Okay, hey guys who read my blog (yup, all two of you :P). This is just a quick blog about my impressions of the Uncharted 2 multiplayer beta.

In short, it is awesome! Very fun to play, especially when you are winning :P

Now here's the full story:

Pretty much everything from the single player of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune can be done in the multiplayer. It's crazy with guys climbing everywhere, cover hopping, hanging off ledges, and well, you get the point. The thing about this is that it makes sure that the gameplay stays fresh. You won't always be shooting. The action/adventure aspect of the game makes the gameplay feel fresh everytime you play it, while also feeling rewarding when you shoot people.

The weapons all feel fun to fire and they are all perfectly balanced. There is a huge variety of weapons when compared with the first game. Weapons listed in red are guns from the first game, while weapons in blue are newer ones. You have the AK47 which is the standard weapon for standard deathmatch modes, and then there's the 92FS semi-auto pistol. Around the map, you will pick up other weapons, such as other assault rifles such as the M4, and the FAL which has a 3 round burst. Then there are the shotguns: the SAS 12 and the MOSS 12, both of which are great for running around and hip firing. The MK NDI grenades also make a return. I did find a small problem with the grenades. They are a tad bit overpowered. While it seems logical to have very powerful grenades, it gets a little annoying considering the game has a dedicated grenade buttong (L2) when compared to the first game where grenades had to be manually equipped using the D-Pad. This makes grenade spamming A LOT easier and yep, you guessed it, very annoying. But the one good thing is that unlike grenades in most shooters, Uncharted 2's grenades explode after a certain amount of time AFTER landing, making it easier to jump out of the blast radius. (I also noticed that jumping up right when the grenade was about the blast made me invincible to it.) Other weapons include the Desert Eagle, the Micro Uzi, RPG, and the Pistole (an extremely lethal sawed off shotgun).

Now what good is having great weapons if the game modes aren't fun? Uncharted has a few different game modes which are all tons of fun to play. You have deathmatch, which is basically killing the other team until time runs out or you reach the kill limit. There are a few variations to this, each with different weapon loadouts. There is also elimination, which is basically like Socom. No respawn until the end of the round. This is also tons of fun to play, but can sometimes get annoying with cheap deaths.

The more interesting game modes are the team objective modes. I only got to play plunder, which is basically CTF with treasures. It is tons of fun to play, especially since you can treat the treasure as a projectile and toss it around everywhere.

Finally, we have the co-op modes. You have the co-op campaign, which isn't exactly the same as the single player, but has its own missions tailored for two or more people. This is pretty challenging when you don't work together, but it is very rewarding when you get through various checkpoints. There are also treasures to find in the co-op mode. The other co-op mode is basically like horde mode from Gears of War 2. You and two other people fight waves of enemies, while trying to collect treasures. It is very fun, but I found it to be slightly boring if the person/people don't have mics or don't communicate with you.

The verdict:

The good:

• The gameplay, fortunately, is the same as the first game, with more emphasis on vertical platforming. This adds so much more the to gameplay, making it feel fresh all the time
• Rewards system works like they do in games like Call of Duty 4 and Killzone 2
• Graphics look amazing for consoles
• Weapons are fantastic and map layout is perfect for the game modes
• Cinema mode is a nice feature and adds more personality to the game
• Very fun game modes that are even more fun with friends (and headsets :P)

The bad:

• Melee is a little overpowered
• Cheap deaths in elimination can be frustrating
• Most people only use the Ak47

Overall:

I honestly didn't expect the muultiplayer to be this good. I thought it would just be a compliment to the single player, but it turns out the the multiplayer alone is worth getting the game for (although I'm still looking forward to the campaign more :P)

So shut down your computer and go pre-order this now! And add me on PSN-rustysteiner if you want to play (Also add me if you play LittleBigPlanet, Resistance 1&2, Killzone 2, or Street Fighter IV)