EXCELLENT article. Sums up all of my concerns, as a U2 veteran.

Especially the effect that the sprint feature is creating. Seems like Naughty Dog reduced the max speed you can achieve by 15-20% and gives us Sprint for a temporary 25-30% boost. So with sprint you run 10% faster than was regular in U2. As a result of this, and probably along with other minor tweaks, U3 feels WAY more sluggish than U2. I was able to increase aiming sensitivity and this made it better, but there's still a lot to be desired. I hope they change this somehow. I feel like I weigh 400 pounds in U3.

Despite my tendency to lash out at "The beta is broken!" types, I do have to agree that subjectively, I don't like the direction of U3 MP as compared to U2.

That said, U2 is still there.

I'm going to be honest

ND made it into a Third Person Uncharted:COD

Loadouts <Sniper as a starter weapon)
Upgradable Perks...I mean Boosters
Killstreaks...sorry Kickbacks
Sprint feature which has messed up the nice pace that was in U2

Fact is I don't see why Uncharted 2 players who have been there from the start should be pushed into hardcore mode and be forgetten about.

Thing is people won't be honest....they'll just pretend and think "Oh it's ND, they can't do no wrong"....sorry to break it to you ND aren't perfect....nobody is

EDIT: Forgot to add, does anyone hate how now instead of Skill...people who are a higher level will now wipe the floor with you if your a lower level because they've unlocked way more stuff. That's what people liked about U2, everyone was basicaly the same...the only difference was two boosters. If they took SA out in U2 it would of be more fair.

Looks like there may be a split in the community, like Killzone 2 to Killzone 3 in terms of whether the people are happy with the changes.

i dont like it, it all feels so clunky. Uncharted 2 felt much smoother and more fluid

What I'm basically seeing so far is people not liking the Uncharted 3 beta because it's not Uncharted 2.

I played and finished Uncharted 2 for the first time over the weekend and I can't wait to get stuck into the beta after work!

The beta isn't that bad but it's full of problems. I just played it for a half an hour and I encountered these:

- Suddenly with no reason I was removed from a match.
- It froze on my 2x.
- It wasn't able to find other players for almost 7 minutes.

That isn't looking good. Good think is that I'm not looking forward to Uncharted 3 for it's MP. I ONLY care about it's SP and never will play the MP just like Uncharted 2. Well I played it just to see what they did but after an hour or two I decided that it's shit online and it's forced on because of crying bitches who can't appreciate a fine game and need to ruin it with MP which clearly isn't needed.

I've played hundreds of hours in U2's MP from the closed and open betas to just the other week ago. For you U2 vets...learn to change because if you don't let the games change then you will get another COD issue. The MP is fantastic and it's doing so much more than U2's MP which is nice plus it just feels better in so many ways. The only draw back is that the roll mechanic and melee combat is a little slow but that can be either tweaked or a booster should be given to spead those up. On top of that I love how you can actually build you character up so you can set up a load out of what weapons you've earned...to many damn teams would camp on the good noob tube weapons in U2's mp. That shit was frustrating.

All and all I think the MP is heading in the right direction and I'm totally loving it.

Can you honestly say anything on here about ND/Uncharted without being bubbled down/disagreed with. Most people bring up some good points which are true and they get diasgreed. We get it some people like it, some don't, that's what the article is trying to say. Don't respond to someones comment going "I don't think so" because their opinion is obviously differen't to yours.

i was kicked twice for team killing and i didn't kill any team mate. I don't like the cod weapon approach, now i got a shitty ak. that gun was the best in uc2. The characters also seemed more detailed in part 2.

I also think the characters are stiffer in this one although the roll seems more realistic now. I wish is was like part 2 with improved matchmaking and less disconnects.

i don't care about customizing my character i just want my asian chick and my helghast.....the new cole and zeke would be good too.

hopefully they'll fix up the sluggishness and make it more like part 2. Naugty dog earned my respect with the first two games so i'll give em a chance, i'll at least beat part 3.

besides the online needing some crashing and freezing bugs fixed,i think they are onto something here. The only gameplay tweaks they needs to fix is having to put a whole clip into someone to kill them, and freakin grenades. They should have fixed that in Uncharted 2. I was in cover while blind firing this dude, almost every bullet hit him, but then all he had to do was resort to flinging that grenade like it was candy right into my face. Its bullcrap, grenades shouldn't be an instant throw. I can't imagine someone who can do that and then get the carpet bomb perk, its gonna kill the game for me.

