The old saying goes that it always best to start at the beginning, and this certainly rings true for one of the PlayStation 3’s finest franchises. After discovering a coffin in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, treasure hunter Nathan Drake and journalist Elena Fisher discover a diary that belongs to the famous explorer Sir Francis Drake, who Nate claims is his ancestor, despite Elena claiming that there was no historical record of any children. Their jibes are cut short when a group of pirates start to attack them. This scene allows us to see the fearless nature of our hero, and the sassy attitude that comes from a woman that he will eventually grow to love.

This scene is probably the biggest turning point in the whole of Uncharted 2.  After running through the streets of Nepal, a war criminal named Zoran Lazarevic corners Nate, Elena, Chloe Sullivan and Elena’s cameraman Jeff. After being reminded what is at stake by fellow treasure hunter Harry Flynn, Chloe betrays the heroes by defecting from Nate’s group. What makes this scene even more tragic is that Lazarevic murders the already injured Jeff in cold blood, after you have tried so hard to ensure his survival in the previous levels, and Elena’s grief for her clumsy yet dependable colleague is clear when she collapses over his corpse, which luckily provides the means for their escape.

Every great adventure film needs a convincing villain, and Uncharted 3 has the ruthless Katherine Marlowe. The scene in which she first appears shows that she is a rich and powerful woman, and even though she does not like to go out in the rain without her umbrella, she will do anything to find what she desires, intimidating anyone who gets in her way. At this point in the story, we do not know why Nate and Sully are in the sights of Marlowe, but after stealing Nate’s family heirloom and asking her thugs to kill them, our desire to see more of the character’s motivations is cemented by this opening section, and by the flashback that immediately follows it.

After escaping the ruins of Shambhala, we are lead to believe that only Nate and Chloe survived the journey back to the Tibetan village. Chloe admits that although she loves him, Nate’s heart belongs to Elena which he does not deny. Just as Chloe turns to leave, our sadness is turned to joy as our favourite reporter appears with Sully, albeit on crutches. This joy turns to laughter as Nate and Elena joke about how scared he was that she wouldn’t survive, and the reveal of a character flaw in the somewhat unshakeable Nathan Drake only adds to the magic of this sequence.

A common trend that flows through the Uncharted series is that the supernatural myths that have been believed for years are often proved to nothing more than superstition. After drinking water from a fountain, Nate begins to see evil spirits that attack him, and believes that he sees Sully killed before his eyes. When Sully is proved to be alive, the two men realise that there is a powerful substance in the water, and not a genie in a bottle, as referenced by the legends of the city. The bond between Nate and Sully when they reunite is crystal clear, and the emotional range delivered by each character truly shows how three-dimensional they can be, given the right motivation.

Do you have a favourite moment in the Uncharted series? Let us know what you would include in the comments below.