The beta for Uncharted 3 went live since June 28th. Since that time, Naughty Dog has already made a few changes to the beta to improve its gameplay. Now that Naughty Dog has made the beta public, a lot more gamers can experience what is in store come this November.
Thankfully, I can report that I have yet to have any issues while connecting and playing the Uncharted 3 beta. When the beta first went live, the servers were overloaded with eager gamers that a lot of them had errors while connecting. It appears as if Naughty Dog has already fixed the problems as I’ve had smooth gameplay experiences all the time.
It seems like everyday you log into the beta, a new gameplay mode is introduced. When the beta went live over a week ago, only a few game modes were present. They were the default Team Deathmatch, Free for All and a Co-Op mode that allowed you to go against waves of enemy A.I.
From then on, a few new gameplay modes were introduced to the beta to keep things exciting and to test out if they are playable or not. There’s a new mode called “Punder” which is kind of like an Uncharted version of “Capture the Flag”. This is where you have to transport the treasure back to your base to score. It’s not the most unique game mode I’ve seen but it’s a nice change of pace from solely shooting people all the time…
When I first logged into the beta a few days ago, I was disappointed there was no splitscreen co-op mode. Call of Duty: Black Ops had this feature and it’s something I thought a game like Uncharted 3 would have. It appears as if Naughty Dog has listened to the feedback and I can now play the multiplayer beta alongside my brother. A new patch was added recently so a buddy from home can help you kill enemies online. This was my favourite part of the beta as my brother is a much better Uncharted player than I am.
The beta itself is great to play as each week, Naughty Dog changes it a little to test out other game modes. I was disappointed to see “Free for All” removed this week but it’ll be back I’m sure. It’s just a temporary absence and I’m looking forward to how many game modes are included in the real game.
There’s even a cinema mode added so you can view your progress and see how you played. This mode is helpful if you want to improve on the game and beat those real hardcore players. I know I used it quite a few times since it’s been a while since I played Uncharted 2.
In terms of controls and mechanics, the game plays exactly the way Uncharted 2 does. Not that this is a bad thing, but I hoped melee attacks would have been improved. When playing against the A.I. you could do perform some cool punches and other lethal attacks. Playing against other players isn’t so fun as you can only perform an elbow attack. This elbow attack doesn’t connect as well as punches and veteran players can avoid it quite easily. Hopefully, this is something Naughty Dog can fix when the full game is released this November.
At time of writing, there were only two levels available to play. They are the “Chateau” and “Airstrip”. The “Chateau” is a level set in an old temple surrounded by some nice greenery. The level design is diverse as players can climb the side of buildings and pretty much camp out on high locations. The “Airstrip” is a level that is set on an army base and there are a lot of hiding places in that level too.
In terms of weaponry, there are a lot of weapons that players can use. There are your standard pistols and assault rifles but you can also use sniper-rifles and grenade launchers too. Beginners better beware as a lot of players love using the grenade launcher! The first time I played the beta I died many times from grenade launcher explosions.
If there’s something Naughty Dog can fix when the full game is released is an online filter. Since this is a beta it seems like novices will have to go toe-to-toe with veteran Uncharted players. Hopefully Naughty Dog can implement a feature so players of similar skill levels can play each other.
All in all, the Uncharted 3 beta shows that it could be a very fun multiplayer experience come this November. It’s takes everything that was fun about Uncharted 2’s multiplayer and improves on it. The addition of splitscreen multiplayer is my personal favorite feature of the game. I’m sure looking forward to what the full game will be like when Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception is released November 1st.
Frank
July 9, 2011 at 6:35 AMGreat article. I that novices playing against experts is really tough. They have these amazing weapons and it makes it really hard to get kills. The Melee attacks I found pretty fun. Much better than COD or Battlefield. The only real issue is it takes a lot of rounds pumped into the enemy to kill him if you don’t have a souped up weapon.