U:DF and U2:AT have similar loading times. The first time you put U:DF or U2:AT into your system there’s a main loading screen. After that initial load screen, both versions take advantage of the hard drive and blu-ray player by allowing the game to be played seamlessly and without any loading interfering with your game experience. If you play it in one sitting, you can literally play the entire game without seeing another loading screen. If you start a new game the initial loading screen will reappear.

Conclusion:U2:AT is a technical marvel by improving every feat that U:DF achieved, and then some. U2:AT reigns among the best the industry has to offer by providing a beautiful game with top-notch platforming. U2:AT has also included an array of online games that U:DF fans could only dream of. U2:AT looks to be a great contender for game of the year, but no matter what, Naughty Dog has earned the passage into gaming Hall of Fame.