Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
North American box art
Developer(s)	Naughty Dog
Publisher(s)	Sony Computer Entertainment America
Director(s)	Bruce Straley (game director) Amy Hennig (creative director)
Designer(s)	Richard Lemarchand, Neil Druckmann (lead game designers)
Programmer(s)	Pål Engstad, Travis McIntosh, Dan Liebgold, (lead programmers)
Writer(s)	Amy Hennig, Neil Druckmann, Josh Scherr
Composer(s)	Greg Edmonson, Carmen Rizzo
Series	Uncharted
Engine	Naughty Dog Engine 2.0 Havok (game physics)
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3
Release date(s)	NA October 13, 2009 JP 20091015October 15, 2009 AU October 15, 2009 EU October 16, 2009 NA October 18, 2010 (GOTY edition)
Genre(s)	Third-person shooter, action-adventure, platform
Mode(s)	Single-player, online multiplayer, online co-op
Media/distribution	Blu-ray Disc

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is an action-adventure platform video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3. It is the sequel to the 2007 game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. It was first shown and announced on December 1, 2008. Officially announced in the January 2009 issue of Game Informer, it was released in October 2009. A critical and commercial success, it was named by Metacritic as the most critically acclaimed game of 2009, and won Game of the Year awards on IGN, Eurogamer, Game Informer, Joystiq, Kotaku, Giant Bomb, AIAS, X-Play, Game Developers Choice Awards, and the Spike Video Game Awards for the year 2009. A sequel and third entry to the series, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, was released on November 1, 2011.

Gameplay

Uncharted 2 is an action-adventure platform video game played from a third-person perspective, with the player in control of Nathan Drake. Drake is physically adept and is able to jump, climb, and scale narrow ledges and wall-faces to get between points. Drake can be equipped with up to two firearms – one single-handed and one two-handed – and a limited supply of grenades. Drake can pick up weapons, automatically replacing the existing weapon he was using, and additional ammunition from slain enemies. The player can direct Drake to take cover behind corners or low walls using either aimed or blind-fire to kill his enemies. The player can also have Drake fire while moving. If Drake is undetected by his enemies, the player can attempt to use stealth to take them out, such as by sneaking up behind them to knock them out with one hit, or by pulling an unsuspecting foe over a ledge from which Drake is hanging. If all of the foes patrolling an area are killed stealthily then other waves that would normally appear do not. Some areas of the game require the player to solve puzzles with the use of Drake's journal, which provides clues towards the puzzles' solutions. When enabled, a hint system provides gameplay clues, such as the direction of the next objective.

Throughout the game are one-hundred and one special treasures that may be hidden or in difficult-to-reach places that the player can collect. There is also one secret "hidden" relic exactly the same as the one in Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Collecting these treasures, along with completing certain feats within the game, is tracked by the awarding of medals, which gives the player in-game money to use to unlock extra content on the disc, including concept art, game movies, and game cheats such as guns with infinite ammunition. A large portion of the in-game medals are used to award trophies.

Multiplayer

Uncharted features both competitive and co-operative multiplayer. The co-op multiplayer allows a maximum of three players to take the roles of Drake and two other "hero" companions and features missions involving gunfights, platforming, and teamwork-based objectives. Players can also assist their comrades if they become critically injured or if they are grabbed by an enemy.

The competitive multiplayer allows a maximum of ten players to play against each other in two teams of five. Six competitive modes are featured: Deathmatch, Plunder, Elimination, Turf War, King of the Hill and Chain Reaction. Deathmatch features two teams of five, with one team acting as heroes and the other as villains. Players can choose their own appropriate character models (such as Drake, Elena, Sully and new characters Tenzin and Chloe for the heroes team). As players accrue points and rank up, they can purchase more skins for both heroes and villains. Players can select two Boost abilities which assist them in the matches. Plunder is similar to the traditional capture the flag game mode, and sees each team attempt to capture the treasure from a central point in the map and return it to their base; the player carrying the treasure is slowed down a great deal, and may also choose to hurl the treasure away at any point, in order to keep it out of reach of the enemy, or to pass it to a teammate. Elimination has two teams of five players against each other with the objective of killing everyone on the other team. In Elimination, the players do not respawn. The goal is to eliminate the other team three out of five times.