i think the new loadouts, the kickback and uncharted tv are stupid

the loadouts and kickbacks totally break the game, make it unbalanced, and the tv is just super spoilers right now...the only way to improve that is if you show live games being played

I played for a couple hours last night and I think this is going to be one of the best online components we've seen in years. It is a little buggy but thats what betas are for so people need to stop complaining. Having said that I do have some opinions of the game. The close quarter combat system is kind of sloppy. Numerous times when I was playing I would run up to an opponent and hit square at the same time he did, we both punched each other in the face twice, and died at the same time lol This happened quite a few times. Also one thing I wish they would fix is the amount of bullets it takes to kill someone. I always feel like I spray 3 quarters of my clip into someone only to have them roll and sprint out of sight. But other than that I couldn't put down the controller for hours.

If you're a "veteran" than some slight changes shouldn't stop you from owning right?

*ahem*

The AK is absolutely fine. Just because some people are super accurate and can use the other non-automatic guns close range, doesn't mean everyone can. Its a full auto gun for people to lay it on without tapping excessively if they don't have the skill to burst. Its still usable at longer rangers, just HARDER. Thats what you people wanted right? Less AK ubiquity? More reasons for weapon variety?

If you were such a good Uncharted player, you'd suck it up and learn to play the NEW game.

Sprint will take some time to adjust to, I'll give you that.

As for bitching about customizations and kickbacks....You're out of your mind. It costs THREE medals to switch kits.... just to switch. Kickbacks aren't very frequent at all.

Get over yourself, this game fuckin rocks. If you still don't want to adapt, go fondle your skeletons in UC2 :D

I have no issues with all the tweaks I have heard about in this article and others. When you do a major upgrade like they did there may be some minor balancing issues here and there but on a whole nothing seems too out of whack.

I am more concerned at this point about net code and getting the game running smoothly and lag free.

The only issue I have is the slow movement when not sprinting, the sprinting adds enough of a different feel, you don't need to slow the player down for us to notice. That's like in killzone when they decreased the sprinting distance in order for players to feel the difference in the infiltrators aboility. That and it seems naughty Dog didn't add the Diving body slam that they showed in the first preview of the single player... bad move.

I cant wait to try it out, I downloaded the beta last night after work and got up early to try it and it kept giving me the error message.

Is the beta move compatible? If so then how is the aiming compared to KZ3 and Socom 4? Just curious I will try it out when I get home from work today.

I do have a few issues with the game so far! The movements to me feel sluggish and the sprint fucking sucks!!!!!!!!! The sound of the weapons are some of the worse i ever heard i can't believe naughty dog doesn't realise this!!!!!!! Another thing that really bothers me are the maps none of them feel right to me, all the maps from part 2 were awesome!!!!!!!!!! Let's hope Naughty Dog listens to us real fans and make some changes.

Overall the SP is what matters most.

why so many bitching about U3? its great many things to do and to unlock nothing feels overpowered feels right, its not only a tdm its also a get the treasure game . U2 was great but it had one fault after a certain level you felt like you unlocked everything necesary for the multiplayer, kinda felt like battlefield bad company 2 after a certain level you already had everything and it just gotten down hill from there.

I'm having a hard time playing because of the large amounts of LAG.

Some concerns:

-Damage Levels.
(It's gonna take a while to get used too but we'll see.)

-Too much recoil on the guns.
(Especially the pistol making it utterly useless.)

-Character Movement is way too slow.
(Even slower then UC2 which is not good.)

-Power Plays
(It's fine but the wall shooting and cursed power plays I can't stand.)

-Medal Kick Backs.
(It's too easy to unlock them. I feel kick backs should be limited to one use per game.)

-Sniper Rifles need a bit of work.

-Matchmaking needs improving.

-Uncharted TV
(It's annoying that a video is always being played underneath the lobby. Put that crap in the Cinema Mode area not in my lobby.)

-Sprint.
(I'm fine with it. Just I don't want the camera to zoom in on me when I'm sprinting. I still want to be able to see what's around me.)

Regional Matchmaking?
(I want it.)

Glad I'm not the only person who thinks this so I'm confident things will go back to the way they were with UC2 play style though the damage levels will be increased which is what people want.

the controls feel heavy

It just gets some getting used to. I was thrown off by the slighly different feeling at first but after a few games I was getting more and more kills and dying less. It needs some adjustments but I am loving it. I hope ND doesn't start changing stuff because of people nitpicking at little things. It could potentially unbalance the whole game.......again.

