The next installment in the mega-successful “Uncharted” franchise won’t be hitting PlayStation 3 until this November, but ComingSoon.net had a chance to attend an unveiling of the game’s new multiplayer mode and first look at the official trailer, which you can check out in the player below.
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception features the return of Nathan Drake and a storyline officially described as follows:
In the midst of an elaborate con to settle a twenty-year old score, fortune hunter Nathan Drake stumbles into a centuries-old conspiracy that puts him back on the trail of his infamous ancestor, renowned explorer and privateer Sir Francis Drake.
But his search for a lost 16th-century treasure leads him to an even greater discovery an ancient secret that ensnares him in a web of deceit, pitting him against a shadowy clandestine organization and the occult treachery of its cunning and ruthless leader.
Aided by his partner and mentor Victor Sullivan, Drake embarks on a daring trek across Europe and into the Middle East, tracing the footsteps of the famed Lawrence of Arabia as they follow a centuries-old trail of clues leading to a fabled lost city buried for millennia in the heart of Arabia’s Rub’ al-Khali desert a legend Lawrence christened “the Atlantis of the Sands.”
But the vast and pitiless wasteland of the Empty Quarter conceals a terrible mystery, and before the end of their journey, the race to unearth the wealth of the lost city descends into a desperate bid for survival, an ordeal that will push Drake to the limits of his endurance and force him to confront his deepest fears.
One of the biggest challenges for the updated multiplayer was to bring in the cinematic quality of single player mode. To achieve this, the multiplayer beta (which will launch with partial assets on June 28th and full assets on July 5th), offers a number of brand-new modes, including six-player Three Team Deathmatch, eight player Free For All and the return of Team Deathmatch mode with up to ten players at once.
Multiplayer modes are further enhanced by a number of additions to gameplay that include Overtime and Sudden Death, designed to help increase the intensity of evenly-matched games. If teams aren’t quite evenly matched, the game is designed to reward the winning team with cash opportunities while letting the less successful team close the gap.
The new “buddy system” allows for players working together to unlock challenges and special “buddy events” that aren’t possible alone. In this, the game will now offer split-screen and allows for separate PSN logins.
The new multiplayer mode will also debut something dubbed “Uncharted TV,” a special YouTube channel designed to showcase some of the most interesting moments in recent gameplay and to host other user-generated content.
The intense Free For All round played by the press showcased one of the game’s other brand-new features: full support for Stereoscopic 3D, literally adding a whole new dimension to gameplay.
Check out the newly released trailer for the game in the player below and visit our gallery of screenshots and concept art by clicking here.
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception hits PlayStation 3 on November 1st.