Chain Reaction is a mode that is similar to Turf War. This has the player capturing posts, but the player must do them in a specific order – one team works out from their base needing to capture 1 through 5 while the other team starts out from their home and needs to snag 5 through 1. King of the Hill has players capturing a hill, spawned on the map to score points. They must stay in the hill to score points while the enemy team tries to do the same.

Gold Rush is a cooperative mode of play where 2–3 players must team up to obtain a treasure, which is randomly spawned on the map, and take it back to their base, much like Plunder. However, AI enemies try to stop the players from returning the treasure. If a player goes down and is not revived before the timer goes out, they will not come back until the next round. In each consecutive round the enemies become tougher to defeat. Survival is the second cooperative mode of play, where 2-3 players must work together to defeat a total of ten waves of enemies, each wave becoming more and more difficult. A new co-op game mode, titled "Siege", was also added, in which 2-3 players must team up to secure a zone while holding off waves of enemies.

Plot

The narrative opens with a quote attributed to Marco Polo, "I did not tell half of what I saw, for I knew I would not be believed." The plot revolves around the doomed voyage home of Marco Polo from China in 1292. After spending almost 20 years in the court of the Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan, Marco Polo departed with fourteen ships and over six hundred passengers – but when he arrived in Persia a year and a half later, only one ship and eighteen passengers remained. Polo never revealed what had happened to the lost ships.

The story begins in medias res, with a wounded Nathan "Nate" Drake (Nolan North) waking up to find himself in a train hanging off a cliff with a bloody stomach wound. Through flashbacks, it is revealed that former associate Harry Flynn (Steve Valentine) and old girlfriend Chloe Frazer (Claudia Black) approached him with a job to steal a Mongolian oil lamp from an Istanbul museum. Nate accepts the job when he learns that the lamp may lead to the treasure of Marco Polo's lost fleet. Flynn and Drake acquire the lamp, which contains a map showing that the lost fleet had been transporting the Cintamani Stone from the mythical city of Shambhala (better known as Shangri-La) before being thrown ashore in Borneo by a tsunami. Taking the map, Flynn double-crosses Drake, who is arrested and imprisoned. After three months he is released with the help of old friend Victor Sullivan (Richard McGonagle) and Chloe. Chloe, who claims to have had no knowledge of Flynn's treachery, had asked for the help of Drake's friend to secure his release.

Drake climbs a hotel in Nepal as he attempts to locate a temple.

Nate and Sully follow Flynn and his boss Zoran Lazarević (Graham McTavish), an ex-Soviet intelligence operative and Serbian war criminal, to Borneo. With the help of Chloe working within Lazarević's camp as a mole, they discover that the lost fleet never actually possessed the Cintamani Stone. They locate a tomb containing the bodies of Polo's passengers, as well as a Tibetan phurba and a letter from Polo saying that the next clue is in a temple in Nepal. Flynn and his men appear in the tomb soon after and take the letter, while Nate and Sully escape by jumping off a cliff into a river.

While Sully backs out, deciding that the quest is too risky for him, Nate and Chloe head to Nepal, finding conflict as Lazarević's mercenary army ravages the city looking for the right temple. After surmising that the temple they are looking for is adorned with one of the symbols on the phurba, the pair surveys the area from the rooftop of a local hotel, finding its location. Along the way they are confronted by Lazarević's henchmen and a Mi-35 attack helicopter.

