Two weeks ago, I would be 100% willing to tell you that Batman: Arkham Asylum would be my Game of the Year. Arkham Asylum was a game I came into with little or no expectations of, and was quite simply blown away. No matter what else came out this year, nothing would affect me in quite the way Batman managed to.

And then I had to go and get a PS3.

I always knew Uncharted 2: Among Thieves was probably a better game than Arkham Asylum. And it undoubtably is. Which is my favorite game is an issue I’m still wrestling with, which is to take nothing away from Uncharted, which is quite simply stunning from beginning to end. The way it integrates combat, stealth, melee combat, platforming and urban climbing together so seamlessly is a feat to behold, and with the perfect wrapping of this Indiana Jones influenced narrative structure, it is without a doubt one of the most impressive games I’ve played in years.

First and foremost, Uncharted 2 is a technical feat. I’m not just talking about the graphics, either. Make no mistake: Uncharted 2 is gorgeous. The massive locals rendered by the game are breathtaking in their scope and detail, and the characters (Who I’ll discuss further later) are incredibly emotive. Beyond the graphics engine, however, is the way that the many different types of gameplay in Uncharted fit into each other so naturally. Essentially, you could boil the game down to Gears of War-style shooting, Assassin’s Creed/Tomb Raider climbing and platforming, thrown together with aspects of stealth, melee combat, and puzzle solving. Not only are stealth and melee combat encouraged, but you’ll find yourself wanting to do them as much as possible to give yourself an edge in a hectic firefight. And the climbing aspects of Uncharted are just as integral to the combat experience. In one, I was having difficulty with a certain firefight where I was surrounded by snipers on the roof. Before the fight began, I climbed up some ruins onto the roofs, and stealthily took out all of the snipers, allowing me to complete the firefight with ease.

The environments in Uncharted 2 are built for these sorts of improvisational situations, and are far more dynamic than the typical Gears of War “Hide behind this piece of cover shooting until everyone falls down dead” scenario. In addition to this, the levels are far more dynamic and interesting. This game basically throws you into one setpiece after another, each more exciting than the last. You’ll get to climb up the remains of a train hanging precariously off a cliff in Nepal, break into a heavily guarded Turkish museum, and go tomb raiding in the jungles of Borneo, and that’s LITERALLY just the first three missions. I honestly don’t even want to spoil the rest of them for you, because when you finally see them, your mouth inevitably hangs open in shock.

The amazing gameplay is backed up by some of the most believable characters you’ll ever see in any game. Their interactions all feel incredibly real, and the occasional quips and one liners they make never feel forced or contrived. The story is a relatively standard Indiana Jones “Rescue this precious mystical long-lost artifact!” setup, but the ways in which you interact with the story are truly impressive. The term “Interactive movie” is now a long cliched concept, but Uncharted 2 fulfills that prophecy better than any game before it.

Now, before I go too far into hyperbolic praise, I will say that Uncharted 2 is not perfect. My complaints with the game are mostly minor, and you could probably call them nit-picky if you wanted to. For one, the voice cast is nearly perfect throughout the game, which makes the character of Elena Fisher, one of Drake’s love interests, that much worse in comparison. She never felt like she was emoting enough to me, and in the scenes she shared with Chloe, your other love interest, her lack of emotion and chemistry with Drake was all the more apparent. Also, during some of the platforming sequences, it’s not always apparent where you’re supposed to go next. You’ll occasionally find yourself wandering around trying to find the next thing to do, waiting for a helpful hint to pop up and tell you where to go next. Again, these are negligible complaints in the long run, and when compared to all the things the game succeeds at, they might as well not be there.

I’m still wrestling with the notion of what will be my Game of the Year, but there is one thing that I can say with some confidence: Uncharted 2 is a must-have for anyone who owns a PS3. Even if you don’t have a PS3, this should be one of those games that will sell you a PS3 (as it was for me). It’s a game experience unlike anything I’ve ever seen, and certainly one of the most compelling games I’ve played in years.

9.5/10