-While Uncharted had a 70/30 combat/exploration-and-puzzles ratio, many people assumed that Uncharted 2 will maintain that. Wells himself thinks that 60/40 is the accurate way to describe Uncharted 2, and sometimes depending on how you play, it might be an even 50/50 split. He credits that because Uncharted 2 breaks away from the "traversal, combat arena, repeat" formula,
-Here's a "70-plus percent" stat for you: Wells stated, "75% of the game, Nathan is accompanied by an ally." Hennig jokes that having someone else with Nathan for most of the game makes him look less crazy than in Uncharted, where he'd drop one-liners that no one else were around to hear. We'll actually reveal the exact number of allies in our interview tomorrow.
-Naughty Dog has learned from the lackluster boss battle at the end of Uncharted. Don't expect a lame QTE for boss battles (well, Naughty Dog prefers to call them "peak moments of excitation"); expect encounters to use your combat and traversal skills, rather than your ability to hit Square or Circle when prompted. "Peak moments of excitation" that Wells has mentioned include an encounter with a helicopter and another one with a freakin' tank.
-If you notice in the initial Warzone gameplay footage, Nathan has to deal with two different factions at war with each other. Wells confirmed that multi-faction fighting isn't just in that level; there will be other areas where Nathan has to juggle multiple forces at work. Then again, at least that means that occasionally, people won't automatically focus on just you.
-"There are no vehicles that Drake drives," is how Wells answers the, "are there still vehicles in Uncharted 2" question. "Every vehicle that he's involved in, someone else is driving or piloting," Wells continues. So if you were somewhat of a fan of those "Nathan drives a jetski while Elena shoots" sequences, sorry. "Driving just didn't fit with what we're doing for Uncharted 2." I asked some other resident Uncharted fans in the 1UP office, for their reaction. Sam Kennedy says, "I'm actually kind of disappointed, because while they could be better, those driving sequences did break up the action a bit." Alice Liang, on the other hand, quips, "Cool, I like being chauffeured around."
And on a final note, here's a wall that declares the creed of Uncharted. Everytime someone on staff wonders, "what the heck are we working on," this serves as a reminder -- it still applies to Uncharted 2 despite being made for Uncharted. I made it clickable so that you can zoom in and absorb the creed. That's it! Come back tomorrow for my interview with Amy Hennig and Evan Wells.
