(again, flat out copying Kotaku’s review style)
Loved
The second (and third) time around. Sequences that previously required a couple stabs, like sniper bait, the showdown with the shotgun guys in the snow, truck hopping, or the train boss, I blew through on my first try. Anything that required pattern recognition to undertake no longer became an obstacle, and why should it? I was good enough if i had done it before, so it shouldn’t be challenge if I have to do it again (puzzles notwithstanding, I thought there should be a skip option, ala ratchet and clank). What I got hung up on, even a second and now third time through, were the pure combat sequences. Dolling out blind fire, ammo management, and grenade awareness (for lack of a better word), were facets I never had to consider playing through on normal, but find absolutely essential on crushing. Naughty Dog didn’t just make the enemy’s bullet sponges; they ramped up the intangibles as well.
Enemy AI. Enemy movement is a bit more tolerable than it was in Drake’s Fortune. With the original I would get frustrated when I would have a clean shot and then, a millisecond later, the guy would do some alien dodge sequence that would render my headshot useless. The bad guys had a greater tendency to slide around this time out, but their behavior is much more manageable. I’m also glad they brought back the anti-camp shit, where the AI usually won’t pop back up into an area where you’re waiting with the reticule. It keeps me on my toes, and even when I try, is quick to punish me with a grenade or something. Among Thieves always keeps you moving and always looking for another way around or an extra piece of cover to stick to and it rewards you by disallowing the AI to know your exact location at all times – if you managed to sneak around, they would keep firing at where they thought you were.
Level Design. I like the “arenas” much more this time out. The cathedral, the underground lab (with the mutants), and that shipping crate area toward the end of Drake Fortune had red herrings and sections that came off feeling cheap, or as if I was getting funneled into an area where I was probably going to get fucked up. Among Thieves treats their combat arenas more like a playground. The ice train yard versus the shotgun trio was perfect for running around, climbing over shit, and sneaking up behind them and the two leveled sniper/shotgun base in the monster was wonderfully balanced and, if you played your cards right, full of fun little places to unload on unsuspecting foes.
Art Direction – Touched on this a bit last time, but most, if not all, of the game boasted jaw dropping visuals. Play was critical of this, accepting that it was indisputably gorgeous but weary of Among Thieves choice of locations; did we need more urban warfare or another shootout through a train ride? I think yes, absolutely. Why not? The ruined parade in the streets of Nepal, despite the awkwardness of its location and the obvious allusions to Guns of the Patriots, proved an intriguing location. The crumbled urban warzone was tired, but draping it with vibrant colors and maintaining and unreal attention to detail at every possible instance made it extraordinary. Same goes for the train sequences; I was killed more times than I can count because I would lose myself staring at the scenery. Hoping from car to car was something that I think we’ve been doing since Bad Dudes, but Among Thieves made me feel like it was the first time I had ever done it (a helicopter implausibly, but awesomely, keeping Drake on his toes tends to do that).
Not So Much
AI friends – I liked the characters of Elena, Chloe, and Flynn, but their actual presence in the game was occasionally a source of pointless frustration. For example, if I got ahead of them when climbing somewhere, they would still engage their routine and, in effect, take priority over Drake and inadvertently push me off ledges and into oblivion. Chloe and Elena also had a penchant for taking up valuable cover real estate. They would either be positioned by an edge I wanted, or they would wander over to one, nudge me, and totally fuck up my shot. The villagers in Siege, with their tendency to knock me around or be standing exactly where I needed to be, didn’t help much either. That, and the games reliance to make their primary function to boost Drake up to ladders was a little weak, but they couldn’t get themselves killed, so it was hardly something to complain about.
Rube Goldberg Puzzles – I get why these were there, Drake needs to solve some puzzles god dammit, but when you sit back and examine the ridiculous crap you just did, and it all seems a bit silly. I had to arrange mirrors to bounce light into the forehead of two six foot faces, which allowed me to climb giant isosceles triangles, which, when done correctly, fell upon a giant face in the floor, which opened the mouth that also happened to be an underground passage. I got there, by the way, from moving the hands of a giant Indian statue, which drained a pool of water that lead to a secret passage. And I’m totally glossing over the ridiculous lengths required to access Shambhala. Again, it’s not bad, per say, just a little, “hey guys, what the hell was that?”