En route to the temple, the pair runs into journalist Elena Fisher (Emily Rose) and her cameraman Jeff (Gregory Myhre), who are tracking down Lazarević to prove he is still alive. The four reach the temple, but Elena is still worried that something is amiss, as Lazarević does not need the money that the Cintamani stone would provide. Nate and Chloe leave them anyway and discover that the stone and Shambhala are in the Himalayas. As they are about to leave, they are ambushed and Nate runs out to help Elena and Jeff (who were left at the temple entrance) to discover that Jeff has been shot by one of Lazarević's men. Despite Chloe's insistence to leave Jeff behind, Elena and Nate insist on helping him and they push on until they are caught by Flynn and Lazarević. Chloe reluctantly pulls her gun on Nate to protect her "cover", while Flynn has his men take Chloe to the train yard, Lazarević kills Jeff. Lazarević takes the map from Drake and leaves Flynn to kill him and Elena. However, Elena punches Flynn when he lets his guard down and she and Drake manage to escape.

Elena is skeptical about helping Chloe for her betrayal, but ultimately decides to help Nate when his mind is resolved. Together, they plan to catch up with Lazarević's train on a stolen jeep, driven by Elena. Nate fights his way through Lazarević's men to Lt. Draza (who has possession of the phurba dagger). Drake eventually gets the dagger back after an intense fist fight. Darza regains conscious, and attempts to kill Drake, only to be killed by Chloe. But Chloe, who is upset about Nate having taken Elena and Jeff along earlier, refuses to leave with him. As the two argue, Flynn suddenly arrives and shoots Nate in the abdomen. Chloe then jumps in front of Flynn, giving Nate a chance to run. With Flynn distracted, he has his soldiers pursue Drake until he is cornered. With no other option, Nate shoots a pile of propane tanks, killing Flynn's men and sending Nate's half of the train over a steep cliff.

Returning to where the game began, Nate escapes the train and travels through a snow storm, recovering the phurba among the wreckage before falling unconscious. He awakens in a Tibetan village, where he is reunited with Elena and is introduced to a German man named Karl Schäfer (Rene Auberjonois). Schäfer tells Nate that the phurba is the key to finding Shambhala, but Nate tells him he is no longer interested. To convince him otherwise, Schäfer sends Nate and the village leader, Tenzin (Robin Atkin Downes), to find the remains of the men from Schäfer's failed expedition, who were looking for Shambhala and the stone 70 years earlier. Traveling through a series of caves to an ancient temple filled with yeti-like creatures, Nate and Tenzin discover that Schäfer's men were SS members on an Ahnenerbe expedition, and that he had killed them to protect the world from the terrible power of the Cintamani stone. They return to find Lazarević's men attacking the village. Tenzin and Nate go to fight for the village, facing a Soviet T-62 tank in the process.

After securing the village, Nate and Elena find out that Schäfer has been kidnapped along with the phurba. They follow and attack Lazarević's convoy, which leads them to an abandoned monastery. They infiltrate the monastery and locate a mortally wounded Schäfer, who tells Nate that he must destroy the Cintamani Stone before Lazarević can obtain its power. Schäfer then succumbs to his wounds and dies. Nate then tells Elena that he is going to continue his search. Elena then says she and Nate should split-up to find the secret entrance to Shambala faster, which he agrees to.

Eventually, Nate confronts Chloe, who surrenders the phurba after he promises to take Lazarević down. Nate and Elena reunite and use the phurba to unlock the secret passage to Shambhala underneath the monastery, but Lazarević corners them and threatens to kill Elena or Chloe (whose cover has been blown by Flynn) if Nate does not help him. Nate agrees to his demands and is forced to go with Flynn to open the gate to Shambala. When the gate opens the group is attacked by the monsters from the ice caves, but Lazarević manages to kill them. It is then revealed that they are actually the human Guardians of Shambhala, powered by the Cintamani stone and dressed like monsters to scare off anyone who trespasses in the city. Just as Lazarević prepares to kill Elena and Nate, another wave of Guardians attacks, allowing them to escape with Chloe.

