Recently Sony CEA and Naughty Dog unveiled the multiplayer component for Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception; game director Justin Richmond gave a short presentation detailing the new features (while teasing additional reveals for the coming months) before letting media jump into a few matches. For the hands-on, I played Team Death Match across two new maps: a wholly new one called Air Strip, and one based on the previously revealed Chateau location. Naughty Dog has made a bunch of tweaks and upgrades to Uncharted 3's multiplayer; some expected (more customization, split-screen multiplayer, Overtime and Sudden Death mechanics, revamped Boosters that now support leveling), and some not (paid Boosters, story-styled battle sequences, and Power Plays). While you sit and wait for the upcoming beta, here are 13 things to look forward to in Uncharted multiplayer.
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1) New Modes and Enhancements
Three-Team Death Match and (by popular demand) an eight-player Free-for-all mode will be debuting in Uncharted 3. Richmond says that Three-Team Death Match is currently a favorite at the studio, and they love how the lead constantly changes during their play sessions.
2) Split Screen and PSN IDs
Richmond says that Uncharted 3 also supports split-screen multiplayer using independent PSN IDs, and players will be able to join their friends' games seamlessly.
3) The Buddy System
Uncharted 3 also introduces a new Buddy System that groups players together during multiplayer matches. "If you're in a party with another person, then that person is automatically your buddy," Richmond explains. "If you're by yourself, another person will be automatically assigned to be your buddy."
Your assigned buddy is identified as the only teammate with a box around their player emblem, and Richmond explains that there are cool bonuses associated with playing together as a team. Buddies can spawn on each other anywhere in the map; they'll also be able to interact in specific ways -- bromantic moments where you can high-five each other to earn extra cash after a kill. Richmond describes the unique bonuses from the buddy system as a way to encourage people to play together and take chances as part of a risk-reward mechanic in the game. You can earn more cash by performing these buddy actions, but run the risk of taking a bullet or two during the celebration.
4) Overtime and Sudden Death
Richmond acknowledges that in close multiplayer games of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, it was hard to accept a loss. To correct this and make multiplayer games of Uncharted 3 more exciting, the developers have added a minute of Overtime to overall match time as a means to help decide a clear winner. If the score is still too close for a decision, the game will shift to a Sudden Death mode where the last man standing wins the match for his team.
Click the image above to check out all Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception screens.
5) A More Story Focused Multiplayer Experience With Dynamic Maps
"We wanted to bring the cinematic feel of single player into multiplayer. We tried to do a little of that in the last game," Richmond says. "In this game we're taking that even farther and make them really integral to the gameplay with new and interesting dynamic maps."
Air Strip is a great example of how story elements and dynamic elements affect Team Death Match. Every game in Uncharted 3 multiplayer pits Heroes against Villains. At the opening of a multiplayer session, the Hero team spawns inside a cargo plane trying to take off, the Villains ride in on cargo trucks that surround the plane, and then battle begins.
The opening battle on Air Strip plays like a multiplayer homage to the infamous truck sequence from Uncharted 2. Villains leap from truck to truck -- trying to find a way into the moving plane while heroes try to hold them off and secure their takeoff. Eventually the plane takes off during the skirmish and the battle transitions to a rundown airport. Players shift into the new battle zone, scale buildings and stairwells, fighting for control of a single turret at the air traffic control tower to control the map. The story openings feel like a great way to lightly add believable campaign events that feel ripped from the pulp story into multiplayer and each multiplayer sessions ends with a closing sequence unique to each faction.
While Air Strip is the only map I played that showed off dynamic elements (Chateau plays like a traditional multiplayer map), it's fun to speculate other ways we'll see this feature implemented in Uncharted 3. An obvious (to us) idea that fits in the Uncharted universe would be to have a map that takes place on a moving train.
6) New Unique Player Customization Features
Multiplayer now supports customizable weapon loadouts and distinct character customization, which means players will get to accessorize their looks, player emblems, and the guns they take into battle.
Players can change outfit colors, or choose from a multitude of pieces to create a look unique to them -- and it's supported by every character skin in the multiplayer game. In my demo, the unnamed henchmen have the most pieces available, with an array of unlockable headgear, chest pieces, arm wear and other parts as well (right down to different types of shoes). I dress up my character with a cool pair of aviators, and pack a mini-uzi with a few mods as my side weapon. Mods let you do things such as adjust the rate of fire, or even signal teammates as to who you're aiming towards (via a callout mod, which will be helpful in coordinating team actions).
