GOTY ALL YEARS!!!
I wasn't sure at the time as to why but I really wanted to complete Uncharted 2 in a single sitting. It didn't take too long for me to figure out the answer to that, though I sadly never got to achieve my goal due to a two hour gym session and the game crashing thirty minutes before the end with my eyes bleeding. People will always hark back to the Metal Gear Solid franchises as the example of games trying to be movies but Uncharted 2 absolutely trumps the entire franchise. Flaws 'n' all, I'm a big fan of all MGS games but Hideo Kojima could learn a lot from playing this game and discovering what can be achieved without a convoluted mess of a script. I assume most people's pound of flesh with Uncharted 2 would be it's length at around twelve hours but is that really unreasonable in this day and age? I don't even know anymore. Irrespective of that though, the story never felt like it was being artificially extended nor that it died half way through because an exec decided he wanted his healthy dividends this fiscal year.
My first experience with the entire Uncharted series was downloading the multi player beta and seeing Rahla kicking ass at my house. Even vicariously it seemed the shit, though my sole attempt at playing it a few weeks later were laughable as I had no idea what I was doing and promptly got rolled. I doubt I'll get too stuck into the multi player side of it too much. I guess it'd be fun now I know how to even play the game but death match type play isn't my type of thing. Now co-op? Fuck year! I asked one of my friends I met playing Rock Band: Beatles if she'd like to try it out to which she was happy to. After I FINALLY figured out how to get my fucking mic to work over PSN, we tried the Sanctuary level and it was great fun. There's my longevity with the game if I felt it needed justification.
One reviewer was noted as saying Uncharted 2 was the best single player experience he ever had. I'm not sure I'd go quite that far but it's certainly up there and worth your money.
I first heard of this game when GameCentral, the only gaming journalists I trust unequivocally, started harping on about how amazing it was. I soon found out that specific Asian versions have a full English language suite and decided to order it only to find out it wasn't in stock and I wasn't willing to pay the eBay price. I somewhat let my enthusiasm die down a little only for it to flare right back up when the game was released in America and a new thread was created on /v/ to discuss it every five minutes. I realize only a fool would take anything posted there as fact but when someone said it's the first game in the longest time that makes you want to get out of bed in the morning, I knew I had to have it. After canceling what would've been a much delayed order from DVDBO, I manned up and paid £52 for it on eBay from someone in my own country.
People had said Demon's Souls was hard and they weren't fucking joking. Though I was pretty sure it was intended, I was amused to be one shot by the boss at the end of the tutorial stage. Every enemy in the game needs to be treated with respect. Sure, you've got the odd enemy that take one hit to kill but if you get several at the same time through carelessness they can put a dent in your HP. I remember the first time I saw the Red Eyed Knight in 1-1 and got promptly one shot, I decided there was no way he could be killed. In the other direction though was a Blue Eyed Knight who did massive damage and healed himself if given the chance. He killed me once or twice before I killed him, and know that if you die in Demon's Souls, you lose all your gained souls (the games collective currency for buying anything and leveling up) and have one chance to get them back. It was pretty satisfying when I killed that guy. You can die and die in Demon's Souls and the game will keep taking your souls away but it can't take your experience away. Which leads in to the next stage.
1-2 is a pretty straight forward level. It's a long bridge with a few stop offs and a few different directions. If you're careful and time your runs, you can just sprint route one and get to the end of the level in a few minutes with relatively little trouble. The problem comes right at the end. After the final sprint from the Dragon breathing fire up your ass, you're confronted by three archers firing at you, two more up the top, little cover and a Blue Eyed Knight right behind them. It's impossible to take the three archers out as melee without aggroing the knight (whose hits still do half my life bar), if you back up too far the Dragon's breath and roof archers will get you, if you go too far ahead, a second knight will activate and this is all in a confined area. I'm not kidding, I must've wiped on this pull about thirty times in my pursuit of getting to the boss just ahead. It was infuriating. Every time I died, I'd scream in a way that only Megaman 9 can evoke... then go straight back in and try again.
The boss was a different matter. Of the countless times I'd wiped on the level, I'd only made it to him about four times. I knew how to kill him, I just couldn't pull it off. I'd go up, clear out the archers, come down and get raped trying to get behind him. I'm ashamed to admit it but in the four or five attempts I initially made, I hit him ONCE. It was at this time I was questioning if I was just too terrible to be playing this game. I knew I could create a caster and have the game be a lot easier but I didn't want to do that as I was enjoying the playstyle of Temple Knight. I decided to stop running at the brick wall and try 2-1 which helped more than I could ever have guessed. I didn't finish the level but I opened the first shortcut, found a new weapon and felt buoyed by the fact I'd actually made progress.
I went back to 1-2 the next day and everything clicked. I got through the hell pull first time and was so close to killing Tower Knight. The second attempt at the level, I destroyed the knights again which left me wondering why I was having so much trouble for so long. And then I raped Tower Knights face (well, ankles). Let me tell you, I cannot think of any game in the past few years where I have felt so relieved and happy at making some particular progress in a video game. Even including WoW, no boss kill has ever felt as satisfying as this.
And that's the point of Demon's Souls.