Uncharted 2 is enjoying stellar reviews, riding high with a 96 average on Metacritic and standing tall as the critical darling of 2009. In fact, the lowest score a critic could muster was an impressive 9, meaning Uncharted 2 must be damn-near perfect in every way. Unfortunately, my experience with Uncharted 2, which I played to completion, was not that of a 9-10 rated game. Quite the contrary.

Before I launch an attack on Uncharted 2, allow me to proclaim some praise where it is due.

Lush, Detailed Graphics

Uncharted 2 is one of the most beautiful-looking games you’ve ever seen. The attention to detail, set design, and tons of little touches all conspire to push the PS3 to its maximum capability. The artists and level designers truly delivered something fantastic.

Great Voice-Acting

99% of videogames have horrendous voice-acting by 5th-rate talent that would be better served by abandoning the acting and relying solely on subtitles. Not so with Uncharted 2. Here the acting is solid and lines are delivered with something akin to emotion, which is nice to hear.

That’s pretty much it for my positives. Now on with the show.

Great Graphics Do Not Make a Great Game
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Monkey Island is making a grand return by not only upgrading classic versions of the game but exploring new stories in Tales of Monkey Island, created by the current adventure game kings, TellTale Games.

In 2005, Capcom was taking quite a risk when they made the decision to publish Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, in the States. The game had received a lot of attention and praise from those rare enthusiasts who go to the trouble of buying imported Japanese titles, but they aren’t known for being representative of what a more mainstream audience will find interesting. The games’ protagonist, a lawyer, had to collect a series of clues with the help of a little girl and the ghost of another attorney in order to win his cases. Besides yelling “Objection!” into the DS’ mic (which was optional), actual gameplay never moved much beyond dialogue trees and Myst-style investigations of static environments.

So it’s not hard to imagine there was a sigh of relief at Capcom when their counter-intuitive gamble paid off.  Ace Attorney got high marks from critics while store owners quickly burned through their first shipments of the game that has since generated two sequels and a spin off, Apollo Justice.

After that encouraging response, it can make sense for publishers who are willing to take some risks to begin considering games like Lux Pain. Like Phoenix Wright, Lux Pain is an anime-style, character and story-driven mystery that puts more emphasis on gathering clues than action-oriented gameplay.

The difference arrives in the matter of degrees. It’s as if Pain’s developer, Killaware, looked at Wright’s success and said to themselves, “Let’s turn everything up to 11. read more…