18 Action Video Games You Must Play Before You Die

3. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

You must experience: The train level. It's strange to think, but the original Uncharted - although it resonated pretty heavily with gamers - didn't take off commercially, instead as Naughty Dog themselves note in their 30th Anniversary book, it was the first game following the success of Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter that didn't seem to have the same connection with their fanbase. All that changed in Among Thieves, as this is when the powerhouse writing team of Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley started putting more heart behind the script to match up to the spectacles on show, and even though the entire game is remarkably solid (aside from some weird ancient blue chaps at the end), it's the mid-point train scene that showcases everything this team do better than the rest. From Drake's running commentary on everything he's doing to the slowly escalating bunch of set-pieces that roll out in front of you - and the fact that the entire thing plays out in real time - Naughty Dog coded the stretch of land the train thunders across in full. That means every bump and sensation of movement is modelled through their physics model - making for a fantastic moment where you realise you're playing a section almost all other game developers would include as a quick-time event.