Uncharted 2 Beta Impressions
I was thrilled when I got my multi-player beta code for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. “Finally,” I said to myself, “A chance to get a glimpse at the sequel of my favorite PS3 game to date.” After several hours of playing, I can happily say that the multi-player portion of Uncharted 2, is a fun, solid addition to what was (admittedly) a pretty shallow experience.
The beta contains both aspects of U2's multi-player, competitive play, and co-operative play, both of which contain all the features you loved from the first game. Both are tied together with persistent leveling, and both look to offer hours of replay value to the game.
Competitive play pits two teams of 5 (heroes vs villains) against each other, and the beta contains two of the game modes that will be in the full game. The first game mode is just a standard team death match where the first team to get 25 kills wins. The second game mode, is plunder mode, a search and retrieve style of play, where a golden idol randomly spawns on the map, and the teams fight over it, and try to get it back to their base. It isn't that simple though, as the idol weighs your character down to almost a walking place, so having your team protecting you is vital. Or you can just launch the idol and run after it, hoping you don't throw it to a member of the opposite team.
Both modes are fun to play, but it would be nice to see some more original modes that reflect the true nature of Uncharted in the final game.
Co-operatively, the game puts 3 players in the role of Drake, Sully (from the first game,) and Chloe (new fem-fatale style gal,) and challenges them to go through a series of areas to find some treasure. Each area has enemies to kill, and some have platform challenges to overcome as well as a boss at the end of it. There's also a scoring system in place to bring people back once you've completed the stage, and to add a slight air of competition between the players.
The co-op mode feels totally different from the competitive side, which is nice for those who want to keep things shaken up.
What both modes have in common is the leveling. After a game, players are given money (read: experience) which adds to their level. Bonus money is awarded for meeting special requirements (such as kill streaks, or killing someone by punching them) and these pop up much like the medals did in the first game. It all feels right, however there do seem to be a few medals Naughty Dog have overlooked, such as snapping someone's neck.
Leveling up provides no real reward for the player in the beta, but the game does have perk-like abilities called boosters. A player can have 2 bonuses and there's only a limited amount in the beta, which improve accuracy with guns or effect your ammo count in on way or another, but hopefully there will be some to unlock in the final version.
The game play is everything you'd expect from an Uncharted game, which means it's tight and fun. Everything feels like it did in the first game, meaning you're in for a solid experience, both gun play and acrobatic. The maps have several levels of height to them, and players are rewarding for climbing high, be it a better gun or just a straight up better lace to shoot people from.
The beta looks awesome, which doesn't come as a surprise, because the first Uncharted was also very pleasing on the eyes. It doesn't appear to be a huge step up from the first game, but this is multi-player, and it is a beta so it would be unfair to criticize the game because of that.
Unfourtantly, the beta does have some bugs in it, most of these to do with the animations. A prime example of this can be when an enemy charecter is in a specific animation, and you try to sneak up behind them and snap their neck, but end up just punching them. The match-making can also be a bit shaky at times, but again. this is only the beta, so the game has plenty of time to address these minor issues.
So from what I've played so far, it seems Naughty Dog aren't re-inventing the wheel when it comes to multi-player console action. Thankfully, their solid game mechanics make it fun to play, and I found myself having, “Just one more go,” for about 15 rounds at one point. It adds replay-ability to a game that didn't have much the first time round. The people buying into Uncharted 2: Among Thieves are going to be doing it for the single player campaign, no doubt, but the multi-player aspect of the game should draw them back long after they've found all the treasures the single player game has to offer.
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Competitive play pits two teams of 5 (heroes vs villains) against each other, and the beta contains two of the game modes that will be in the full game. The first game mode is just a standard team death match where the first team to get 25 kills wins. The second game mode, is plunder mode, a search and retrieve style of play, where a golden idol randomly spawns on the map, and the teams fight over it, and try to get it back to their base. It isn't that simple though, as the idol weighs your character down to almost a walking place, so having your team protecting you is vital. Or you can just launch the idol and run after it, hoping you don't throw it to a member of the opposite team.
Both modes are fun to play, but it would be nice to see some more original modes that reflect the true nature of Uncharted in the final game.
Co-operatively, the game puts 3 players in the role of Drake, Sully (from the first game,) and Chloe (new fem-fatale style gal,) and challenges them to go through a series of areas to find some treasure. Each area has enemies to kill, and some have platform challenges to overcome as well as a boss at the end of it. There's also a scoring system in place to bring people back once you've completed the stage, and to add a slight air of competition between the players.
The co-op mode feels totally different from the competitive side, which is nice for those who want to keep things shaken up.
What both modes have in common is the leveling. After a game, players are given money (read: experience) which adds to their level. Bonus money is awarded for meeting special requirements (such as kill streaks, or killing someone by punching them) and these pop up much like the medals did in the first game. It all feels right, however there do seem to be a few medals Naughty Dog have overlooked, such as snapping someone's neck.
Leveling up provides no real reward for the player in the beta, but the game does have perk-like abilities called boosters. A player can have 2 bonuses and there's only a limited amount in the beta, which improve accuracy with guns or effect your ammo count in on way or another, but hopefully there will be some to unlock in the final version.
The game play is everything you'd expect from an Uncharted game, which means it's tight and fun. Everything feels like it did in the first game, meaning you're in for a solid experience, both gun play and acrobatic. The maps have several levels of height to them, and players are rewarding for climbing high, be it a better gun or just a straight up better lace to shoot people from.
The beta looks awesome, which doesn't come as a surprise, because the first Uncharted was also very pleasing on the eyes. It doesn't appear to be a huge step up from the first game, but this is multi-player, and it is a beta so it would be unfair to criticize the game because of that.
Unfourtantly, the beta does have some bugs in it, most of these to do with the animations. A prime example of this can be when an enemy charecter is in a specific animation, and you try to sneak up behind them and snap their neck, but end up just punching them. The match-making can also be a bit shaky at times, but again. this is only the beta, so the game has plenty of time to address these minor issues.
So from what I've played so far, it seems Naughty Dog aren't re-inventing the wheel when it comes to multi-player console action. Thankfully, their solid game mechanics make it fun to play, and I found myself having, “Just one more go,” for about 15 rounds at one point. It adds replay-ability to a game that didn't have much the first time round. The people buying into Uncharted 2: Among Thieves are going to be doing it for the single player campaign, no doubt, but the multi-player aspect of the game should draw them back long after they've found all the treasures the single player game has to offer.
