Weather affects gameplay in Uncharted 2

By Robert Purchese Published 19 March, 2009

Naughty Dog talks water: evolved.

Naughty Dog's Richard Lemarchand has explained that ice and snow in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves will create the same impact water did in the original game.

Plenty of elbow grease has been applied to get the weather up to scratch, he said, so it will not only look nice but also affect gameplay.

"We've spent a lot of time focused on the distinctive look that snow has as it falls and is blown by the wind, and of course on the way in which Drake leaves footprints as he trudges through the snowdrifts in the Himalayan mountains that he ventures to," Lemarchand told IGN. "When he's out in the snow he'll accumulate a layer of snowflakes on his clothes and in his hair, which will slowly thaw when he gets back inside, under cover.

"Ice reflects light in a way that cleverly mimics the sub-surface scattering that goes on inside a chunk of frozen water, and gives it a look of incredible volume and density.

"We have a few more tricks up our sleeves, too," he added. "We don't want to give away all our secrets - you'll have to use your imagination to figure out all the ways in which we might use sub-zero temperatures in the service of gameplay! One thing I will say is that if you've ever tried to fight an intense cover-based gun battle against a vicious enemy in the middle of a Force Ten snowstorm, then you'll appreciate how complicated the reduced visibility can make things for combatants on both sides."

Naughty Dog reckons Uncharted 2 will use nearly all the power of PlayStation 3. Particular attention has been poured into allowing Nathan Drake to shoot and fight while climbing or travelling on moving objects, allowing much greater freedom than before.

"On top of that, we're planning on adding several features to the game that will increase replayability and extend the gameplay experience for everyone," added Lemarchand. "We'll be revealing those features at a later date, so hold tight for more info!"

Naughty Dog has yet to date Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, but has shown screenshots and videos to placate the mob.

Those can be found, with other news, on our Uncharted 2: Among Thieves gamepage.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (30) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Arwin #1 3 years ago

    I'm thinking I probably don't want to hear about this game anymore until it's out - it's going to be great, clearly, so from there on, the less I know the better.

  • Zomoniac #2 3 years ago

    Sounds good. Assuming GoW3 doesn't make it out this year, this will be the game of 2009. Maybe.

  • metalmike25 #3 3 years ago

    I can't wait for it. The first game was excellent and i think part of the reason for that was that the characters were incredibly likeable. Nathan Drake really made a refreshing change from the usual one dimensional meatheads that star in action games
    Edited by 1 at 19/03/09 @ 11:01

  • zuljin #4 3 years ago

    Erm. How did water affect the gameplay in the first one? I mean I'm kinda intrigued by snow storm boss fights, but lets be honest, the water was purely aesthetic in the first.

  • Darren #5 3 years ago

    I'm sure this game will be great, just like the first one was, but I hope all these additional effects don't come at the expense of even more screen tearing. I recall Naughty Dog claiming that the first Uncharted only used 40% or thereabouts of the PS3's processing power so let's hope they've learnt to tap enough extra to utilise those impressive sounding effects *and* reduce the amount of tearing. If it wasn't for the offputting tearing Uncharted would be the best-looking game on the PS3 by far! As it is it's merely gorgeous! ;)

    Love the characters, art design, animation and bold colour palette, they give the game a really distinctive look IMO. The story and acting were also great. Regardless of how it fares technically, it's a game I'm really looking forward to playing. I think Uncharted, despite being the older game, makes Tomb Raider Underworld look hopelessly dated in comparison. That said, I'd like to see a bigger emphasis on puzzles and exploration in this game with combat, good as it was (essentially like Gears of War), used more sparingly.

  • Ninja_Tino #6 3 years ago

    'against a vicious enemy'?!?! Are we talking hulking big boss? Abominable Snowman or something, maybe? If they do include monsters, I wouldn't mind a bit more variation than running zombie things.

  • Baranga #7 3 years ago

    Won't look as good as Cryostasis.

  • Darren #8 3 years ago

    @Baranga - It'll probably run a lot better though, having a better script and won't be based around moving from one small room to the next despatching a single enemy to unlock the next door. ;)

  • kangarootoo #9 3 years ago

    "if you've ever tried to fight an intense cover-based gun battle against a vicious enemy in the middle of a Force Ten snowstorm"

    Come on people, lets have a show of hands... anybody...

  • Widge #10 3 years ago

    +1 for puzzles and exploration....

  • Collymilad #11 3 years ago

    "Naughty Dog reckons Uncharted 2 will use nearly all the power of PlayStation 3. Particular attention has been poured into allowing Nathan Drake to shoot and fight while climbing or travelling on moving objects, allowing much greater freedom than before"

    Thank god, now when it comes out and looks exactly the same as every other good looking game, we can finally put the cell/blu-ray BS to bed.