Making their way to the top of the central temple, Nate discovers that the Cintamani "stone" is in fact a giant amber of petrified blue resin embedded in a prehistoric tree of life. The true worth of Shambhala is the blue sap of the tree, which when ingested makes the drinker nearly invincible. As they prepare to go after Lazarević, a wounded Flynn arrives and detonates a grenade, killing himself and seriously wounding Elena. Nate leaves Elena in Chloe's care and sets off to confront Lazarević at the tree. Nate arrives just as Lazarević drinks the tree's sap, which renders him nearly indestructible and heals his old wounds and scars. Detonating the pockets of explosive resin in the tree with his weapons, Nate defeats Lazarević and leaves him to be brutally beaten and killed by the Guardians. Nate reunites with Chloe and Elena and they escape the city as a series of explosions begins to destroy it.

Back in the village, Chloe asks Nate if he loves Elena, which he does not deny. Chloe bids Nate goodbye as Sully leads a recovering Elena over to him. While Sully chases after Chloe, Elena and Nate pay their respects at Schäfer's grave before embracing. They share a kiss and together as they walk over to the edge of a cliff and watch the sun set behind the mountains.

Development

First revealed by Game Informer in December 2008, the first teaser trailer shows a weary, wounded Drake marching through a snowstorm to reach a phurba half-buried in the snow. Lead character artist Richard Diamant remarked that the trailer was rendered in real-time, using the game's engine. A second teaser trailer was released soon after, showing a badly wounded Drake stuck in the remains of a wrecked train hanging precariously over a cliff.

Uncharted 2 features an online multiplayer component, the beta phase of which was playable by those who bought early copies of the game inFamous. The beta was also accessible by annual subscribers of the PlayStation Network service, Qore, on June 3, to those who have subscribed to Qore by May 15. The beta codes from Qore began to be sent out on May 8, 2009. Beta codes from inFamous shipped inside the game's packaging, on May 26, 2009. On September 15, 2009, another beta was released and an open beta was released to the EU and US on September 29, 2009, via the PSN store. Both expired on October 12, 2009. In the first year since the game's launch, more than 125 million matches and 10,500 man-years have been played online.

On July 27, Naughty Dog Co-President Christophe Balestra revealed through a Twitter post that the game would not require installation to the PlayStation 3's hard drive.

Motion capture

In E3 2009 videos from Naughty Dog showed the voice actors of the characters performing the motion captures in some of the scenes. The actors act out the scene wearing specially designed motion capture suits. Their performance was used to provide both the motion capture and voice work. The actors would even rehearse together in a room and had discussions with the creative directors of the game before carrying out the performance. to create the highly realistic and cinematic dialogue throughout the game.

Graphics and technology

Naughty Dog intended to maximize the utilization of the Cell's SPUs, as their estimates for utilization in the first Uncharted were only around 30%. As a result, the game has more realistic environments and animations.

Uncharted 2 uses Naughty Dog Game Engine 2.0, a revamped and optimized version of the original engine that has allowed the game to have real-time moving environments, more realistic textures, and animations. The Naughty Dog Game Engine 2.0 also works in harmony with Havok Physics.

On August 26, 2009, it was revealed that Uncharted 2 uses between 90 to 100% of the Cell's processor and uses all 25GB of a single Blu-ray Disc. However, Evan Wells later pointed out "...now it's at least busy 100% of the time, but it's still not fully-optimized code. I mean, in order to get to that 100%, it was more about making sure the pipeline was filled, and we weren't running into one of the processors becoming idle because there wasn't a job ready for it."

In the interview, Christophe Balestra also pointed out how important it is to ship every system with a hard drive. "The fact that every PS3 has a hard drive is huge for us." He went on to describe how the game takes advantage of Sony's offerings. "It's the combination of Blu-ray and hard drive. You can play the entire game without loading. We don't require an install. We're doing all the post-processing effects on the Synergistic Processing Units." Screen Space Ambient Occlusion for example, was done completely on the SPUs.

