Uncharted 3 Beta Launches Today

Jim Hargreaves 108 Comments

It’s almost time to expose your exotic belt buckles and reminisce on barmaids in Lima as Naughty Dog prepare to launch the first beta stage for the upcoming Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception.

Though the previous title in the series, Among Thieves, also featured multiplayer, it was largely overlooked, even after the game garnered dozens of GOTY awards back in 2009.

Stripping the flawless cinematic gunplay and set-pieces from the campaign, Uncharted 2’s multiplayer was an absolute blast, supported post-launch with two unconventionally-priced map packs and character skins.

This year Naughty Dog is building on the multiplayer experience, hoping to drive it between 2011’s hot contenders Battlfield 3 and Modern Warfare 3. Here’s everything you need to know about the beta, from launch times and game modes, to level caps and rewards.

  • The Uncharted 3 beta launches today, June 28th, and will be exclusive to both PlayStation Plus subscribers and those who pre-ordered inFamous 2.
  • The beta will enter its second stage come July 4th, being available to anyone with access to the PlayStation Store.
  • The beta will close on Wednesday, July 13th.
  • If you want an exact launch time for the beta in your timezone, refer to this schedule.
  • Three maps and eight game modes will be available over the duration of the beta.
  • 8 Boosters, 4 Power Plays, and 4 Kickbacks are enabled during the beta.
  • The estimated download size of the beta file is 1.7GB.
  • Not only will the beta include competitive multiplayer, three co-operative modes including Arena, Hunter, and Adventure will also be made available.
  • Stereoscopic 3D is enabled for you fancy lot out there.
  • Four basic character models will be available to play as, though there are dozens of customisation options to tamper with.
  • Split-screen co-op will also feature in the beta, allowing you to track your Facebook friends too.
  • 25 is the current beta level cap. This will not carry over into the retail version of the game, though performing specific in-game actions will unlock Uncharted 3 unlockables including exclusive decals, and avatar, and even bonus cash.

Haven’t got anyone to play with? Firstly, ha ha. Secondly, get yourself over to the TSA Meets section of the website and sign up for one of our many community-organise in-game events.

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108 Comments

  1. so the beta goes live at 10:00 pm for the uk?

    il be there, might get a disco nap in so i can play a wee extra hour tonight… what has my life become?

  2. The beta has been available on PSN HK for a few hours.

    I didn’t try yet compettive modes as I’m more of a coop player.

    Coop Arena is now a single mode of ten waves which you have to complete in less than 20 minutes. Each wave of course get harder and randomly alternates between Survival, Siege and Gold Rush (no time bonus anymore for the latter), which makes for nice gameplay diversions. All three players share 10 lives in common. You HAVE to save your buddies or you won’t make it alone to the end if they keep dying at an alarming rate. Medal Kickback like Team Medic are great additions.

    The NPCs reminded me a lot of U1 in their moves and thoughness; they will be very disorienting for people who never played at Drake’s Fortune, which is arguably much harder than U2. Apart from a couple of AI bugs (dudes sometimes walking around doing nothing), the enemies are very dynamic and never stay in one place for long.

    See you online when it’s released everywhere!

    • That sounds cool, thanks for the info. And you’re right, the enemies is UDF were always harder to kill as they danced around a lot.

  3. Sweet! I’ll be probably passing on MW3 and BF3 in november for this.

  4. Mega excited :) Perfect preparation for when the game ships. L.A Noire is going to have to take a back seat now.

  5. Got my ps3 hooked up to my parents 40″ LED 3D TV. Im ready to see Nate in glorious 3D :D

  6. Oo Oo! I Can’t wait…

    Theres nothing I enjoy more on a Tuesday night than waiting 3 hours to download a beta, spending three quarters of an hour trying to get a game, then watching the servers implode…..

    See you there tomorrow… :)

  7. It’s live! Go go go!

  8. Has anyone got it yet?

  9. I have such a sincere love of uncharted. Such great games…..

  10. Can’t connect! Keep getting error: Error initializing session manager. Damn damn double damn.

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