    Nice one.

  • RamblinSydRumpo #12 3 years ago

    @Darren

    I had zero tearing with Uncharted. I guess it's dependent on your setup.

  • GamesConnoisseur #13 3 years ago

    Looking forward to this game even more, as with the first they did pay a lot of attention to a very minute details to create a more life like gaming experience and loved every min of it!

    Screen tearings were annoying but hoping fully eliminated in the sequel and didnt interfere too much of the gaming though, a beloved new franchise that is indeed one of key PS3 exclusive games.

  • Tomo #14 3 years ago

    Haven't devs being boasting about how weather effects are the NEXT BIG THING since the Amiga days?!

    Sensible Soccer introduced skid marks ffs. And wow, Lara's pony-tail swung in REAL TIME.

    Ugh.

  • Freek #15 3 years ago

    "Using all the power of machine X" is a total red herring anyway.
    Simply maxing out memory and processor power doesn't mean that what is actually displayed on the screen is automatically the best thing ever.

  • oreillymj #16 3 years ago

    @zuljin

    You obviously skipped the level where your trying to steer a wayward Jetski up some rapids while avoiding exploding barrels and taking out enemies.

  • Tzetrik #17 3 years ago

    STOP PRESS: GAME HAS WEATHER.

  • septimus #18 3 years ago

    Should be great. As to the tearing, I got less on Uncharted than I do on Resi5 on the 360. That just tears at the most random points.

  • zuljin #19 3 years ago

    @oreillymj
    Mmm nope. Its a vehicle section like any other to me. Its like the shoutout in the caverns in water too, it looks different, but makes bugger all for innovation in gameplay.

  • makeamazing #20 3 years ago

    The screen you have makes a big difference to tearing as far as i can tell. These new fangled LCD screens are more prone to it than CRT... well thats my experience... dont know if that is actually true or not :D

    Cant wait for this game, I would like to know if/when these games are coming out... I mean they must have an idea if Uncharted is going to be done this year or not....Hopefully we start to get some release dates for these PS3 games.

  • kangarootoo #21 3 years ago

    @oreillymj and zuljin

    "Mmm nope. Its a vehicle section like any other to me. Its like the shoutout in the caverns in water too, it looks different, but makes bugger all for innovation in gameplay."

    I think the distiction here is between weather and water (which is I believe zuljin's point). Certain parts of Uncharted had water in them for sure, but there was no "changing weather affects gameplay" aspect to any of it. The rapids were always wet (and rapid), the water pools always made Drake's trousers damp, but there was no suggestion of changing conditions or changing gameplay.

    Sounds like UC2 does have some weather dependant gameplay, but I don't consider any of what was described in detail to be that. Snowflakes and footprints and reflective ice are all just graphical embelishments (nice and emmersive as they may be). Though they may enhance the overall experience, they have bugger all to do with gameplay.

  • zuljin #22 3 years ago

    @kanga
    Yea more or less what I meant. I mean I guess there was some backwards movement on the jetski, but it reminds me of the ice levels in Mario kart, theres no real change to gameplay, other than you just do what you do anyways but slightly slower...

  • penhalion #23 3 years ago

    What impact did water have in the first game?

    Did I miss something?!?

  • steviepunk #24 3 years ago

    "Ice reflects light in a way that cleverly mimics the sub-surface scattering that goes on inside a chunk of frozen water, and gives it a look of incredible volume and density."

    So in other words, ice will look like ice?

  • mkreku #25 3 years ago

    I thought Uncharted looked great. In fact, it looked so good that they didn't need to spend a lot of elbow grease to make it prettier. I would have preferred if they had spent that same elbow grease to lengthen gameplay, add more exploration, add more puzzles and just make a better GAME. Better graphics is nice, but it's not what it'll be played/remembered for in the long run.

  • onyxbox #26 3 years ago

    I found tearing on 360 in most games when using the VGA cable... went back to using Component and only a few games tear.

    Also if you use 360 on a Standard TV the tearing can be greatly reduced by messing with the 50Hz 60Hz options.

    BTW:on topic, Uncharted 2 look like another winner.

  • vegard #27 3 years ago

    OMG, footprints!

  • Burkey123 #28 3 years ago

    Absolutely loved the first game and can't wait for this.
    I really like the look of the snow/ice theme.

  • 3william56 #29 3 years ago

    I think I'll just wait inside with a nice cup of tea for the snowstorm to pass. No point being cold, is there?

    Boss Fight: Nathan D vs. the Dalai Lama packing a bazooka - confirmed! :p

  • EvilBob_leeds #30 3 years ago

    ^^^ Don't feed the troll people.

    I reckon more puzzles would be a good thing. GodOW II had about the right balance I'm thinking,