The environments are just as impressive. The jungle levels are filled with bright and colorful lush vegetation. Thankfully bloom lighting isn’t overused here (unless you turn on the “next gen” filter cheat) Light is realistically cast through the tree canopy. The abandoned fortresses have incredibly complex architecture with top notch texture work; it’s clear a lot of thought went into the level design. When you’re underground you’ll witness the very impress fire and lighting effects. Nothing is left untouched, there are some graphical glitches present but these are true next generation visuals for your eyes. If you have an HDTV Uncharted looks gorgeous at 720p.

What would all the visuals be without an accompanying kick ass soundtrack? The voice acting is top notch, nothing is over the top. There is tons of comedy thrown in here to mix it up. You’ll be angered and saddened thanks to the games’ plot twists. It’s easy to get attached to these characters and hate the bad guys.  The voice actors fit each character perfectly. Sully sounds like a cynical old. Elena is a witty young woman with a vibrant look at life. Nathan is just a regular Joe, he’s no superhero and he shows it. Nathan’s antagonist “friend” Eddie has some very memorable lines throughout the game. It’s unfortunate we didn’t get a more in depth look at their history. 

Each weapon has its own distinct accompany sound. When a grenade blows up you know it, because stuff hanging on your wall fell due to the insane bass. If something blows up near, you’ll be deaf for a few seconds. Walking, crawling, and climbing over sounds like the real thing. When running on wood you’ll hear the creaking in the panels and so on. It doesn’t seem that impressive but it adds greatly to the immersion factor. When you’re ready to mix it up with the enemies you’ll know it as the games awesome soundtrack kicks in. Orchestral themes, jungle beats, Uncharted has it all. The tone is conveyed perfectly through the soundtrack. If you have a surround sound setup then turn the volume up! Uncharted has a booming DTS 5.1 soundtrack and makes great use of all your speakers, especially your woofer!

It’s pretty clear that I love this game. Naughty Dog has gone the extra mile and it clearly shows.  The level of polish is astounding. The game is over a little too quickly at around 8 – 10 hours depending on difficulty. But with an in game achievement system with some great unlockables, it is definitely worth to give it a go a second or third time.  The series is bound for greatness and will receive sequels. If you own a PS3 then you must play Uncharted: Drakes Fortune.