Post-release

Special editions

Naughty Dog's creative director Amy Hennig revealed a special Fortune Hunter edition of Uncharted 2 that is not obtainable in stores. The Fortune Hunter edition contains the game, a replica of the Phurba Dagger artifact and stand, a BradyGames strategy guide, an art book, the official soundtrack, and a collector's case autographed by Naughty Dog. It is also said to include various downloadable content. A collector's edition of Uncharted 2 was not announced for sale in the United States.

SCEA marketing manager Asad Qizilbash told readers of the PlayStation Blog that the limited edition giveaways will take place on that blog, PlayStation Home, the game's multiplayer demo, and a few other unnamed places. Qizilbash also mentioned that only residents in the US are eligible to win. Only 200 copies were released.

Exclusive to the PAL region, the Uncharted 2 special edition contains the game, gold versions of the Beretta and AK-47 weapons, two post cards, a PlayStation 3 theme, and multiplayer skins. The game comes packaged in a steel case by SteelBook. Never formally announced, the Special Edition was discovered on the game's official European launch site, with the only link for the special edition leading to one of Britain's major game retailers, Game.

A Game of the Year Edition was released October 12, 2010. Among other features, this edition includes all previously released Downloadable content (with the exception of the Sidekicks Skin Pack), four motion comics, and Pinball Heroes: Uncharted for the PSP. Besides being available as an individual "Greatest Hits" title, Uncharted 2 and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune have been released together, as a "Greatest Hits DualPack", and an "Ultimate Combo Pack" which includes a metallic blue DualShock 3 controller.

Downloadable content

The first DLC pack was released on November 27, 2009 and featured a new multiplayer map, "The Fort," from The Fortress chapter in Drake's Fortune for free. On December 11, 2009, "Uncharted: Eye of Indra Multiplayer Skin Pack" was released, exclusively for the PAL PlayStation Store. It includes all four parts of the motion comic Uncharted: Eye of Indra and two Uncharted 2 multiplayer skins based on the motion comic. The pack contains Rika for the heroes and Pinkerton for the villains. The pack was later released in North America.

On January 28, 2010, the "PlayStation Heroes Skin Pack" was released, containing Sev and a Helghast soldier from Killzone 2, Nathan Hale and a Chimera from the Resistance series, and Cole (Evil and Good) along with Zeke from inFamous. The single player demo of Uncharted 2 was released on the same day. On February 25, 2010, a DLC pack that contained two new multiplayer maps, six skins based on Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, 12 PSN Trophies, and 13 medals was released. Skins were released as a single purchase and the 2 maps with the 12 PSN Trophies were released as a single purchase. A bundle of both purchases was also released. On April 22, 2010, the third expansion pack, "Siege" was released. This DLC pack contained a new co-op multiplayer mode known as Siege, two new multiplayer maps, six new character skins and 11 PSN Trophies (10 of which are bronze, one of which is silver). Two of the six new skins are from Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and the other four are new and exclusive to the game. On August 26, 2010, the "Sidekick Skin Pack" was released, containing 6 alternate appearances of previously available characters, and 2 new villain skins, Dillon and Mac. On September 7, 2010, it was announced that new DLC for the game is on the way. On December 12, 2010, the previously exclusive "Golden Guns" DLC was released. This DLC pack contained gold skins for the AK-47 and Beretta weapons.

PlayStation Home

In PlayStation Home, the PlayStation 3's online community-based service, Naughty Dog has released a themed game space for Uncharted 2, developed by Outso. This makes the second game space to be released from Naughty Dog, the first being the game space for Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. This space is called "Nepalese Village" and features the mini-games Mask Mayhem, Torch Race, and Fortunate Thieves with rewards. There's also an Uncharted 2 Blog that lets users access the Uncharted 2 blog. It was released on October 23, 2009 in the European and North American versions of PlayStation Home. In the video on the PlayStation blog, Jack Buser, the director of Home for SCEA, describes the mini-game, Fortunate Thieves, as being a "full on, interactive mini-MMO." The Uncharted series is the first game series to have a game space for both games of the series in Home.

