Subway has a big contest and promotion going for Uncharted 3 as the grand prize is some trip to various locales around the world. Buying a medium drink gets you a code for the latest version of Uncharted 3's multiplayer while getting sandwiches and chips gets you codes for other in-game goodies. This is not apparently the final version of the multiplayer as there are only six maps and a level cap of 35, but there are enough changes that are different from the summer beta. This version will last for the whole month of October till the final game's release date of October 1st, but it allows your stats, loadouts, and unlockables to carry over. Its basically a head start for those that want it to mess around early because the big multiplayer juggernauts are coming out by the time it arrives on retail. The feature set at its core is still similar to the summer beta, but the subtle gameplay changes did change people's playstyles.
Other than the three maps that appeared previously, this new version offers three more maps with Desert Village, London Underground, and Syria. The cool thing about Desert Village is that a sandstorm will occur mid-match and the visibility will decrease for a short time. London Underground follows a similar structure than Airstrip when playing team deathmatch as the start of the game takes place in a moving train before stopping at the station. These sequences are still nice to have in concept, but disrupts the flow of a normal mutliplayer game as teams can get big leads easily if they have a positional advantage. Even the train can kill you at the station if you're standing on the tracks too. Syria is a nighttime map in a castle that works well for objective-based games. These maps are great additions with more to come in the final game.
If you played the summer beta, you'll feel right at home with this Subway version. The major thing you'll notice however is blindfire being better to the point it becomes chaos when close against opposing players praying you'll get a kill. A recent patch supposedly fixed this with stopping power, but I haven't had much time with that. Melee can still be a 50/50 as its been trying to out-mash someone for the two hit kill. Of course, there are moments where an enemy would take lots of shots can still not die and headshots don't act like headshots, but Naughty Dog still has time to tune things up for the final release. Sprinting was improved in the latest beta as well as increasing the medal count for the RPG kickback from eight to ten (previously with that kickback, I can get three kickback king pretty easily if I'm doing well). With this build, there is an argument that Uncharted 3 has become a blindfire fest like how Gears of War has been shotgun fest with its multiplayer, but you can stop and pop your way to victory.
The playlists and the party system remain the same for the most part with team deathmatch, free for all, plunder, team objective, and three team deathmatch. Having a party around is obviously advantageous if you're able to communicate well especially in objective-based games. There will be always players that play objective games to rack lots of kills rather than go for the win, so be prepared to encounter some games like that. Replays, YouTube uploads, and Uncharted TV still function the same as well even though Uncharted TV is showing footage from the summer beta rather than this one now. The HUD change is another thing worth mentioning as the scores appear on the bottom right of the screen, which is fine. Unlockable boosters, guns, weapon mods, and characters are expected too as you play as the villains that have a viable role in the camapaign here. Since this is the Subway version, you can get attain Subway exclusive items that won't appear in the final game, so get it now while you still can last month if you're that completionist type.
At first, I wasn't a fan of the changes in this Subway build of Uncharted 3's multiplayer, but it seems like the developers have noticed the new player tendencies and hope to balance things out for the final version. Even though it has become a blindfire festival, the core tactics still work fine as usually you have to resort to the BS to win, which is the case in multiplayer games in general. I'm still having a good time leveling up quickly even though there are tons of people that reached the level cap of 35 in a matter of hours. The campaign is what I'm most anticipating seeing how Nathan Drake survives this new adventure, but its a cool thing that the multiplayer is already out to get it over with.
