Uncharted 2 has one of the greatest opening chapters (if not the best one full stop) in gaming history, as players are reintroduced to a wounded Drake as he clings to the remnants of a crashed train carriage that is hanging off of the edge of a cliff, soon to fall victim to gravity. Players have no idea how he got there, but are thrust into the action as they are made to climb up and through the ruined train to safety, hungry to discover more about the surroundings and circumstances in which their protagonist finds himself in. This 'in medias res' prologue sets the stakes high for the rest of the game, and maintains them by throwing epic set-pieces at the player one after the other. The most enjoyable of these is when said prologue comes full circle, as Drake is tasked with fighting his way along a train that is moving along forty miles of in-game track before ultimately causing the wreckage. In a 2010 interview, Naughty Dog's co-lead designer Richard Lemarchand described the level as the 'holy grail' of action games. He wasn't wrong, as it sits firmly atop the list of greatest Uncharted moments. Here's hoping that A Thief's End adds many, many more as the series that defined the Playstation 3 goes out with a bang.
