Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Yeti Arcade: Uncharted 2 Among Thieves



Now that game # 3 in the popular Uncharted series is out this month, it seems appropriate to highlight the yeti from game # 2.

Uncharted_2: Among Thieves (2009) was a critical and financial success, receiving over 200 Game of the Year awards.

Hmm, I wonder why...

Oh, isn't it obvious? It stars yeti!





SPOILER for the game (don't click if you plan on playing it)! :

In a nod to the classic trope twist, the yeti are actually a disguise - a suit for the Guardians of Shambhala, a supernatural race of purple-skinned beings in charge of protecting the Cintamani Stone, the resin of the Tree of Life.



2008's biggest yeti event was undoubtedly the Mummy movie, and I would argue that 2009's is Uncharted 2. Both were Indiana Jones-style action adventure stories. I think folks are hungry for more of them, and the Uncharted series delivers. A recent NY Times review called the third game "the finest, most exciting action-adventure movie in years." Like chocolate and peanut butter, yetis are a perfect fit for this style of story: a mysterious monster with a mystical bent lurks in an exotic, hazardous locale for the action hero to fight or befriend. Early examples are the children's cartoon Jonny Quest and the comic book Tintin in Tibet. Much more recently, B.P.R.D. comes to mind. I'm very curious to see whether yeti will continue to turn up in future offerings of the genre, or if Mummy and Uncharted have already covered that ground enough. This is a question that I'm starting to ponder just in general: is the popular culture starting to get too saturated with yeti? Will we see its inclusion in entertainment wane?

Rest assured, I will continue to document the rise or fall of the Abominable Snowman!




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