For many fans, the original Uncharted: Drake's Fortune was and remains a defining moment for Sony's third-generation PlayStation console.  Developer Naughty Dog delivered an inspired, epic adventure that looked and felt like a missing chapter of Indiana Jones, only with a new superstar at the helm.  While most gushed over the first installment, others like myself thought it was an admirable effort that held promise of greater things to come.  It turns out I was right, because two years after establishing an entirely new franchise on the PlayStation 3, Nathan Drake is back with the thrilling, amazing sequel Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.

Like its predecessor, Uncharted 2 is a fully interactive, playable Hollywood blockbuster on your PlayStation 3 console.  Much like its roguish hero Nathan Drake, this is a series that plunders every source and inspiration in order to entertain and thrill both players and onlookers, working overtime to make each and every moment count.  This is a world outside our own, one of handsome men and sexy females having impossible adventures, crisscrossing the globe while solving ancient mysteries and collecting (with any luck) fabulous rewards.  Drake, a spiritual/digital hybrid of Indiana Jones meets Lara Croft, would be just as comfortable running from armed guards and navigating ruins as he would hitting on the ladies.  In Uncharted 2, he does both, and that's why we love him.

The sequel doesn't waste any time throwing our hero - literally - into the thick of the action, requiring him to survive a train hanging precariously off the side of a snowy Himalayan mountain top.  An injured, bloodied Nathan begins to recall the circumstances that brought him to this point, which slowly reveal the complicated (and quite entertaining) mystery of famed explorer Marco Polo and his fleet of lost ships containing untold treasure.  As he's joined by fellow hunters and the plot comes together, you can almost sense the emotional atmosphere thick with betrayal, intrigue, and the occasional Nazi reference.  Put these all together, and you've got yourself one heck of an adventure...let's go exploring!

Fans of the original will find the gameplay remarkably familiar, as Uncharted 2 shamelessly copies itself, perhaps holding fast to the idea "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," with healthy doses of both stealth and “traversal combat."  From death-defying platforming spectacle to puzzle solving through ancient ruins and war-torn urban streets of Nepal and bullet-brazen shootouts, everything is handled magnificently with some of the most fluid and conveniently inspired controls.  But unlike the Hollywood masquerade of most titles, the game manages to keep nearly every moment thrilling and memorable, if acceptably linear at times.

One such moment has our heroes fending off both hired goons and an machine-gunning helicopter, all while the particular Nepalese hotel they've just invaded is crashing to the ground and spilling everything into the abyss.  Only fast fingers and a well-timed leap of faith can possibly save them from certain death - when's the last time you played a game where anything that ludicrously insane and exciting happened?

While most games feature disposable and unmemorable dialogue, you won't find anything like that in Uncharted 2.  Smart, funny characters play and interact with one another like the smartest blockbuster film you've ever seen.  Nathan and his band of friends/enemies (and sometimes both) fly through every cliché imaginable to drive the story forward, yet like the gameplay manage to make even the most predictable line and cinematic moment seem fresh and zesty.  Will he be double-crossed?  Of course he will, and while you can see things coming miles away, its still wildly exciting, funny, and so well acted that its almost a letdown when you're required to actually 'play'.  Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear) could stand to take a few notes here.

The original Uncharted was a great example of what the PlayStation 3 could do visually, and its sequel easily bests it.  Its the successful marriage of art-direction and graphical prowess that really wows here, as the developers have created a world that falls between photo-realism and your imagination.  Where most games live in dark browns and grays, the world crafted by Naughty Dog is dripping in bright, beautiful colors and dazzling hues that pop to life on your screen.  As in the original, Nathan and his fellow fashionable humans move and react with startling realism, and the same applies to their respective clothing and apparel (and often, hairstyles).  From heavily detailed landscapes to some of the finest character animations and modeling I've ever seen, Uncharted 2 is one of the most visually impressive games ever made.  Pure cinematic candy awaits your eyeballs, especially on larger HDTVs.

Special attention must go to Nolan North, the actor charged with not only voicing the sly and sarcastic Nathan Drake, but helped bring him to life via motion-capture.  Frankly, he gives the best vocal performance I've ever heard in a game.  And he's not alone, as just about everyone involved - including Claudia Black (Chloe), Steve Valentine (Harry), Emily Rose (Elena) - are all amazingly on target.  Also, look for Richard McGonagle's return as the hilarious Victor "Sully" Sullivan, a character who is an amazingly good fit for Nathan Drake.

In an industry overrun with bad acting, ridiculous performances, and often embarrassing moments, Uncharted 2 has none of these and should become the benchmark for all future videogames suffering from movie-envy.

The solo-player campaign itself is utterly engaging, but even after the adventure is completed there’s online multiplayer to keep those hooked, with both varieties of competitive and cooperative games are available. By taking the running and gunning mechanics the traditional Deathmatch, Capture the Flag (plunder), and Team Elimination selections are familiar, but still unique to Uncharted, even the co-op missions like ‘Gold Rush’ and objective survival keeps things fresh and exciting.  Of course, there are still the occasional matchmaking annoyances, namely long connection periods that may leave some wondering why it can take upwards of a minute to reach the main lobby, even with NAT settings properly tuned.  But with the actual online experience so finely-tuned and fluid, fans will likely find the necessary patience in order to play.

Brilliant in design and almost flawless in execution, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is everything fans of the original hoped it would be, and so much more.  Absolutely stellar production values and inspired acting help bring the world of Nathan Drake and his adventures to life beautifully, and while the game's storyline and plot may be riddled with clichés, its never less than thrilling.  Full-featured online multiplayer promises to keep this fully stacked Blu-ray disc spinning for quite some time, although I personally think that the optional integration of Twitter feels questionably incoherent -  much like the social micro-blogging service itself.  When the smoke clears, players will find not only one of the year's best games, but a defining moment in interactive narrative.  Superlative.