Between the hours of 8 am PT on November 5 and 12 pm PT on November 6, there was a contest in the North American Home (in which only U.S. citizens could participate), where users could win the Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - Fortune Hunter Edition. Between those times, users went to the Uncharted 2 space and played the "Mask Mayhem" mini-game. The user who placed first on the Uncharted 2 space's leader board won a copy of the Fortune Hunter Edition. Users had another chance to win the Fortune Hunter Edition in the Uncharted 2 space between the times of 8 am PT November 20, 2009 and 12 pm PT November 21, 2009. Between those times, users had to try to get in first place on the "Fortunate Thieves" mini-game leader board to win the Fortune Hunter Edition. The user who placed first on the Fortunate Thieves leader board won the Fortune Hunter Edition. Users had one final chance to win the Fortune Hunter Edition from 8 am PT December 18, 2009 to 12 pm PT December 21, 2009. Users had to play the "Torch Race" mini-game and be first on its leader board in the Uncharted 2 space.

On May 6, 2010, an Uncharted apartment was released in the European and North American versions of PlayStation Home called the "Uncharted Fortune Hunter's Apartment". Uncharted themed costumes have also been released in Home. The apartment was released on May 27, 2010 in the Asian version.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	96.38% (81 reviews)
Metacritic	96/100 (105 reviews)
Review scores
Publication	Score
1UP.com	A+
Computer and Video Games	10/10
Edge	9/10
Eurogamer	10/10
Famitsu	92
G4	5/5
Game Informer	10/10 (Second Opinion: 10)
GamePro
GameSpot	9.5/10
GameSpy
GamesRadar	10/10
GameTrailers	9.3/10
IGN	9.5/10
Official PlayStation Magazine (US)	5/5
Official PlayStation Magazine (UK)	10/10
Official PlayStation Magazine (Australia)	10/10
PSM3 (France)	21/20

Uncharted 2 received universal critical acclaim, receiving numerous "Game of the Year" awards. The first publication to review Uncharted 2 was the French edition of PSM3. In their review, they called the game "Long, visually stunning, deep and explosive, Uncharted 2 combines all the qualities you can find in a videogame, and more! A new milestone has been reached in the videogame history." The magazine awarded the game 21/20, a score that was reached five years prior by Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. PlayStation: The Official Magazine awarded the game a perfect score. In their review, they stated, "Forget Game of The Year. This is one of the greatest games of all time!". The UK edition of the magazine also gave the game a perfect score, and Uncharted 2 was later awarded "Game of the Year 2009" by the magazine.^{[citation needed]}. Later, readers of the same magazine voted it the greatest PlayStation title released.

Hiawatha Bray of The Boston Globe said

...no video game has ever done a better job of capturing the style and rhythm of the movies. The action sequences in Uncharted 2 look as if they were shot by a team of cinematographers, then edited into a coherent and thrilling narrative. The game’s storyline is trite, but a first-rate cast of voice-over actors carry it off with flair.

The Los Angeles Times review suggested the game would "fit better on a big screen in some multiplex", and also added that "Uncharted 2 is ridiculously immersive, so much so that you forget you are controlling the actions of treasure hunter Nathan Drake ... everything is done right." In a review for The New York Times, Seth Schiesel described it as "perhaps the best-looking game on any system, and no game yet has provided a more genuinely cinematic entertainment experience."

The game has a GameRankings score of 96.38% and a GameStats score of 9.6/10. The game also received a Metacritic score of 96 out of 100, making it the most critically acclaimed game of 2009. IGN gave the game a 9.5 out of 10, praising its "stunning visuals" and saying "Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is fantastic", and calling the multiplayer mode "one of the best multiplayer experiences that you'll find in any game around ... it almost feels like Naughty Dog has given us an extra game for free." X-Play's Adam Sessler gave the game a 5 out of 5, saying that "Uncharted 2 has the best single-player I have ever played".

