Presenting, Naughty Dog
With Uncharted 2: Among Thieves very close by, I decided to reminisce on Naughty Dog's older games and the characters they created. I soon found a welcoming pattern, they just keep getting better!
Two of my first Playstation games I had the pleasure of were Crash Bandicoot and Ridge Racer. I was way more into the former game than my bigger brother was. Crash Bandicoot is a well known gaming icon. His sole purpose is to rid the evil that Dr. Neo Cortex is constantly cooking up and save his Bandicoot girlfriend Tawna. A bit like a poor man's cartoon Uncharted really, no?
Story aside this orange, spiky haired rodent really appealed to a wide audience, albeit more to the younger ones. He continued to live on in video game history, with two sequels and a racing game spin off. I remember particuarly enjoying Crash Team Racing and finding all the hidden routes and shortcuts. I was none other than the Bandicoot himeself, every time of course.
After Naughty Dog conquered the first Playstation, they moved on to the Playstation 2 with the very friendly, colourful and well written Jak & Daxter. This excelled in bringing the Platforming genre back to the forefront of gaming. In short, it revolved around the aforementioned Jak and Daxter running, jumping and fighting their way around a fantastical dystopia. The duo got into all sorts of trouble and you just couldn't help but love 'em and aid them in fulfilling their goals.
In my opinion the Jak & Daxter series somehow got worse as more of the series were developed upon. Maybe it was because of the intrusion of Ratchet & Clank. Anyhow, the troublesome two-some will be memorable for many years to come.
Now, in the modern day, Naughty Dog has matured into adult complexity with the Uncharted series. Unbeknownst to none, they have still kept the characters hard to not like. Everyman Nathan Drake is a great protagonist, Victor Sullivan is a trustworthy sidekick and Elena Fisher is actually like a real woman. That's right, she isn't exploited no end to arouse sweaty teenagers around the world *cough Ms. Croft cough*, she also isn't simple and robotic. She's infact about one of the only lead NPC, game-related female I've ever cared a little about. Yes Yorda, that's right!
Elena Fisher is breathtakingly realistic, interesting and enthusiastically acted, quite like all of Uncharted's cast. Naughty Dog is supreme in writing, directing, acting and action. They are also simply marvellous at telling a believable story with believable people. Something that Kojima Productions try so valiantly to do. I am extremely excited for Uncharted 2 and I hope against hope it does the best it can at raising the bar once more for global gaming standards, in every sense of the word.
Two of my first Playstation games I had the pleasure of were Crash Bandicoot and Ridge Racer. I was way more into the former game than my bigger brother was. Crash Bandicoot is a well known gaming icon. His sole purpose is to rid the evil that Dr. Neo Cortex is constantly cooking up and save his Bandicoot girlfriend Tawna. A bit like a poor man's cartoon Uncharted really, no?
Story aside this orange, spiky haired rodent really appealed to a wide audience, albeit more to the younger ones. He continued to live on in video game history, with two sequels and a racing game spin off. I remember particuarly enjoying Crash Team Racing and finding all the hidden routes and shortcuts. I was none other than the Bandicoot himeself, every time of course.
After Naughty Dog conquered the first Playstation, they moved on to the Playstation 2 with the very friendly, colourful and well written Jak & Daxter. This excelled in bringing the Platforming genre back to the forefront of gaming. In short, it revolved around the aforementioned Jak and Daxter running, jumping and fighting their way around a fantastical dystopia. The duo got into all sorts of trouble and you just couldn't help but love 'em and aid them in fulfilling their goals.
In my opinion the Jak & Daxter series somehow got worse as more of the series were developed upon. Maybe it was because of the intrusion of Ratchet & Clank. Anyhow, the troublesome two-some will be memorable for many years to come.
Now, in the modern day, Naughty Dog has matured into adult complexity with the Uncharted series. Unbeknownst to none, they have still kept the characters hard to not like. Everyman Nathan Drake is a great protagonist, Victor Sullivan is a trustworthy sidekick and Elena Fisher is actually like a real woman. That's right, she isn't exploited no end to arouse sweaty teenagers around the world *cough Ms. Croft cough*, she also isn't simple and robotic. She's infact about one of the only lead NPC, game-related female I've ever cared a little about. Yes Yorda, that's right!
Elena Fisher is breathtakingly realistic, interesting and enthusiastically acted, quite like all of Uncharted's cast. Naughty Dog is supreme in writing, directing, acting and action. They are also simply marvellous at telling a believable story with believable people. Something that Kojima Productions try so valiantly to do. I am extremely excited for Uncharted 2 and I hope against hope it does the best it can at raising the bar once more for global gaming standards, in every sense of the word.