Yep, everybody’s favourite adventurer/explorer/tomb raider (bar one, but everyone knows why she’s still popular…) is back. Nathan Drake clearly doesn’t know when to say no to yet more abuse, but who am I to care? It means that I get a fantastic game with beautiful graphics, thrilling gameplay and a truly engaging story.
For those of you who missed the first one (like me): Nathan Drake is a gun-toting treasure hunter, looking for some ancient prize. No surprises there… Anyway, Uncharted 2 is an action/adventure game which will see you traversing mountains and dense jungle with some smashed-up cities in equal measure. There are some big shooting segments, and also puzzle/platforming sections that fulfil Nate’s title as archaeologist/explorer.

Let’s start with that first point. It’s no understatement to say that Uncharted 2 is without doubt the best-looking game of its genre on PS3. It is stunningly beautiful in every place, and when you stop on the roof of a building or the top of a mountain, you will agree that there isn’t a single thing that isn’t rendered properly. In buildings you can see the bricks, the sewers feel as grotty and slimy as sewers should. The attention to detail is huge – if Nate ‘accidentally’ goes swimming at the crucial point of the story, he’ll be dripping all over his lady friend. As a result of this awesome effort, even in the slower paced bits of the game (which are great in their own right) you should never get bored. I myself played through at least the first couple of hours with a huge silly grin on my face .

…which quite neatly brings me onto the plot. Usually in this kind of game, plots tend to suffer so that the developers can spend more time making killing things look better. This is, of course, a perfectly natural thing to do and should be commended. However, Naughty Dog have made killing stuff look cool AND given us amazing cut scenes and a plot to rival most Hollywood films (it’s better than a lot of films that I’ve seen…) The storytelling is so tight that you’ll be sitting bolt-upright for the cinematics – there’s none of the put-the-kettle-on-and-have-a-nice-sleep stuff that MGS4 is notorious for. The cinematics never feel long, and they look so gorgeous that I wouldn’t care if they did.

But what is a game without gameplay? Admittedly not much, so it’s lucky that Uncharted 2 delivers on this front as well. It’s been compared to Gears of War favourably, and I understand. The gunplay is satisfying and challenging without being prohibitively difficult, the cover system works well (with a couple of inconsistencies in close quarters) and some of the set piece segments are superb. Not wanting to ruin the surprise, but there are some pretty spectacular Indiana Jones-style fights you’ll get into, and they really are pretty epic. The guns are good. Really, really good. My favourite is the sniper rifle – the ‘ping’ as you fire is very, very satisfying when accompanied by a scream and a thud. There’s nothing very new in your armoury, but everything there works as it should. The exploration segments are Assassin’s Creed-esque, and even thought you won’t be doing much of the work, it still feels great. There are also some fun little puzzles as well as a useful journal full of irreverent as well as irrelevant information. Frankly, the gameplay is exemplary.

I haven’t even reached the multiplayer modes yet! Most developers, having finished a single-player experience that will be remembered as brilliant for years to come, might make a cup of tea, put their metaphorical feet up and get some well-earned R&R, but not Naughty Dog. Uncharted 2 packs a great, fun little multiplayer version, with online co-op and competitive modes. The co-op is like the single player, but you get two mates to come along for the ride. Its got a good scoring system and it adds literally hours to the gameplay experience. The competitive is up to 5v5 at the moment, although I don’t think that bigger matches have been ruled out yet. The standard options are all there, and thanks to the free updates which have been promised, the list of things to do is always increasing.

If you have some money to spend on a good game on the PS3, or even if you don’t, beg, borrow, steal or buy a copy of this game. (Preferably the latter.) It is fantastic.

10/10