Holy crap is this game pretty!
Is probably the first thing you'll notice when firing this ps3 exclusive up it is visually stunning with realtime in engine cut sequences that at points are almost indistinguishable from CGI. In game the visuals are no less stunning with some really wonderful scenes from lush tropical jungle to urban environments to snowy wastelands.
Uncharted series is basically modern day Indiana Jones with Nathan "Nate" Drake in the fedora. He has also learnt a few tricks by way of Lara Croft so can navigate complex environments with acrobatic ease. The original Uncharted Drakes fortune was about searching down treasure left by Francis Drake with Nate being Drakes great^n grand son it was something of a breath of fresh air back then as there was precious little worth playing on the PS3 at the time with most launch titles being crap and over hyped. It was fun to play and very pretty. With this sequel they have more to live up to and right out of the gate you can see they've spare no effort to make the game look wonderful.
But of course pretty isn't everything how does it play. It's the same rough formula as the original uncharted some puzzle solving some platforming some gun play. It's all a bit tighter and a bit smoother the melee combat seems to have been given some upgrades to make it a bit more involving the shooting moving from cover to cover is fluid and fun. The stealth elements are good making use of the cover system and melee to allow you to sneak about unnoticed and take out guards silently. Additions like the riot shield that allows you to shoot from mobile cover are wonderful. Enemy AI is pretty competent trying to flank you and flush you out of hiding with grenades.
The story this time revolves around marco polo and a lost fleet of ships. Told in flashback a story of betrayal greed vengeance and adventure is played out with Nathan Drake his old buddy Sully and Elena fisher from the first game as well as new characters Harry Flynn and an old flame of Nathan's Chloe Frazer (voiced by Claudia Black from farscape who seems to be doing a lot of voice acting work these days). It's well executed and the quality of the visuals and animation make it more engrossing and the voice acting is top notch.
In Uncharted 2 they've take what was already a pretty good game in Uncharted and polished it to a high mirror shine (literally check out the water reflections) it looks amazing. It's full of nice little graphical touches the depth of field effect the way the character model's clothes get wet but only up to the level of immersion, the footprints in snow, and countless other little details that make it really pop on screen. The gameplay is solid with a good mix of platform puzzle solving action run and gun and well executed stealth makes for a constantly changing mix. The set pieces are wonderful in there execution the initial scene with the italian job style train perched on the edge of a cliff is wonderful and it just builds from there. The story is engrossing and drives the game forward. It's a great title and I think it should be part of every PS3 owners collection a truly excellent title. It also has multiplayer but who cares it's a console game.