I've spent many evenings engrossed in Uncharted 2 recently, and it has prompted some interesting debate here at nDreams. At first glance, it's an incredible game which doesn't innovate at all; it simply does lots of things that other games have done before, but does them brilliantly well. Great story, great cinematics, great action sequences, great gunplay...

But you know what? I think it deserves much more credit than that, because I think developers Naughty Dog have become undisputed heavyweight "wow" champion of the world with a new approach to game design.

Just like big Hollywood action movies rely on 'wow' moments that make your jaw drop, big next-gen action games aimed at traditional gamers need to do the same. Think of the first time you leap off a tower into a hay cart in Assassins Creed, or back to the D-Day intro level to Medal of Honor: Frontline. Pretty much every action game has a few big 'wow' moments. Naughty Dog have created a rich story and an incredibly polished game around more of these than any title I have ever seen before. It's hard to play Uncharted 2 for more than fifteen minutes without a serious 'wow' moment occurring. Rather than two or three, there are scores of them. And I think the story arc has been tightly focused around this single aim.

For me, the innovation in Uncharted 2 is that, rather than setting off to make a great shooter, creating the story, and then building in a few 'big' moments during the level design stage, the developers have set out right from the start to create a game built around 'wow' moments. In my view, they have achieved this goal brilliantly.

Whilst Uncharted 2 doesn't revolutionize gameplay, it does revolutionize the game development process. Every action game developer is going to need to up their game design/story creation process from now on, and get the game designers, level designers and writers working closer than ever before. For this alone, Naughty Dog deserve all the praise that is coming their way...
Patrick