The game was criticised for some negative issues, such as lapses in the control system. The New York Times noted that "...its finicky controls can frustrate at times." Tom Bramwell of Eurogamer found, "There are ... a few occasions where the platforming lets you down ... despite the feeling you were jumping in the right direction." IGN described certain repetitive gunfight sequences as "a little aggravating" and complained about the "very linear" climbing sections, yet calling it a forced complaint.

The game was placed 19th in Dengeki online's reader poll of the best games of 2009, making it the only western game in the list.

Sales

NPD Group's sales data shows that Uncharted 2 was the top-selling game in the United States for October 2009, at about 537,000 units sold, while Media Create's sales data has Uncharted 2 selling 47,000 units for its first day in Japan. Phil Rosenberg of SCE says the game has crossed the one million sold mark on November 12, 2009. According to gaming analyst Jesse Divnich, Uncharted 2 is the third first-party title on the PlayStation 3 to sell over 1 million units in North America. As of February 2010, the game has sold over 3.5 million copies worldwide, becoming the fastest selling first-party title on any PlayStation platform. Uncharted 2 is now part of Sony's selection of Greatest Hits.^{[citation needed]} On 28 September 2010, Naughty Dog announced the title had now sold 3.8 million worldwide. As of December 2011, over 5 million copies of the game had been sold.

Awards

Uncharted 2 received over 200 Game of the Year awards. At Sony's E3 media briefing, an Uncharted 2 gameplay demo was shown early in the conference. Critics were very impressed with the demo, which led many to believe Uncharted 2 to be a strong competitor for "Game of the Year" with Uncharted 2 winning the most E3 awards of any game.^{[citation needed]} After the game's release, it went on to win numerous awards, including a record eight award nominations in the Spike Video Game Awards and was voted for by fans for three wins, including Game of the Year. IGN, among numerous other video gaming websites and publications, awarded Uncharted 2 their overall Game of the Year award. The game also won 10 AIAS Interactive Achievement Awards including one for Overall Game of the Year.

