Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is one the most highly anticipated games for 2009. It came as a bit of a surprise when we learned Uncharted 2 will have online multiplayer modes and couldn’t wait to try it out.
For the past several days we’ve been shooting, jumping and dying our way through the multiplayer beta and thought it would be nice to share some of our thoughts about it. The good news is we are very impressed so far with what’s being offered, the bad news is we have to wait to play the full version.
The Uncharted 2 beta comes with three game types. First is the standard Team Deathmatch between the heroes and villains. There are four different characters to play as from both sides and they all carry the same abilities. The goal of Team Deathmatch is to reach 50 kills before time runs out. The matches don’t last too long as the kill total from four human players adds up pretty quickly.
Each kill rewards the player with money that acts as experience points. We can’t do anything with these points nor do they provide anything more than adding on to your rank at the moment. In the final build these experience points will probably go towards earning more boosters.
The second competitive mode is a variation of Capture the Flag called Plunder. Once again four heroes and villains face off in order to retrieve a golden idol and return it to their bases. The idol is pretty heavy so anyone who picks it up will move a little slower and is limited to only using their sidearm for defense. One strategy we’ve seem used involves hurling the idol through the air so other teammates can come closer to capturing it. This mode really does require actual teamwork or the match will end very quickly.
The third mode is cooperative and needs three players to start. In this mode Drake, Sullivan and a new character Chloe need to reach a treasure located on the far end of the level. The enemy that your encounter is controlled by the computer and plays like a mission right out of the single player game. The enemies spawn in the same areas every time so it can become repetitive after playing a few times. There are scripted moments where the characters must help each other by moving debris or boosting each other up to progress. Like any mode in Uncharted 2, damage to your character is shown by the screen progressively turning black and white. Downed characters can be revived by a teammate before the red circular meter surrounding their bodies runs out. If they are not revived in time they will stay in spectator mode until all the enemy waves in that area have been eliminated.
Cooperative mode also introduces new enemy type that wears a mask similar to the guys in Army of Two. He wields a very powerful shotgun and can take a massive amount of damage before dying. It’s our hope that there will be several mission types just like this because it’s so much fun. However, it’s strange that you cannot complete this cooperative level. You get so far and suddenly it’s all over.
One final aspect of cooperative mode that we liked was the lack of a map on screen. This encourages players to watch each others back and keep the communication going. Naughty Dog could make the map optional just to please everyone.
As for weapons, Uncharted 2 has a few to choose from including the standard AK-47 assault rifle, the M4, Dragunov sniper rifle, grenade launcher, FAL rifle, Uzi, minigun and grenades. By default everyone starts with the AK-47, a handgun and one grenade. The AK-47 becomes inaccurate after the first few shots and is best used in short bursts. The M4 is vastly superior by providing steady accuracy but it’s also a bit tough to find. Uncharted 2‘s grenades produces a mixed bag of feelings. On one hand it’s fairly easy to blow someone up with little effort while on the other hand, the grenades explode very quickly and has a large blast radius. It’s almost impossible to escape from a thrown grenade and it becomes frustrating to keep dying from one. Naughty Dog also has to work out a problem with spawn campers and the ability for the enemy to sometimes have a direct line of sight into your base from far away.
So far there are only a couple maps to play on called Village and Plaza. One looks like a war torn city and the other takes place in a rainy, more wooden environment. They both supply a number of vertical positions to choose from and aren’t too large for their own good.
All in all we are impressed with this beta. We can’t wait to see what the final product is going to look like.
Site [Uncharted 2: Among Thieves]
This is one of the few games with canned footage that looked truly impressive. Collapsible buildings, shooting at helicopters and multiplayer to boot. Better yet, it all looked amazing in action.