For the people thinking they are copying COD, they think EVERYTHING is copying COD. And for those worrying that people who are at higher level will have a bigger advantage ND already said the matchings will be based on levels in the full game so you won't be at level 2 fighting people at level 25. And even if that was the case why don't you just use your skill to overcome the other person's strength? What kind of gamer are you if you can't do that? Everyone is complaining about the UC3 MP but then everyone complained alot about the UC2 MP too. So not concerned at all

i'm not as amazed as i was with U2's multiplayer the first time i saw it, but i'll learn to love it.

I'm so torn with this beta. I love U2 I still play it daily two years later. U3 moves slower, the sniping now is terrible and blind firing from cover is practically worthless. It's basically like Naughty Dog crapped on everything that I used to my advantage in U2. Uncharted 3 as been Call of Dooterized.

the good: sprinting and customizable perks and guns

the bad: choppy gameplay; not nearly as smooth as uc2 (uc2's beta ran much better), the overall character speed and ads speed=not better than uc2.

I think, from my short time with the beta, balancing is the biggest issue here. I think it needs tweaks rather than a major overhaul because there's a fun, well designed game, at the core. Damage seems a bit off, the requirements for some of the kick backs seems too low, literally, I always had one available in co-op to the point I forgot I had it, and (again, going back to co-op) I'm not sure where the enemy difficulty is tied to because over two games we had very different outcomes to enemy AI, resistance and power.

Just make sure you feedback your issues to ND, not N4G.

its better than 2 period learn the new features and quit trying to play it like black ops fuck cod already!

Well I never bought UC 2 but did play the MP in it and I sucked died constantly.Yet in UC 3 beta I'm doing pretty good,so I like 3 better so far lol.

I like the sound of these changes, it should make the game more interesting.

day 1 buy for me

Just to clarify, all progress will transfer over to the full game's multiplayer right?
P.S.
Loving the beta

already im only playing hardcore because some people are ranked 22 already (wtf) and kicking my ass with the NOOB perks. And yes U2 felt alot smoother and less clunky!IMO!

I don't get it...what made UC2's multiplayer better than this? I found this to be more fluid and consistent, bar some minor exceptions.

The single player is more important anyway.

Split-screen Three Team Deathmatch while I'm sitting next to my buddy is awesome.

good lord people its a beta.....a beta!!

Does anyone know if they are going to put the R2/L2 swap feature back in the controls? I'm getting really pissed about wanting to throw a grenade while aiming and reloading instead and getting blasted.

New features are fine. Maybe they will be an option on the retail version to not play with them other than hardcore mode.

has anybody experienced weird issues with the beta.. when it was first trying to install the 1.01 update it reset my system without doing anything. and it also caused it to reset one time when I try to exit back to the XMB.

it was weird similar to how Homefront would freeze.

As sad it is to say, Uncharted 2's multiplayer was mediocre. It's acceptable to say it was good for being Naughty Dog's first multiplayer game. But it was mediocre. Everybody always ran for a the noob weapons to get a couple easy kills. They bunny hop like crazy and it made me think of Halo. But I am loving Uncharted 3's multiplayer. They took away most of the nooby/mediocre aspects of the game. Even though there are still bunny hoppers. It's still really easy to kill one in UC3. And it doesn't take forever just to kill someone like it did in UC2. People that are complaining about UC3's multiplayer are probably the ones that bunny hopped like crazy or always camped the rocket launcher. Seriously people need to stop whining. qq.

I think too many people have gotten to comfortable with COD games that any other game that tries something different gets them upset as they hate getting out of their comfort zone.

The AK47 takes an age to empty its clip and seems to do fuck all damage. Apart from that I was having fun climbing about and exploring. I expect it will improve over the coming weeks as well.

The cargo plane is a ton of fun. Hope they keep it as its own standalone map. Although the plane would run out of runway.

Its basically like UC2 with more features...god do people complain about everything?

Im not digging it

Played it, nothing special, moved on

I love it, even though i get my shit kicked in most games, can't wait to use the M9 Assault rifle looks beastly. See you guys in the beta.

I am really loving the UC3 beta :) Sucks that I can't use my In2 key because I used the free PS+ :| Feels like I'm wasting it.

