Every now and then footage for a video game will come online that will simply make my jaw drop. Naughty Dog has done that for me with the first single player clip for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. When the original PlayStation 3 exclusive game was released in 2007, many people, including myself, hailed it as the first must own title for PS3.

Thanks to Gametrailers, we finally get to see actual gameplay for the single-player mode. Sure the marvelous clip only lasts for 1:17, but that’s all the time PS3 owners will need to decided that they will purchase the game. Honesty, that is all the time non-PS3 owners will need to make up their mind to buy Sony’s console.

Just like the first game, the visuals are incredible. When it comes to the graphics, most games try to excel with textures. While Uncharted 2 surfaces indeed look stunning — that isn’t the sole reason why it looks so beautiful. Naughty Dog goes way beyond that, they almost tell a story with every little detail shown on the screen. For instance, when you first watch the clip, check out the bricks on the right side of Drake while he is hiding. Just having the blocks sitting there gives us a quick background about the city around him and its not safe area, and Drake is in the heart of it.

However, even though Naughty Dog is a master of the visual arts, that isn’t their only skill. If I would choose one thing I feel the studio is second to none better than anyone else, it would have to be their animations. It is not only because of how fluent they are either, it’s more than that. In the same part where we saw the bricks, watch Drake. When he isn’t being controlled by the player, he is always moving. Sure, it is just a little thing like breathing, but that gives me the impression that Drake is living and not just some computer animation waiting for me to move it.

One small animation/effect that sticks in my mind more than anything else, is something most people might miss. When Drake is hiding from his foes, who are walking in front of him, you’ll hear bullets. As soon as they whistle by, the reaction of Drake is just awesome. He does a quick flinch, like it was totally unexpected. In essence, little things like that make me feel like Drake is acting and is not just some other video game character trapped in a boring and expecting world.