Unfortunately, Drake is not the only one chasing the fabled stone. A private Russian army, headed by a Bond-style villain, are always around to disrupt his progress. Sometimes pursuing Drake, other times waiting to ambush him. And as if our hero did not have enough to contend with, two old flames are also contesting for control of Drake's heart; to say nothing of a betrayal by an old friend. It’s a lot for one man to cope with, but fortunately, our hero is up to the task.

Drake is not your average game hero. But that is precisely because he is an average hero. No bald, muscle-bound, monosyllabic super-soldier here. Instead we have a man from a bygone era. Though he may still perform incredible feats, the fact that he looks, acts and crucially talks like a normal person is what makes him ‘real’ and endears him so. Essentially, he is a modern-day Indiana Jones and, as in the original movies, he is prone to one-liners, getting mixed up with dangerous women and taking a beating or two. These in turn make the character more likeable, giving him a human side that is almost completely absent from most modern videogames.

The highly regarded, though somewhat unspectacular, original was played out in a single jungle setting. Here, however, we are treated to many gorgeously rendered, exotic locales. Our adventure includes travels to Nepal, The Himalayas and Istanbul. There are hidden caves, lost cities and run-away trains to contend with. And like other intrepid adventurers, Nathan Drake always manages to maintain his cool with a dry sense of humour. Dialogue and acting are funny in an intelligent and understated way. The developer knows what we know: Nathan still needs the requisite attributes of any such hero and is therefore pretty much indestructible.

After an incredibly atmospheric opening sequence, most levels stick to a set formula: Nathan usually begins by traversing a narrow rooftop or mountaintop pathway before eventually descending to fight the enemies below. A stealthy approach is initially required before your whereabouts are discovered. Once this happens, a familiar arena-style combat session ensues until all the enemies have been despatched and you can move on. For the most part, the combat works very well. There are a large number of weapons at your disposal: everything from AK47s to grenades, RPGs and even crossbows can be found. Utilisation of cover is essential for survival and any attempt at a full blown, head-on assault normally ends in failure. The enemies are not particularly tough to take down, but attack in large numbers.

There are an abundance of cut-scenes throughout and, although for the most part they are not the passive, boring kind that have to be endured in many action-adventures, they do still sometimes spoil the flow of the game. They also occasionally show terrific-looking moments that only make the player wish that they had been involved directly. However, character and plot development is subtle and well played, and draws the player into the game rather than making cut-scenes a big turn-off. Drake’s accomplices are not just there to appear in cut-scenes, either, and on many levels he has one of them in tow. Thankfully they tend to be far more useful than most NPCs and can usually be pretty handy in a fire-fight. They also serve to contribute a lot of the dialogue along the way and it’s a welcome change from the eerie silence of the traditional, lone hero.

The graphics are truly jaw-dropping and arguably the best yet seen on the PS3. All the locations are rendered in stunning detail and not since Assassin’s Creed has a game inspired you simply to stop and stare at the gorgeous vistas on offer, which Uncharted 2 has in abundance. If this was its only selling point, it would still be a rare achievement. Fortunately, there is a solid game underneath the shimmering graphics. The game-play is always well suited to the environments and rarely does it make a false step. It even throws in a ubiquitous car-chase without making it feel tacked on and a real sense of confidence on the part of the developer is in evidence throughout proceedings.

For the most part, Uncharted 2 sticks to being an action game. There are some puzzles along the way, but these are mostly straightforward and rarely need any head scratching. It’s only in the later levels that the game appears to change tack somewhat and a larger number of more difficult puzzles suddenly begin to spring-up. It’s slightly out of step with the rest of the game and can be a little annoying. There are other annoyances, too. Some sequences want the player to act in a specific way and should you choose the one the developer didn't intend, it’s often possible to die quickly and without much explanation. At other times you must climb from point A to point B and the game doesn't often give you a choice on the route. You may actually find yourself wandering around confused about how to make the next move, even though you can see where to go. Wander around too long and the game will offer hints. But these are not always helpful and given the supposed Hollywood-style flow in the action, such incidents seem at odds with the game's core philosophy.

The game plays as you might expect any Tomb Raider clone to play. There are walls to be climbed, treasures to be discovered, traps to avoid and bad guys to be killed. But Uncharted 2 manages to tick all these boxes with such aplomb and carries itself with such finesse that it rarely feels like a simple clone. Because the game is a sequel, we can presume that Naughty Dog simply tried to improve every aspect of the original game. A feat it manages to easily achieve. But it also seems clear that the developers have consciously copied the best elements from as many other great games as possible and then selected the best bits for inclusion. It manages to seamlessly blend elements of Tomb Raider, Resident Evil 4, Prince of Persia, Metal Gear Solid and Assassins Creed without ever feeling like it's ripping these other games off.

It's not just a single-player experience. There is a fully fledged, online multiplayer component included, too, featuring competitive and co-op game modes. Competitive modes see up to 10 players forming teams of five across seven maps and various game modes, including death-match, Plunder (similar to capture the flag), Elimination (non-re-spawning death-match) and Chain Reaction (capture the flag, but with flags needing to be taken in a set order). Co-op features levels from the game with a specific goal in each. This normally consists of reaching a treasure by fighting your way through swarms of bad-guys. The multiplayer modes are fun and add a welcome longevity to the game’s single-player scenario.

And yet, for all its confidence and polish the game does have one major problem: a lack of new ideas. The developers have played it safe to some degree and because of this Uncharted 2 doesn’t feel like it has an identity of its own. Even the very best games have their faults and idiosyncrasies, but it’s these elements that ultimately make a great game, simply because they play like no other. Although there are some good set pieces, including a terrific level set on a train and a number of entertaining boss encounters, such moments are not in abundance. Uncharted 2, at its core, plays exactly like many other games. It simply does so with a lot more skill than most developers can manage, but without ever attempting anything out of the ordinary. A lack of ambition that unfortunately prevents it from being the masterpiece it could have been.