PAX 2009: Uncharted 2's Nathan Drake catches a train
by Kevin Kelly 
{ Sep 6th 2009 at 11:00AM } 
Uncharted 2's creative director Amy Hennig explained that most game levels tend to use a moving background that makes the object your character is standing on appear to be moving, and then augment that with physics. Not so with Nathan Drake. He gets to clamber over fully-modeled train cars and diveroll through actual collapsing buildings. No smoke and mirror tricks for this fortune hunter.
To prove the point, the developer showed us a live demo of the game where Drake hauls himself onto the back of a speeding train while simultaneously fending off baddies on the train, and a heavily-armed helicopter that decides Drake needs to be swatted off. You'll have to fight your way forward towards an RPG if you want to survive. Hint: there's a loud, whining noise before the chopper fires its rockets, and also watch out for low-hanging lights.
All of this takes place on a fully modeled and realized moving train, and it looks gorgeous, but we'll just have to take Naughty Dog's word for it as far as the mega-model railroad set that was design for this. Or, you can see what you think! Check out the new footage just after the break.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Frivolous @ Sep 6th 2009 11:04AM
Never played the first, but played the multiplayer beta, and this video does not due justice to the game's graphics....
ximena79 @ Sep 6th 2009 12:44PM
@Dotenzo u can tell because mountains dont move neither do trees.
SimbaDogg @ Sep 7th 2009 10:01AM
well, over the next two months theres about 5 games that i have to have...and this has leapfrogged straight to the top of my list. But uncharted 2 (of course i need to get uncharted 1 too), modern warfare 2, and bioshock, and LBP GOTY edition. So many games, so little time. This is going to be an interesting winter for me. Can't wait for uncharted 2 :)
Redpill101 @ Sep 6th 2009 11:10AM
Im not that impressed!
And wasnt the train moving at the end of gears of war 1?
or resident evil zero??
Leroy_Rocktopus [Planeteer: Power of Asian Disability] @ Sep 6th 2009 11:16AM
I think that's what they were refering to as moving the background whilr the train was standing still. Also Resident Evil Zero had 2D backgrounds.
dotzeno @ Sep 6th 2009 11:22AM
in the video, how do you tell that it's the train moving and not the background?
Leroy_Rocktopus [Planeteer: Power of Asian Disability] @ Sep 6th 2009 11:26AM
Maybe there's moment later where you jump off the train while it's moving or something. They shold have shown something like that.
why not the LS2LS7? @ Sep 6th 2009 11:50AM
I can't believe you tried to compare the Gears of War train section to that. This is far more advanced.
WiredKnight @ Sep 6th 2009 3:42PM
No it wasn't. They used a moving background and physics tricks to make it look like it was moving. The train level of Splinter Cell (2 I think) did the same thing. Notice in both of them that there are no turns in the track whatsoever, and you never see the train from any other angle.
Asim Fareed @ Sep 6th 2009 8:17PM
Actually since when are ND the first to do a moving character on a moving surface? I'm sure it's an incredible technical achievement, but didn't the inFamous demo have you riding atop a train and shooting badguys? And you could hop on it and ride across the city?
Even Halo 3 had those giant things near the end which you could disable by climbing aboard and destroying the engine. Sure GoW's train section was done with moving backgrounds, and (I'm guessing) the train level in Killzone 2, but surely Uncharted 2 will not be the first to feature "Moving object, moving platform"...?
I'm was completely surprised and blown away by how good the first Uncharted was and the second one looks great, I'm very excited, but this particular aspect just seems odd...
kentuckyfried @ Sep 7th 2009 4:47AM
We're going to down-vote you into oblivion, lol.
Sam @ Sep 6th 2009 11:16AM
I like how they try to quantify this as something new and amazing, when in practice, it looks and plays identical to the same technology they were just putting down as old and outdated.
lolhype.
