Alright, now that I’m done re-writing the back cover I’m going to tell you a little something about myself – I prefer gaming on the Xbox 360. *gasp* I know, right. While, I won’t tell you the reasons just know that Uncharted 2 has struck a chord with me. With it’s incredible visuals, epic score and impressive storyline Uncharted 2 is the game I’ve been waiting for since the PS3’s release.

Naughty Dog has drawn much inspiration from Indiana Jones for the character of Nathan Drake. The parallels at times are almost uncanny. Drawn into locating an artifact and finding nothing but trouble along the way, beautiful women, crazy locations, and more. As a movie fan, I enjoy this immensely but those Naughty Dog’s also included plenty of nods to other movies such as the “After you Butch”, and “In Like Flynn” lines.

What drives Uncharted 2 first and foremost is the storytelling. While most games struggle in this arena this game seeps it from its pores. It’s what sucked me into Nathan Drake’s world. So much so, that I sunk nearly twelves hours into it over two days. For those who know me, know I don’t have that much time on my plate which speaks volumes to the quality of this game.

Visually, this might be the best console video game I’ve laid my eyes on. The scenery is absolutely gorgeous. The textures almost look real. Accompanied by a score that can only be described as cinematic you get sucked into the world of Nathan Drake as he jump, runs and climbs about the gorgeous locations.

Speaking of climbing. Did you know that Nathan Drake is part spider? No, he climb svirtually anything, and jumps across amazing distances to grasp onto a tiny ledge. Yes, it’s a game and every now and then you must suspend your beliefs and just enjoy the fun. However, I must complain for a few lines.

The complaint stems mostly from the controls. They’re not perfect, but they’re damn close. Despite being almost identical to those of Gears of War there are times when Drake doesn’t respond correctly the way you want him to move and you jump into the pit of death. Other than that the only thing that feels unnatural to me is the actual PS3 controller, but that has nothing to do with the game.

With that one little gripe out of the way I have nothing else bad to say about the game. Toss in Claudia Black’s scintillating voice, along with the other voice actors help delve you in their characters and believe in them. I did find that Nolan North voice performance for Drake seems a little Captain Malcolm Reynolds-ish to me. You know, that guy from Firefly/Serenity, played by Nathan Fillion.

Note: This is for the single player portion of the game only. Multiplayer to follow.

Crave Factor – 9
out of 10