As you may know Naughty Dog officially launched the US and EU Multiplayer Beta for Uncharted 2 andthe team here at Crystal Gamer got a code from Naughty Dog themselves and so here is our preview of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves’ Multiplayer.

From the beginning of the beta there were two features, Co-Op and a traditional online mode.
The Co-Op is the level that’s been looked at briefly before, you know the leaked footage way before E3 with the bus, there seems to be a bit of a story with this Co-Op, which is quite different from most Co-Op modes in games, where Drake announces to the party “The treasure should be that way” and immediately after that you’re thrown into the gameplay, shooting and taking cover from enemies with two other players at your side, taking the roles of Sully and Chloe.
This feature feels quite good, as you can work as a team and the enemies work hard to surround and trap you all, of course if a partner falls you can quickly revive them and provide boosts for them to reach higher areas which in turn will help you pass an area.
During one point we did come across a bug that coursed half the level to disappear and a few other people have also noticed this, but obviously this is a Beta and this will have been mixed by release.

Now the traditional online mode came with two match types, Team Deathmatch and Plunder which acts basically like a CTF match… except you can throw the flag.
First with the Team Deathmatch;
It feels very nice and natural, like you’re playing the single player, there was never any issues with lag or poor hit detection just a constant fear of where the hell will the enemy come from.
Each player controls a character that is just as manouverable as Nathan Drake; no matter if you play online as a random faceless character or Sully, they can all calm and feel the same. Along with the level design, this is brilliant because you can duck, dive, dodge, and climb most of the map. However it would probably be good if there was some special ability using some of the bigger characters, like in MGO, but these should maybe be awards to the players that get a certain amount of points then lose the character once they die.

Speaking of awards, the medal system returns from Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, which will undoubtedly work into the Trophy system awarding you from saving a buddy, punching someone out and returning the treasure to your area.

Another system that’s in the MP mode is a system which is quite like Killzone 2’s Warfare mode where the objective will change… although not as smooth as that, it’ll end the match and take you back to the loading screen and then load the match, hopefully this is trying to be like KZ2’s online rather than just a playlist.

Now the Plunder game although fun on the one and only map available, it feels like the Plunder games will need to be on a much larger map, because with four or so throws you can get the treasure back to your area quickly and you feel like you’ve cheated yourself here, if it was much large it could make it a lot more fun.

Other than these few nags and snags, Uncharted’s Multiplayer is quite promising with none of that feeling like it’s tacked on for the hell of it like some games do this generation.

Stay tuned to Crystal Gamer for any upcoming news on Uncharted 2 or the up coming movie, also check back in a few months time for our full review.