Redpill101 @ Sep 6th 2009 11:18AM
thats what i mean it doesnt look special at all im not impressed
John-IRL @ Sep 6th 2009 11:23AM
I imagine it makes little difference on a train, but it could be cool in the building-collapsing scenes if there not too scripted.
Pat @ Sep 6th 2009 5:13PM
It makes a lot of difference and it is new and special. This is extremely complicated to do in 3D, specially in a real time environment. The techniques that you described as outdated (and used since the early days of cinema as well) - having a still train environment and running pre- rendered backgrounds with a few asset animated past it- can be done in a matter of minutes on any game. But a scene with miles of track and terrain laid out (1UP had an interview with ND a month ago where they detailed more of this) while having a moving vehicle and running simulations, locking characters in place, and calculating shaders and lighting in a millisecond is truly remarkable. It truly shows how far we have come with game technology.
In practice it "may look the same" to you, but that's pretty much like saying that back in the day when we were transitioning between 16- bit 2D character to 32- bit 3D ones there was no merit in the amount of work of attaining motion in the 3D characters because they moved the same as the 2D ones.
The Baron @ Sep 6th 2009 5:19PM
The fact they chose to do this instead of a couple of firefights in a station or something shows their commitment to making this game one fantastic playable set piece after another.
shadow763 @ Sep 6th 2009 9:07PM
Is it possible to down vote comments that are so dumb that it actually lobotomizes the ones that made the comment so they won't taint our waters any more?
dotzeno @ Sep 6th 2009 11:17AM
looks good. i want to play it already.
Vcize @ Sep 6th 2009 11:58AM
Yeah, there are other games released in this genre that don't get tons of hype, but those games aren't sequels to one of the best games this gen like Uncharted 2 is, so that's a pretty damned big difference.
Vcize @ Sep 6th 2009 11:59AM
Whoops, that was supposed to go below. His comment was so grayed out I clicked the wrong reply button :P
Premature ejaculation man @ Sep 6th 2009 10:08PM
Good? I'm amazed. I want a ps3 now ore than ever.
Freedom Town @ Sep 6th 2009 11:22AM
It is so weird how every once in a while the media gets a hold of a certain game and exposes the SH*T out of it. It might be a good game, bad game, great game, lack-luster game.....it doesn't matter, if their Marketing machine is on top of it, every single bit of the game will be exposed as some ground breaking, totally awesome thing.
Enter Uncharted 2. I mean, what the hell is so magical about this game to get the coverage this game is getting. Hell when other games in the same genre get released, you MIGHT see a blog post the day of release about it. Uncharted 2 has received coverage since its conception and every bit of it has been blown out the box. Why? It looks like just another 8.5/10 3rd person action/fps game......
Hyams @ Sep 6th 2009 11:29AM
It's a combined effect of:
-- The original being amazing,
-- Having amazing graphics,
-- Having amazing gameplay videos (seriously, have you been watching the same footage as me? 8.5?),
-- Having a well received multiplayer beta,
-- Being exclusive to one of the three consoles (bonus points for said console not being the Wii).
Personally, the original is still one of my favourite games this gen, so I'm naturally really looking forward to this.
Redpill101 @ Sep 6th 2009 11:29AM
yep i agree
also look on youtube at the gears or war train video and tell me whats the difference in game play thats so amazing in uncharted???
atrimus @ Sep 6th 2009 11:34AM
maybe becasue its a (gorgeous looking) sequel to what many (note: many) consider to be a great game, and you're just in the minority?
everyone has an opinion. it's not worth flipping out over. trying to quantify what's good about something is sometimes as easy explaining the difference between dusk and twilight. if you don't like it, you don't like it. no one who does will probably ever be able to convince you why it's as good as they say. it's best to just leave it alone and move on.
Blurrz @ Sep 6th 2009 11:35AM
Play Uncharted and you will understand why. The first game is still the best-looking game I have seen on consoles, and the most fun I have had playing a game. The improvements made to Uncharted 2 are stunning.
And then they added multiplayer.
The first game got less coverage than it deserved, and the press is making amends this time around. Smart move.
