Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is a better game than Uncharted: Drake's Revenge. Duh, right? It should be better, since it's the sequel. What you don't actually grasp until you play it, though, is that by "better," I mean, "this game completely outdoes everything its already amazing predecessor did right."

• Multiplayer: Uncharted 2 actually has online multiplayer gameplay that perfectly recreates the single-player combat, while offering both standard options, and unique ones (you can make your own machinima films within the game, for instance).

• Gameplay: Uncharted 2's gunplay is a perfect blend between running, jumping, and shooting, and you're never forced to use a stupid motion control gimmick to toss grenades or traverse a log.

• Puzzles: The puzzles are just damn clever and, while intuitive, will actively force you to think about what you're doing.

• Graphics: No series has ever rendered wet clothing better than Uncharted, and while the overall game isn't quite as stunning as Metal Gear Solid 4, it's in the top handful of prettiest games of all time.

• Story: Imagine the best Indiana Jones film, replace Harrison Ford with the love child of Nathan Fillion and Douglas Fairbanks, and hire some burly security folk to keep Shia LaBeouf and his nuclear fridge the hell away from the thing.

I could complain that the game's narrative almost derails toward the end thanks to some "unrealistic" supernatural enemies, but that's so minor that it's almost unmentionable. After 15 hours in Uncharted 2's world, my only real gripe is that the game eventually ends. Everything about Uncharted 2 will leave you wanting more. It may lack the name recognition of Metal Gear Solid 4 or the whimsy of LittleBigPlanet, but if Sony wants to indelibly tie a single series to its console, it should be this one.