Reasons why Uncharted 2 has the best single player

1. Old love interest Chloe to shake things up.
2. The game in general replaces the jungle, which shows a passing appearance as a staple of the entire series, with an 'urban jungle' of ruined skyscrapers, trains, planes (helicopter) and automobiles (yet the river crossing puzzle feels like a touching reminder of Drake's Fortune). No manoeuvrable vehicles yet the whole game kind of feels like a rollercoaster with peaks and only small troughs , in which anything mechanical , animal, or supernatural could circle and attack you .
3. The walk through the Tibetan village felt fresh (even through one of the downsides of UC2 is that you can spot when you're likely to backtrack through enemies).
4. The main villain is fully scary and hard to defeat without being Drake's Fortune zombie overkill.
5. It plays around with entertainment metaphors as in it literally has a 'cliffhanger opening' rather than a cliffhanger ending.
6. It's closing chapters were fresh when it did it, whereas Uncharted 3 just appeared to hope to do the same.
7. Very touching romantic ending, best of series.
8. Gunfights are rationed well and naturally balanced throughout , rather than feeling too much in DF, too difficulty spiked in UC3 and, largely, too arena based in UC4 (UC4 has the most perfect, enjoyable, multiplayer of any videogame to me though).
9. Detailed realism throughout. I do love UC4's Drake's Fortune version 4.0 kind of hyperreal cartoony style , particularly in multiplayer, but UC2's graphics were perfect for its gritty urban-ish adventure style.
10. The tank is used to devastating effect in UC2, chasing you around.
Finally, it only took 18 months to make UC2 which is amazing and might explain its lean mean sense of propulsion both as a story and in level design. Although not enough Sully and some may feel UC2's huge puzzle areas just come across as variations on Resident Evil 4's lumbering stone statue - an excuse for some platforming.