Heading into Uncharted 3, developer Naughty Dog had a gargantuan hill to climb.  Their previous entry in the series not only brought the Uncharted series into the world of modern gaming royalty, but legitimately reinvented the action game.  This time around, everything had to be bigger and better than ever before, and I found myself questioning wether or not it was even possible for a game to be more action packed than Uncharted 2 was.  Had Naughty Dog built up expectations to a point where there was no way they could be reached?  Would Uncharted 3 move the series forward or was it impossible for lightning to strike twice?

Uncharted 3 throws us right back into the misadventures of treasure hunter Nathan Drake and his partner/mentor Victory Sullivan (aka Sully) in their quest to find the next great treasure.  This time around, a figure from the past come forward in the form of Katherine Marlowe, a more distinguished villaness for than the Uncharted series is used to, but no less cuthroat than the others.  I won't spoil the plot details, but the fact that there is a strong personal bond between the heroes and the villain this time around make for a very compelling plot, one that drives the player forward much moreso than that of the previous two entries.  Nate's continual effort to push onward throughout the game truly feels driven by his emotions and his desire to deny Marlowe her goals.

Fantastic motion-capture and vocal perfomances by the game's main cast of course help bring the game to life, but Uncharted 3's attention to detail is really what makes it thrive.  Animations are fluid, game environments are vast and intricately detailed, and yet rarely does one ever get lost.  I also love that Uncharted 3's level designs have the kind of diversity that one would expect from a Mario game.  Each of the games environments is painstakingly crafted to create the absolute most immersive experience that could be offered.  I cannot think of another game other than perhaps God of War 3 that has a scale as large and yet remains so infinitely detailed.  The characters themselves are also expertly crafted - you can really see each small eye movement as one enters a brand new area to explore or each thread Nate's garb move according to the wind.  Fire and water, known as two of the hardest things to deal with when creating a video game, are central to some of the game's moments, and do not take the player out of the moment at all.  I've played games that I have loved that have been slightly tarnished by poor visual effects design, but there is not a game on the market right now, at least on consoles, that has the consistant visual excellence and diversity of Uncharted 3, and that alone makes the game one of the greats of this generation.

Of course, what everyone came to the party for was the gameplay, and I can assure you readers that the gameplay in Uncharted 3 is better than ever.  It's shooting mechanics remain similar to those of the previous games in the series, and there really isn't a problem with that.  It is the absolutely non stop, insane platforming that really defines the Uncharted series, and this third entry doesn't dissapoint.  The climax of the game's 7th chapter, for example, is an amazingly action packed race for your life, the kind of action that completely eclipses the climax of most other video games.  Death is right at your heels the entire time, and a single slip up is all it takes for it to catch up, yet the player knows exactly what to do.  It is one of those high pressure, high risk platforming moments that Uncharted seems to have mastered, and that all other games in the genre now have to look to as par for the course.  However, Uncharted 3 attempts to throw a bit of stealth into the game every now and then, and it's a nice change of pace to go from running for your life in one level to suddenly becoming the apex predator in the next.  You do not have to be stealthy in these sections, but it feels incredibly satisfying to eliminate everyone in quite a large area in complete silence.

Everything about Uncharted 3 is an attempt at perfection.  Naughty Dog set out to create the most polished, the most atmospheric, and the most action packed entry in the series, and in these respects they have absolutely succeeded.  The level design is absolutely brilliant, gameplay is better tuned than ever, and yet I find myself more focused on the characters themselves.  My theory is that Naughty Dog knew that they could succeed in their level design and platforming - heck, they proved it with Uncharted 2, so the only thing to do was to go bigger and better.  This time, the area of the game that seems to have had the most evolution is it's plot.  While each of the three Uncharted games could stand on its own as an individual story, the sense of history and emotion behind Nate's actions this time around gives the game an interesting feel.  Moreso than ever, you want Nate to succeed.  You want to solve this puzzle and help him move forward.  You want to know what will happen next to our characters in a way neither of this entry's predicessors could.

It is nearly impossible at this point to not compare the Uncharted trillogy to that of Indiana Jones, but really, that isn't so bad of a thing.  Beyond crafting one of the most complete gaming experiences of my life, Naughty Dog has created a core cast of characters that will stay in my memory for years to come.  Is Uncharted 3 a perfect game?  No, as there is no such thing, but Nathan Drake is not going to be giving up his crown in the action adventure genre for some time to come.  It will be very interesting to see how the new Tomb Raider reboot answers this game, because to be brutally honest, I just don't think anyone can top the Uncharted series on its own turf right now.  Uncharted 3 is, in a word, a masterpiece, and a game that I believe every PS3 owner absolutely must have in their library.  It's that good.