Of course, Uncharted 3 isn’t due out until November, but for players who just can’t wait that long to get their hands on the game, there will be an Uncharted 3 multiplayer beta kicking off June 28, 2011. PlayStation Plus subscribers and inFamous 2 buyers can look forward to early access.

Following up a game as critically and commercially successful as Uncharted 2 can’t be any small feat, even for a developer as experienced as Naughty Dog. We know they will lavish attention on Uncharted 3’s storyline – after all, telling the story of Nathan Drake is really what the Uncharted games are all about. Multiplayer is an entirely different matter.

After creating a foundation for multiplayer with Uncharted 2, the task for Naughty Dog is to expand and refine the experience while making it ever more attractive even to gamers who have never played an online game before. It’s a hard market to crack; there are more games than ever competing in that space.

Writing on the PlayStation Blog, Naughty Dog Community Strategist Arne Meyer addressed the team’s goals.

There is really no better way to get a sense of what Meyer is driving at than by taking a look at the first offical Uncharted 3 multiplayer trailer.

Two things are instantly clear after watching the trailer. One, that Uncharted 3’s multiplayer looks to remain faithful to the experience of the series’ single player campaigns, with plenty of traversal elements and massive, level re-shaping events. Two, that there are a whole lot of customization options for the game’s weapons and characters.

With the game still more than six months away, the team at Naughty Dog aren’t disclosing all the detais on Uncharted 3’s multiplayer just yet. We do know that it will include classic Team Deathmatch, Three Team Deathmatch, in which three teams of two players each battle for supremecy, and good old fashioned Free For All. Co-op is promised (promised!), but Naughty Dog isn’t ready to open up about it just yet.

Uncharted 3 will support Late Join for online matches, and will be the first game in the series to feature split-screen multiplayer. Weapon customization goes beyond the cosmetic, as players can add better scopes and bigger clips (among other things) to their guns. Characters, meanwhile, are billed as having “hundreds of customizable parts,” and an emblem editor will be available for players who really want to put their own stamp on things. Finally, players who feel the need to move a little faster can make use of the new Sprint button.

Uncharted 3’s in-game reward system has been completely overhauled. Players can now find items in chests on multiplayer maps, and earn items by completing Missions. Missions themselves are split into Instant Missions, which can pop up mid-match and be completed quickly, and Missions that are chosen from Uncharted 3’s Multiplayer Menu. Those can take “days of playtime” to compete. I’ll let you guess which Missions offer the best rewards.

Typically, when I think of Uncharted, multiplayer isn’t the first thing to come to mind. Perhaps Uncharted 3 will be the game to change that. I love the series’ strong characters and storytelling, not to mention it’s peerless animation and gorgeous graphics, and I can understand how those elements could really add to an online multiplayer experience. That said, to my eyes, the character animation (and the graphics) in the 12 minute Battlefield 3 trailer outpace what is on display in the Uncharted 3 multiplayer trailer by a pretty significant margin.

What do you think of Uncharted 3’s multiplayer modes – will they be competitive with the best of the competition this Fall? Will any of you be buying Uncharted 3 primarily for the multiplayer mode? Will any of you be buying inFamous 2 to get into the Uncharted 3 multiplayer beta?

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception releases November 1, 2011, exclusively for the PlayStation 3.

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Source: PlayStation Blog