Leroy_Rocktopus [Planeteer: Power of Asian Disability] @ Sep 6th 2009 11:35AM
Redpill
The difference is that the Gears of War train level sucked.
PR0F3TA (PSN - PROPHETA) @ Sep 6th 2009 11:38AM
maybe because it is groundbreaking, dumbfuck... you never played it but are able to score it already by some off-camera video. Nice one.
Maybe its been hyped because it actually is good, is it impossible for PS3 to have amazing games? because i have a feeling if this was for the 360 you'd be "ZoMG! GoTTYY!!"
besides being able to tell you don't own a PS3, its also pretty obvious you never even played the first one. That game had NO hype what so ever but still turned out to be one of the best PS3 games to this day. Uncharted 2 is bigger, longer, and extremely better then the first so if its hyped up then it has good reason too. So just sit back, drink that hater-aid and rock yourself back and forth knowing you have 2 halo games coming out in less then 6 months
Emperor_Den_Den @ Sep 6th 2009 11:38AM
Dude chill out. I don't hear freedom in your comment, I here the iron fist of communism. The first game was a real good game, hell I'll say it was great. I think the game deserves the media coverge it's getting because it's one of sony's stronger exclusive titles and it's going to have alot of compition (even though alot of games were pushed back into q1 of 2010)between some real sturdy titles so the more media coverge the beter.
why not the LS2LS7? @ Sep 6th 2009 11:54AM
I think it's a combination of it appearing to be great, the original game it's built on being great and Naughty Dog releasing a lot of media, press releases and interviews about it. Let's not kid ourselves, if you offer even mildly interesting content to blogs they'll post it. So Naughty Dog offers content every week.
I think it's funny you single out this game. Halo ODST has had about 4 stories this week.
Freedom Town @ Sep 6th 2009 12:52PM
Blah blah blah. Yea I've played the first one. yea I've seen all the videos. I think the uncharted fans here are defending this a little too much. Read my comment again...I never said the game looked bad. Sure it looks good. It just doesn't look as good as everyone (the media/fans) is making it out to be.
Plus my comments were more about dissing the media coverage of the game, not the game itself. This article makes that train moving scene out to be the next generation of game development. It is a freaking train fight scene for gods sake....how many times has that been done in video games before?????
Whoever questioned my generic 8.5/10 remark. You honestly think this game deserves more then an 8.5 ? Resident Evil 5 scored an avg. of 8.5 (I believe), and I don't see this game as anything better then that, from a gameplay point of view....or any other of the numerous action games that don't score higher then a 9
benny boy @ Sep 6th 2009 1:07PM
You can't give a game a review score unless you've played it all the way through and know everything about it. Saying:
"Resident Evil 5 scored an avg. of 8.5 (I believe), and I don't see this game as anything better then that, from a gameplay point of view"
just makes you sound like an idiot who never played Uncharted 1 and has watched a few video previews of Uncharted 2 and suddenly thinks he knows everything about the game. If you really think that this will be anything like RE5, then you sir know nothing about it.
why not the LS2LS7? @ Sep 6th 2009 1:16PM
Yes, I think this came could easily score better than RE5. I'd place Uncharted 1 over RE5 (Metacritic does too, barely) and there's a good chance this could be better than Uncharted 1.
solarshadows074 @ Sep 6th 2009 1:25PM
i honestly think this game deserves more than 8.5.... maybe even more than 9.0
gold5225 @ Sep 6th 2009 3:12PM
Uncharted 2 deserves higher than a 90/100 because It has Incredible Visuals an amazing story phenomenal voice acting and the works. It has A huge story line, Online Multi-player, and Online Co-Op.
Killzone 2 had a great Story and a great Online Multi-player but it dint have online Co-Op and it still scored well above a 90.
Resident Evil 5 had a good story and good Co-Op and then had a tacked on 5 dollar download for online Multi-player, Also Resident Evil 5 did not have run and Gun and You had to stand still while you shot.
