Uncharted 3 Beta

[a happy song]

Anyone playing it?
My psn ID is: fluentfox
Add me if you fancy a few games before it finishes on the 14th!

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I've had it for the last 4 days or so and it's pretty damn awesome. For those of you who don't know Uncharted, it's a hugely cinematic third-person shooter on the ps3 that plays like a cross between the traversing of assassins creed mixed with gears of war mixed with call of duty. I'm being lazy with the similes, but you get the idea.

At first it felt quite awkward as there are a lot of movements to master... sprinting with precision, mantling quickly and turning sharply and accurately so you can make a 90 degree jump, rotating the camera behind you as you execute a forward roll and lob a grenade at the feet of your pursuers... but it didn't take long for it all to become intuitive and that's very largely to do with the obvious amount of love that's been laboured over the control system.

The shooting mechanics are really enjoyable, and each weapon feels weighty and satisfying to fire. The bullet tracers add a lot of impact and each weapon feels unique and worth spending time with. You get the standard mix: machine guns, pistols, sniper rifles as standard. There are also power weapons dotted throughout the map including: RPGs, Grenade Launchers, Combat Shotguns, and Magnums.

Melee feels very clunky at first, and it's slow to initiate, but once you figure out it's a finishing move and use hip fire to soften your target it becomes invaluable. Dancing around a player with a rocket launcher with only a pistol whittling their health and then smacking them down while they try desperately to lock on you as you duck and roll is one of the most satisfying experiences I've had in game in a long time.

I didn't pay UC2 MP, so I don't know what was there, but there's a surprising amount of depth. Weapon mods give you a choice between accuracy upgrades, clip size increases, and others. Boosters are like special attributes and extras - such as the ability to refil your ammo if you taunt while standing on the body of a dispatched foe - and you can equip two of these at any one time. Kickbacks are powerful specials that you can access once you've amassed enough medals and give you powers from everything between powerful rocket launchers to the ability to mutate into a swarm of killer spiders!

Paid Boosters are more powerful versions of the standard, and they last for one round only and are bought at the start using the money you've amassed in game via kills and medal rewards. Paid boosters include an extra grenade slot, the ability to hide your bullet tracers, or decreasing your kickback cost by a medal.

Medals are awarded for various in-game achievements on-the-fly a la CoD. Head shot two people in a row, kill-streak, double kill with an explosive, etc... all the usual.

If you don't like the idea of the above abilities, then there's a purist mode named Hardcore (nicely original) that allows you to play with just the pure shooting and grenade mechanics and no special abilities or upgrades.

There are also treasure drops throughout the map. Chests open randomly and are seen by all, and they award three medals (and sometimes give you a paid booster for your troubles), and enemies randomly drop pieces of treasure that, if picked up, can be used to unlock costume upgrades for your avatars.

None of it is truly original per se, but it does all add to more than the some of its parts. It certainly /feels/ more interesting than most FPS and TPS games I've played in the last few years, and the movement system is truly the most adaptable and fluid in a shooter that I've experienced.

One of the coolest elements is Power Play. Every now and then the game will be triggered into this mode, and it gives one team an advantages such as Double Damage for 50 seconds, or shows the positions of every enemy team member. It helps even the playing field when the game's imbalanced, and when you've been selected as a Marked Man and have the entire enemy team chasing you it can get very tense indeed!

As I said, it might feel clunky at first, but once you've got the hang of it you'll mantle up a wall, grab an enemy unawares and execute a stealth kill, drop down in time to find a treasure chest that ups your medal count, activate your kickback, pull out your RPG, and takeout the two guys who were chasing you... all in one fluid motion. All the time while skipping between suspended beams and sprinting along narrow walkways...

It really is something else. The best MP experience of the year so far and it's still only in BETA.

If you have a ps3, you've no excuse!

[chocollama]

God I can't wait for #3 to come out. Uncharted 2 is probably my favorite game to play since....... oh, since I beat the N64 Ocarina of Time for the 482nd time in a row. :)