Random thought:

When I started in on Uncharted 2, I was really taken by the structure of the narrative. Nate's present situation with flashbacks that flesh out the reasons why he' in said situation.

It just now dawned on me that I've seen this before. Firefly. Episode called "Out of Gas". Here, Mal is hurt. His blackouts offer opportunity for flashbacks to his history with the other characters and explanations of how Mal got hurt in the first place.

It worked so well for Firefly, and works just as well for Uncharted 2.

Good stuff.

So far, I'm in the middle of the museum heist. This is pretty early on, so I have only first impressions for now.

Visually, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves doesn't look that different compared to the first game. No, that's not a backhanded comment considering the first Uncharted was a beautiful game.

Even more impressive than the visuals is the storytelling style.

The game kicks off with one heck of a nut-grabber with flashbacks interwoven between scenes of Nate's current predicament. Voice acting is some of the best I've heard in a videogame backed by witty and engaging dialogue. The premise of the plot doesn't seem contrived... well, doesn't seem as contrived as most games seem to be. Regardless, the plot and its pacing so far have me wanting to push forward.

Unfortunately, with silly things like work in the morning, I can't push any further into the game tonight. Come tomorrow night, I'll be eager to continue Nate's adventure when I get home.

ADDENDUM: I just remembered that I'll have Brutal Legend from GameFly tomorrow. I'm torn.

After reading gaming message boards for the past 5 years or so, I've come to the conclusion that people just can't be bothered to communicate.

I'm not talking about Gamespot's System Wars forum specifically, although it's the best place to find prime example of what I'm talking about. Sadly, this is a phenomena witnessed across the webisphere.

It's as if comments and replies are just vomited out with little regard to context and detail. People seem to be content with putting a vague sentence or two with the assumption that others will miraculously comprehend their message. Much of the time, that idea isn't even well-formed. Even rarer is the level of coherent thought. My god! What happened to grammar?

It's not there for academic reasons. It's how we communicate ideas to others.

Here I am, ranting about vague statements while I'm guilty of not providing specific examples to illustrate my point. Honestly, I wouldn't want to waste server space with things you can witness for yourselves.

Just head over to System Wars.

I finally found the 29th audio log, unlocking the 30th. Personally, I thought Sadie's story had more drama and more emotional impact than the ODST story arc. I liked it so much that I wanted to be an active participant in that than with my team. I don't see why they couldn't somehow combine the two.

Sadie and Vergil could have been the common threads tying all the flashbacks together. The flashbacks in their current form are nothing more than tech demos for the game's different mechanics. However, I will hand it to Bungie for taking a huge risk with excluding the Master Chief altogether. There wasn't even a mention or cameo appearance. The risks illustrate the richness of the Haloverse even without John 117 and Bungie's willingness to use a narrative structure atypical of what the Halo shooters fans have been used to since 2001.

On top of that, ODST helps showcase Bungie's mastery of their 30-seconds-of-fun formula. Despite the questionable cohesiveness of the story, the action held the whole package together.

Overall, a great addition to the Halo franchise.

I just finished Kikowani Station last night. At this point, I'm noticing how Bungie uses light and dark. Night time New Mombasa mirrors the obscurity of the events that the Rookie is trying to uncover. Meanwhile, the flashbacks take place in the daylight where objectives and courses of action seem as clear as day (pun intended).

I also like how the flashbacks inject a bit of variety in the gameplay, where one has you sniping, another focuses on the SPARTAN laster, a Scorpion and a Banshee. Another flashback gives the player a taste of firefight by having you defend against waves of Covenant. In each of these, progression is very linear, but fast-paced and intense, providing just enough motivation to keep me moving forward through the level. Between those segments, I'm happy to be reeled back into something structured in a way that I can move along at my own pace.

I had my misgivings when Bungie interviews touted a more open-world feeling in the Mombasa hub portions of the game. However, the action-packed flashbacks provide just the right contrast to bring out night time Mombasa's slower, more open feel. There is some exploration while searching for the audio logs and hidden armories. I can choose to engage every single Covenant I meet, or opt to avoid their patrols while on my way to the next beacon.

There's another point of contrast I wanted to mention. During flashbacks, I always felt like I was part of a bigger battle. When my character wasn't with other marines, there was chatter in his ear to drive me to the next objective. On the flipside, I as the Rookie always felt utterly alone on the Mombasa streets.

Light versus dark, fast versus slow, linear versus open, team versus stranded. The contrasts create a tension that ultimately serves the unconventional telling of the story. From a narrative perspective, it's an interesting format that keeps me wanting more.