The Secrets of The Train Level in Uncharted 2

Do you remember a level of Uncharted 2 with Nathan Drake fighting his way through a speeding train? It was truly amazing, wasn’t it? The level felt so huge with the enormous train, beautiful scenery around you, and tough fights.  fighting off scores of enemy mercenaries and even a missile-firing helicopter. How did the Dog team build it? Check an amazing video from Freako who used the game’s debug menu to play with Uncharted 2 in surprising ways.

It turns out the train level is all about big loops. The train actually travels on the huge loop the train travels on, generating the illusion of traveling. The video also shows the actual size of the train and the scale of the environments. 

The team also decided to trigger cutscenes at some points to mask area transitions. Isn’t that clever? It’s so great to see such game dev magic behind an AAA title. A clever and optimized level is always about unexpected decisions, rather than straightforward approach.