Uncharted 2 is looking to be revolutionary. It has done a great job combining Cinematics along with amazing gameplay.
mynk @ Sep 6th 2009 8:13PM
i suppose you would have said the same thing about the first 3d shooter, i mean im sure there were many 2D shooters before it, its been done. you call that the next step in game development, sheesh.
the train scene uses completely different types of physics than have been used before, instead of tricking your eyes into thinking it's a moving train, it actually is a moving train. why is this important, because it allows for a lot of different things, like viewing angles of the train, other things relative to the train, 3d turns in real time, environment that's touching the train and interacting with it, and other such possibilities that cant be done with just moving backgrounds.
sicsided @ Sep 6th 2009 11:27AM
omg
If the game is hyped or not, it COULD be good, as the first one has proven to be good to many people.
If you dont like the hype, dont fucking read. If you think its hyped for ridiculous reasons, MAKE YOUR OWN FUCKING GAME AND HYPE THE SHIT OUT OF IT. There's plenty of tutorials online to do it.
Leroy_Rocktopus [Planeteer: Power of Asian Disability] @ Sep 6th 2009 11:31AM
It could also be that Naughty Dog is releasing news about the game on a regular basis. Not all games do that.
Christian @ Sep 6th 2009 11:29AM
Looks really sweet, this game can't get released quick enough :)
Freakwincy42 @ Sep 6th 2009 11:37AM
wow, people commenting on here are so jaded and cool, they claim they aren't impressed by this footage. this looks awesome! this game is going to be great. just as the original was. i've already got it paid off, i'm counting down the days to play it.
atrimus @ Sep 6th 2009 11:41AM
@Redpill101
have you played Uncharted? no offense, but only someone who hasn't played it would so blindly liken it to Gears of War. sure, they both share the same camera dynamic when it comes to shooting, and they both have similar cover systems; otherwise, the two are largely different from one another. Uncharted is as much about exploration and puzzle solving (hopefully this will be improved over the first one) as anything else. Gears is primarily cover/shoot/move-on/repeat.
saying the two are the same is basically taking away from what makes both so great.
Glenn @ Sep 6th 2009 10:59PM
kevin, if you were a gamer then you would be getting this the first day it comes out.
kevin @ Sep 6th 2009 11:42AM
Am gonna wait to see what score it gets from Metacritic first before i buy it , just don't know if i should put out $64.19 on just word of mouth or overhyper fellow gamers .so i just wait for a Metacritic score . best wishs to all those who run out on release day to buy it .
Leroy_Rocktopus [Planeteer: Power of Asian Disability] @ Sep 6th 2009 11:50AM
Wait, if you think it's being overhyped by the media, how would Metacritic be any better? Metacritic compiles the review scores from the media that you think is overhyping the game.
kevin @ Sep 6th 2009 12:08PM
meant to say i will not let myself be taking in by the hype of sony fans or uncharted fans . just a gamer enjoying all 3 console without having to chose a favorite .
Redpill101 @ Sep 6th 2009 11:48AM
Yes i have played uncharted 1! i have bot a 360 and ps3 so im not a 360 fanboy!
i was pointing out that the article was solely about how the developer thought they were amazing because of the train dynamic with i personally dont think is anything special in the video!
silverwolf761 @ Sep 6th 2009 12:09PM
And that's all that matters, right?
Too bad for them I guess. They should hang their heads, and stop being proud of their accomplishment because someone who doesn't know the technical details of what they're seeing (that person is you btw) isn't impressed
Traceur_Ryuk (PSN: Ryuk_shinigami) @ Sep 6th 2009 12:56PM
Really? Then what's your PSN ID? Tell me, I'll be more than glad to message you to prove it.
belovedconsole @ Sep 6th 2009 3:15PM
You "bot" it??? You ARE a Bot! Shame on you!
WiredKnight @ Sep 6th 2009 3:37PM
It's ok we get it, it just means you don't know anything about level design.