Anyways, the only real complaints from me is that;
- Can't see the Treasure Set progression
- Grenade Launcher is OP at rapid fire 3 grenades.
- Melee once up close, OK cool, hit square again and you teleport 5 feet! WTF?
- Some of the single round boosters seem a little overpowered (stopping power + rapid fire AK/Uzi)

Anyways, I LOVE the airport level, not so much Chateau. It is super fun, I just want to unlock the new outfits. I'm already lvl 19 rank :D

Also, for the newfags complaining about it being a "COD Clone" because it has RADAR and sprinting. First of all, sprinting is nowhere near COD sprinting, it is more like a zoom in burst of speed. Not easy to control and is just to help you move faster in the action if you spawn far away.

The "RADAR" is something that shows their name in red if they are really close to you. Not a minimap in the corner.

I finally got the Beta to work, but there is a problem with hit boxes. I shot a guy three times in the chest and he did not die. I fired half a ak-47 round into another guy's leg, and he didn't seem to be affected. Hell I shot a guy in the face with a grenade launcher and he didn't die. other than that I've been enjoying the beta. I love the maps, now if they would just release more.

i am amazed by this beta, its so much fun!!!

BETA could not be better and no this isn't sarcasm.

Seems pretty good, and better than Uncharted 2 multiplayer, but the melee combat is still terrible and the camera angle on the sprint is a bit annoying.

Well it's pretty simple really. The fanboys are praising it but the real gamers are laughing at it. The shooting mechanics and movement of your characters look like a ps2 game. And the audio of the gun sounds like a SNES game.

This is clearly the definition of "just throwing in a simple multiplayer experience" Their is no life in this one. It will die as soon as it comes out.

GOTY

I had a dream last night that ND made a LOTR game,,,,
It would be so good.....

On topic: Had a few games this morning and owned..... went back to U2 and while it was smoother, I got my ass handed to me....

People that sit there and say Uncharted 2's online wasn't good have obvious not played it much. From reading the comments here I have seen so much disinformation regarding how Uncharted 2 played that it makes me sick. Uncharted 2 had better graphics, better fluidity of motion, slicker controls and the levels themselves were better designed. I love Uncharted 2, it's my all time favorite game and right now I'm really pissed of at Naughty Dog for changing so much that didn't need to be changed. It was fine to add in all the kickbacks and boosters etc. but why did they have to change the core gameplay mechanics? I always thought that gamers that got upset at a bad sequel were just annoying, but now I get it. I was so ready for this game and now......I'm sad to say this....I think I'll be sticking with Uncharted 2.

Anyone else find it ironic that people are calling this U3: COD and want Uncharted 2 back, but all COD is is the same shit rehashed year after year?

Oh, sweet irony.

Played a bit last night after work and the first thing that struck me (and I know, it's a beta) was how poor the graphics were. Character models reminded me of the characters in Monster Hunter Tri on the Wii. And when I moved from an outside area to an indoors area the screen stays black for a few seconds too long, I'm all for realism but not when it means I can't see who the hell is shooting me!
The game itself is class though, love the constantly changing co-op, one minute holding off hordes of bad guys, the next trying to lug treasure to its destination. Didn't try the deathmatch modes, not really my thing so can't comment.
A lot of people were complaining about the AK-47 being too difficult to aim because of the recoil, didn't bother me in the slightest, I guess those people are too used to having their hand held.
There's a few bugs to be ironed out (at one point I melee'd an enemy for more than 10 seconds without making any impact) and the graphics need some serious work but if Uncharted 2 is anything to go by this is gonna be stellar.

I never want the beta to end I just wanna keep playing and then the game comes out and I smoothly transition into that.

I will admit that the graphics are pretty meh.. but polish can fix that.

I love the Uncharted games, but I don't play them for the multiplayer. I'd rather Uncharted stick to providing us a fantastic, cannot be beat, single player experience and let games like Battlefield, Call Of Duty, Halo and Gears Of War handle our multiplayer needs.

The controls do feel clunky, but its a beta and that will be tighten up. The Transitions during TDM are kinda cool, but would like a soother transition from one area to another (plane to cargo area)

Other than that, I like it more than UC2 MP. It's cleaner and I actually feel satisfied when I level up. Just need to keep ranking up :p

Well, if people don't like the changes from 2 - it's not like thier UC2 disk is going to explode when UC3 launches.

UC3 is freaking awesome they finally got tha hit detection perfect congrats ND.