7) Boosters and Paid Boosters
Boosters in Uncharted 2 were used to give players in-game advantages, and they've been completely revamped for Uncharted 3. Richmond says the new Booster system now supports even more diverse styles of play than the last one, and each Booster can be leveled up as part of the multiplayer progression system. Players can also equip Boosters that are specifically designed to benefit team play through the buddy system too; example Boosters include earning more cash, or getting upgrades from buddy kills. Richmond notes that this should a great way to reward coordinated team players who take advantage of the buddy system.
Paid Boosters are a way to encourage players to spend some of their accumulated cash, and gain an extra advantage in multiplayer -- they can be purchased before or during active play sessions. Similar to regular Boosters, they level up, but the difference here is that higher levels affect their cost. Richmond says that players aren't going to be able to afford these paid Boosters all the time. He hopes that they will cause the player to weigh options, and go for the extra advantage when they need it.
8) Medal Kickbacks
Earning medals was a big part of Uncharted 2 multiplayer, and collecting them in a multiplayer session now contributes to gaining powerful Kickback abilities. During his quick breakdown, Richmond mentions that 14 medals will now earn you an RPG, and that fulfilling other requirements will net you additional cool bonuses. Medal Kickbacks can be earned over and over, but you can only gain them one at a time.
In my hands-on time, I get to deploy a couple of these new Kickbacks. Using a medal Kickback called Smoke Bomb allows me to vanish out a nasty firefight and respawn at another part of the map. Another one, this time against me, called Cursed turns all of the player models around me into skeletons. Since I can't tell who is friend or foe, so I just end up shooting at everything that moves until the effect wears off (which seems like a great way to disrupt a coordinated team). Other Kickbacks I see include the ability to go without reloading for 30 seconds, or the ability to throw three grenades at once.
Click the image above to check out all Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception screens.
9) Power Plays
"One of the things we realized is that It sucks when you're getting blown out," Richmond says. "It's a terrible feeling for the losing team. It's not fun for the winning team. So how do we make it so that a game feels like it's close most of the time? And so we had the idea of the Power Play."
The basic breakdown of a Power Play is if one team is ahead by a certain number of kills or points, then in-game events will kick in to give the winning team a chance to earn even more cash. At the same time, the losing team gets a chance to earn more kills and get back into the game. Richmond mentions situations at the office where one team would be ahead by a score of ten, and then the other team would come back as a result of a Power Play to tie the game.
"It makes the game feel really, really interesting and it doesn't feel like you are getting blown out constantly," Richmond explains. "Now, it's not going to make it so that a terrible team will win against an awesome team. There's not much we can do about that, but a vast majority of the scenarios, it makes it fun for people more of the time."
10) Treasure Drops
The idea here is that when players die, occasionally they will drop a treasure. If you pick it up before it disappears, you'll collect that treasure as part of a set. Complete a treasure set, and you'll unlock other items such as custom character pieces, unique emblem shapes, and weapons depending on the type of treasure.
11) Missions
According to Richmond missions are a being designed as a way to keep multiplayer games interesting. Sometimes when you pick up a treasure, you'll also get a quick mission to complete within a specific time limit. One example of an instant mission is getting 30 kills in the next 15 minutes; but there are also longer term missions that will take more of a commitment to complete (like multiple day or multiple hour missions). Richmond bills it as another extension of multiplayer where players can earn more cash towards their progression.
12) Facebook, YouTube, and Uncharted TV
You're probably rolling your eyes as you remember what Twitter integration did to Uncharted 2, but it seems Naughty Dog have reconsidered their social media approach. According to Richmond, linking your PSN ID to your Facebook account will bring more people into your Uncharted social loop -- even Facebook friends that aren't on your PSN friends list.
Uncharted 3 also supports YouTube and Facebook video integration which Richmond uses as a lead in to Uncharted TV, a way to show great plays and kills of the week. Built into game's user interface, Uncharted TV will be updated by the developers at Naughty Dog on the fly and Richmond thinks it'll be a fast way for the studio to connect with fans and get cool video content out there. It'll also give fans an opportunity to play with the revamped video and clip creation tools in Uncharted 3 as well.
Click the image above to check out all Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception screens.
13) Co-op
Richmond says that the team at Naughty Dog is experimenting with a huge amount of co-operative content for Uncharted 3, but unfortunately he wouldn't talk about any of it at this presentation. He only specified that there are "tons and tons of co-op stuff," and that they'll be revealed before the game's release on November 1, 2011.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves was lauded for its cooperative content and its implementation of two character sequences from the single player portion of the game, so we can't help but be excited at the prospect of more content for this mode.
Multiplayer in the 2nd game was solid but it really lacked a lot of depth. Looked like they took note of that and our really going all out with it in the new game.