Uncharted 3: Multiplayer Free to Play Impressions

I’m struggling to think of reasons for why anyone wouldn’t want to give Uncharted 3’s Multiplayer at least a try. I mean, it’s free. No matter what flaws it may have (and really, it doesn’t have many), in the end, all it costs is the download time and a bit of space on your PS3’s hard drive. That seems like a pretty impressive return on investment to me.

Of course, an even bigger point in the game’s favor is probably the fact I can’t think of what major flaws it does have. I’m not really a fan of team-based shooters, or online multiplayer in general. This is almost entirely attributable to the fact I completely and utterly suck at them. Yet when it comes to Uncharted 3 online, I can play it for hours, get absolutely massacred (sorry about that, random online teammates) and still come away with a smile on my face. That should speak volumes for what this game mode has to offer.

Because, really, what it offers is a pretty authentic Uncharted experience. True, you don’t get the story aspects of the game, but you do get to recreate the gunfights and action sequences that make the game more than just a bunch of pretty cinematics. Running through the London underground, skulking around ancient ruins and ship graveyards, fighting your way through a Middle Eastern desert sandstorm; all of these things happen in the game, and all of them are available to be recreated (albeit with a few more people on the Heroes side) in multiplayer mode.

The game’s Uncharted-ness is more than just the maps, though. It’s the little asides you-as-Nathan Drake toss off every so often. It’s the treasures scattered all over place. It’s the music. It’s…well, everything, really. (And in my specific case, it’s a perfect setting to get murdered repeatedly as I run around trying to shoot people without ever taking cover, just like I do when playing the game single-player campaign. Again, sorry about that, random online teammates.)

That’s not to say the game is totally perfect. You have to sit through video ads while the server matches you up with games; even if that’s more interesting than watching a bar saying “Searching” for thirty seconds, and even if the basic game mode is free, it still feels like ads being shoehorned into somewhere they don’t belong. Additionally, while you might get the basic multiplayer modes and maps for free, if you want to do anything beyond those — like play co-op, or get better weapons or boosters, or advance beyond Level 15 — you need to pay.

I, personally, am okay with that, since, once again, it’s still free to play. I can forgive a lot of sins and overlook a lot of problems when a game is free. If the game turns out to be an absolute blast — as it does in this case — that’s just a great big bonus.