Honor	Awards	Presented by	Date
Best of Show	Best Games of E3 2009	1UP.com	02009-06-05Jun 5, 2009
Game of E3 PS3 Game
Game of Show	Best of E3 2009	X-Play	02009-06-08Jun 8, 2009
Best PlayStation 3 Game
Best Graphics	Best of E3 2009 Awards	GameTrailers	02009-06-08Jun 8, 2009
Best Third-Person Shooter
Most Surprisingly Awesome Demo	E3 2009 Awards	GamesRadar	02009-06-08Jun 8, 2009
PlayStation 3 Game of the Show	Best of E3 2009 Awards	IGN	02009-06-10Jun 10, 2009
Best Overall Graphics Technology
Best PlayStation 3 Graphics Technology
Best PlayStation 3 Action Game
Best PlayStation 3 Multiplayer Experience
PlayStation 3 Achievement for Technological Excellence
Best PS3 Game	E3 2009 Editors' Choice Awards	GameSpot	02009-06-10Jun 10, 2009
Best Graphics
PS3 Game of Show	Best of E3 2009	GameSpy	02009-06-10Jun 10, 2009
Best of Show	Best of E3 2009	Game Critics Awards	02009-06-23Jun 23, 2009
Best Console Game
Best Action/Adventure Game
Best Console Game	Gamescom Awards 2009	Gamescom	02009-08-28Aug 28, 2009
Best Overall Videogame	Game of the Year 2009	Yahoo! Games	02009-12-09Dec 9, 2009
Game of the Year	2009 Video Game Awards	Spike Video Game Awards	02009-12-12Dec 12, 2009
Best PS3 Game
Best Graphics
Game of the Year	Best of 2009 Awards	X-Play	02009-12-15Dec 15, 2009
Best Action/Adventure Game
Best Animation
Best Writing
PlayStation 3 Game of the Year	Best Games of 2009	GameSpy	02009-12-21Dec 21, 2009
The Pay Attention, Hollywood Award
Game of the Year 2009	Game of the Year 2009	Destructoid	02009-12-21Dec 21, 2009
Best Storytelling	Best Games of 2009	GamePro	02009-12-22Dec 22, 2009
Best Action/Adventure Game	Best Games of 2009	GameSpot	02009-12-25Dec 25, 2009
Best Graphics, Technical
Best Voice Acting
Best Third-Person Shooter	Game of the Year Awards 2009	GameTrailers	02009-12-28Dec 28, 2009
Best Single-Player Campaign
Best Graphics
Best Story
Game of the Year	End of the Year Awards 2009	Eurogamer	02009-12-31Dec 31, 2009
Readers' Game of the Year
Best PS3 Game of 2009	Best Games of 2009	PakGamers	02009-12-31Dec 31, 2009
Best Action/Adventure Game of 2009
Number 1	Top 10 of 2009	Joystiq	02010-01-01Jan 1, 2010
Game of the Year	Game of the Year Awards 2009	Giant Bomb	02010-01-01Jan 1, 2010
Game of the Year Community Edition
PlayStation 3-Only Game of the Year
Best New Non-Player Character (Tenzin)
The Northies - Best Performance By Nolan North
Best Graphics
Overall Game of the Year	Best of 2009	IGN	02010-01-13Jan 13, 2010
Overall Best Action Game
Overall Award for Visual Excellence
Overall Award for Excellence in Sound
Overall Best Story
PS3 Game of the Year
PS3 Best Action Game
PS3 Award for Visual Excellence
PS3 Award for Excellence in Sound
PS3 Best Multiplayer
Game of the Year	2009 Readers' Choice Awards	1UP	02010-01-14Jan 14, 2010
Best Action/Adventure Game
Best PS3 Game
The "GPU Gods" Award for Most Impressive Visuals
Game of the Year	Game of the Year Awards	Kotaku	02010-01-25Jan 25, 2010
Game of the Year (Readers' Choice)
Game of the Year	13th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards	Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences	02010-02-18Feb 18, 2010
Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction
Adventure Game of the Year
Outstanding Achievement in Animation
Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering
Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction
Outstanding Achievement in Story - Original
Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition
Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering
Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design
Best Sound Editing - Computer Entertainment	2009 Golden Reel Awards	MPSE	02010-02-20Feb 20, 2010
Videogame Writing	Writers Guild of America Awards 2009	Writers Guild of America	02010-02-20Feb 20, 2010
Outstanding Adventure Game Sequel	9th Annual NAViGaTR Awards	National Academy of Video Game Testers and Reviewers Corp.	02010-02-26Feb 26, 2010
Animation 3D
Art Direction
Camera Direction in a Game Engine
Direction in a Game Cinema
Graphics/Technical
Lighting/Texturing
Original Musical Score
Writing in a Drama
Lead Performance in a Drama (Nolan North)
Game of The Year	10th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards	International Game Developers Association	02010-03-11March 11, 2010
Best Writing
Best Technology
Best Visual Arts
Best Audio
Audio of The Year	8th Annual Game Audio Network Guild Awards	Game Audio Network Guild	02010-03-15March 15, 2010
Music of The Year
Sound Design of The Year
Best Cinematic/Cut-Scene Audio
Best Dialogue
Best Original Instrumental
Story	2010 GAME British Academy Video Games Awards	British Academy of Film and Television Arts	02010-03-19March 19, 2010
Action
Use of Audio
Original Score
Game of the Year	Gamers Choice Awards 2010	AT&T through Spike TV	02010-06-08June 8, 2010
Favorite Music
Favorite Video Game Vixen (Chloe Frazer)

See also

• Uncharted
• List of Uncharted characters

External links

• Sony Computer Entertainment official website
• The official international Uncharted 2 website
• Official U.S. Uncharted 2 website
• Naughty Dog official website
• The Uncharted Wiki, an external wiki
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves guide at StrategyWiki