The Multiplayer Beta for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves recently ended. Those of you who were lucky enough to get in were in for a treat. Here’s our preview of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves’ Multiplayer.

The beta featured two game modes – Co-Op and a traditional online versus mode. Co-Op mode featured the level that we’ve seen before on the leaked footage before E3 2009. There seems to be a bit of a story with this Co-Op, which is quite different from most Co-Op modes in other games. Drake announces to the party “The treasure should be that way” and immediately after that you’re thrown into the battle, shooting and taking cover from AI enemies with two other players at your side – taking the roles of Sully and Chloe.

Co-Op mode allows you to work as a team – provide partners with a boost so they can reach higher ground  – which in turn, will help you to advance. Also, if a partner falls you can quickly revive them. During one point we did come across a bug that caused half the level to disappear, but obviously this is still in beta and hopefully this will get fixed by the release of the retail version.

The traditional online mode came with two match types, Team Deathmatch and Plunder which acts basically like Capture the Flag – except you can throw the flag. Team Deathmatch feels very nice and natural – like playing the single player campaign. There were never any lag issues or poor hit detection just a constant fear of where the hell will the enemy come from next. Each player controls a character that is just as movable as Nathan Drake; no matter if you play as a random faceless character or Sully, they all feel the same. The level design is brilliant – you can duck, dive, dodge, and climb most of the map. It would probably be a nice addition to have some kind special ability for using some of the bigger characters, like in Metal Gear Online.

The medal system from the original Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune returns, awarding you for saving a buddy, punching someone out and returning the treasure to your area. The medal system will undoubtedly be integrated with the trophies system. Much like in Killzone 2’s Warfare mode objectives will change -  although not as smooth as in Killzone 2. Once an objective has been achieved the match will end and the game will load a new match. Hopefully this will change in the final release to be closer to Killzone’s multiplayer rather than just a playlist of matches.

Plunder, although fun on the one and only map available, feels like it needs a much larger map in order to make the most of it. On the available map four throws or so will be enough to get the treasure (flag) back to your area and you’d feel like you’ve cheated yourself here.

Other than these few nags and snags, Uncharted’s Multiplayer is quite promising with none of that feeling like it’s tacked on just for the hell of it like other games.