The Uncharted 3 BETA ended yesterday, and I played it nearly every day it was available, reaching level 33 by the end. Being an avid fan of Uncharted 2 multiplayer, I felt right at home as soon as I booted up the beta. Uncharted multiplayer is definitely one of my favorite multiplayer games of all time thanks to the interesting vertical maps, solid gunplay, on the dime controls, and intimate nature of the game.
Uncharted 3 borrows some familiar elements from the Call of Duty series, notably the weapon loadouts and perk system, but brings more than enough additions on its own.
Think of it as a more polished Uncharted 2 multiplayer experience, with the best Call of Duty elements injected into it, all topped off with some new design ideas never seen before.
Below, I'll give some thoughts regarding the BETA:
LIKED:
- Loadout Selection. Suiting every player, the starting loadout is broken into 4 weapons - the AK-47 for the head on assault player, G-Mal for the cautious optimistic, the Sniper Rifle for the lone wolf, and the M9 for erm... a more in your face player. This means that no matter what style you prefer, you'll be sure to find it, which is nice because right off the bat, you can enjoy the game, playing using your own style.
- Health Ratio. The amount of health that players have felt just right. In Uncharted 2, Naughty Dog was a bit notorious for curbing the player health really low in a patch, changing the way how the game played. Now, players have more health meaning that you can actually survive if someone got the drop on you, and ultimately bounce back and win the firefight. In a game that focuses so much on traversal and navigation of the map, this is a good change. This is not to say that flanking lost its effectiveness - if you flank someone and engage them in combat, you definitely have the advantage, which I feel is how it should be.
- Dynamic Level Events. These are back from UC2, and better than ever. The Airfield stage has 2 dynamic events - planes that occasionally strafe the ground and gun down anyone unlucky enough to be outside, and an explosion of a room at the top of a map.
I'm hoping that these get expanded on, and there will be maps with a dynamic events that unleash enemy AI onto the field, targeting both teams. That should make up for some interesting gameplay. UC2 did this with a tank that showed up midway through a game that attacked any player nearby, but I hope there will be something more deadly in Uncharted 3.
- New Game Modes. The 3-team deathmatch mode, or as I like to call it the 2v2v2 is the most fun I've had with a buddy in any multiplayer, period. This mode promotes teamwork, and intense co-operation as there are 3 teams battling against each other.
Free For All is also a nice addition that was sorely missing from UC2. It's a shame that you can't start a Free For All with people in your party for fear of people abusing it to get medals and quickly level up. You can still play against your friends in private games that don't level you up however.
- Buddy System. My favorite innovation that Uncharted 3 brings, having a buddy means that you can spawn on him, and perform a super cool high five move when you both take down an enemy for a special medal. After playing with a buddy, I can't go back to not playing with one, as the experience is a bit duller. Plus, you and your buddy can always spectate each other while waiting for a respawn, commenting on anything interesting... or making fun of your skills.
- Hit Detection. Greatly improved from UC2, hitting an enemy player feels much better and you can immediately tell what body part you're hitting.
- Powerplays. A great way to balance out the score, these give the losing team a chance to bounce back by stacking the odds slightly in their favor (more points if they eliminate a specific target for example).
- Treasure Collection. Random treasure drops from a downed enemy give the player a chance at expanding their character customization collection. This is a great meta game, because as soon as this is on the field, you forget about the enemy players and make a beeline for the treasure.
Interestingly enough, this acts as anti-camping deterrent, enticing snipers to not camp in one spot all the time. For example, you just sniped an enemy on the other side of the map and they dropped a treasure. Most people would go and pick up this dangling carrot, leaving the position.
- Uncharted TV. Finally, a next gen news feature in a game. There's so many uses for this thing from highlights of the week, tutorials and tips, match breakdowns, etc. This little video box you see upon the launch of multiplayer can be amazing if used right.DISLIKED:
- Lack of Weapon Loadout confirmation. Not having a weapon confirmation button in the loadout menu was a huge pain. During match downtimes, I like to look at everything, including boosters and guns, and because of the way gun selection currently works, I got stuck with a weapon I was only checking out.
For example, I have an AK-47 equipped, but am waiting for a match to start. I then go look at the Sniper Rifle and its modifications. When I'm done, I press [circle] to go back, and now suddenly, I have the Sniper Rifle equipped! Annoying!
There needs to be a weapon confirm button so that this situation doesn't happen.
- Spawn on Buddy during Combat. Players aren't supposed to be able to spawn on their buddies when they're in combat. However, I did this lots of times to the dismay of my enemies. The game check needs to be updated, as I just spammed the [triangle] button until one of my presses went through.
This is particularly the worst in 3-team deathmatch, with the person you just killed spawning behind their buddy 5 seconds later, and breaking the flow of the match.
- Overpowered AK-47 Hipfire. During the beta, Naughty Dog put out a patch that weakened the Micro SMG damage as players were abusing it by running around in circles around enemies instead of relying on melee. The AK-47 however remains really overpowered when used in hipfire. A common strategy is to charge an enemy while hipfiring your AK and then melee them once for the kill.
- M9 is too Weak. Unlocked at level 17, the M9 is really no better than the AK when upgraded with the firing rate. It's supposed to be a more advanced weapon, but it sure doesn't seem like it.
- Pistol is too Weak. In UC2, the starting pistol sidearm is a viable strategy. In Uncharted 3, it's too weak to pose a threat to enemies. I like having options and not just relying on the pistol when my main gun ammo runs out, so I hope it gets a nice boost in either firing speed or damage per bullet.
Other thoughts:
- Medals for doing everything now makes you feel empowered, similar to Call of Duty and more so than in UC2.
- Kickbacks are fun, and seem to be balanced pretty well. These shouldn't stack.
- Emblems are a neat and cool idea to highlight a player.
