Uncharted 2 Demo, anyone?

[ONUOsFan]

If you pre-ordered from GameStop (it's not too late!), the public multiplayer demo starts a week from yesterday (9/15). For everyone else, it starts on 9/29.

Anyone going to be playing? Maybe we should try to hook up and play a few games together?

My PSN ID is the same as my ID here: onuosfan

 

[JamesJ]

I will be playing for sure!!!

 

[ONUOsFan]

Demo starts today!

It's funny - most people assumed today meant 12:01 this morning, and I was watching the PS3 forum for the U2 Beta/Demo. Go take a look if you have a few minutes and need a good laugh - it's pretty clear that the whole thing is populated with 12-year-olds. They're all begging for free demo codes and complaining about how Sony/Naughty Dog scammed them by making them wait up all night for something that didn't happen (the demo hasn't launched yet), and talking about whether or not they'll skip school....

UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves Multiplayer Beta - PlayStation.com Forums

Here's a good example (paraphrased) of some of the dialogue:

- Can someone pleeeeease give me a free demo code?

- Dude, just go pre-order it.

- I can't, the stores are closed and I'm not old enough to drive.

- Then order it online, wait for the email with the code and then cancel the order.

- Good idea! Wait, never mind, I can't because my stepdad is being a d-bag and doesn't want to scam GameStop...

There were also a bunch of people begging for UK codes and instructions on how to set up a UK account to redeem them (it launched yesterday in the UK).

Needless to say, I got a good amount of free entertainment out of this last night.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Cool. The demo starts on my birthday (I didn't pre-order the game)

 

[Zookster]

The little kiddies should know it starts at 5:30 p.m. PST tonight (latest from AVS) so they won't have to ditch school.

 

[ONUOsFan]

Actually a lot of posts saying it's already live - I'll find out when I get home...

 

[ONUOsFan]

Yep - installing now!

 

[AntDogg65]

I absolutely love this game. I can finally play it now that the wife is out and about. Drake, here I come.

 

[waltinvt]

Well damn, it's been 10 days. Let's hear something about this demo. How does it compare to the original or other popular games. Will someone that likes the COD games like it? Come on people, some of you must have tried it.

 

[ONUOsFan]

Well damn, it's been 10 days. Let's hear something about this demo. How does it compare to the original or other popular games. Will someone that likes the COD games like it? Come on people, some of you must have tried it.

For anyone who played the closed Beta this summer, it's basically the same, except with a whole lot more modes (most of which are really fun), some polish and a few bug fixes. It can still take some time to find a game, but I think it's just because there aren't that many people playing yet. I expect that to change next week when the demo is publicly available and especially when the game actually launches.

Comparing it to Drake's Fortune is kind of tough because I haven't played the single player campaign yet and there was no multiplayer in the first one. What I can say is that there are significant improvements in locations (the ice cave is really cool) and in the graphics in general over DF, which is really saying something.

The gameplay also seems better, with the most significant improvement for me being the easier grenade mechanics - no more aiming with motion controls.

As far as comparing it with other multiplayer games, I really can't, because I've not played any others. What I've heard from others is that it requires a little more skill because you actually have to aim manually rather than having your reticle lock on to a target automatically.

Reviews are starting to come out, and the worst one I've seen so far is a 9.5/10 by IGN. All the others so far (granted, some of them are from Sony-friendly publications - PlayStation Magazine calls it one of the best games of all time - but all aren't) are perfect scores, and even one 21/20. Every review notes marked improvements over the first game which, again, is quite a statement.

I think the short story is that the first one was arguably the best PS3 exclusive to date, and this one will end the argument. If you have a PS3, you must have this game.

From what I've played, the multiplayer could be a full title on its own and still be worth the money, and that's not even going to be the best part of the game...

 

[Zookster]

The gameplay also seems better, with the most significant improvement for me being the easier grenade mechanics - no more aiming with motion controls.

:up:up:up

 

[yourbeliefs]

The demo is live now on PSN.

 

[lakebum431]

Downloaded the demo last night, but forgot about it. Remembered it tonight. I tried to play tonight, and it is VERY frustrating. The "matchmaking" process is very slow and cumbersome. Took me more than 10 mins to get into the first match, which ended in less than 30 seconds (I guess it was a glitch). The screen says over 13k players are online, so I don't know what the problem is getting a match started. Tried to get into another match and after another 15 mins of screwing around, I gave up. Don't know what the problem is here, but if this is how the multiplayer is when I get my actual copy I won't be playing it at all. I'll finish the single player and put it on the shelf. Bad impression so far!

 

[yourbeliefs]

Downloaded the demo last night, but forgot about it. Remembered it tonight. I tried to play tonight, and it is VERY frustrating. The "matchmaking" process is very slow and cumbersome. Took me more than 10 mins to get into the first match, which ended in less than 30 seconds (I guess it was a glitch). The screen says over 13k players are online, so I don't know what the problem is getting a match started. Tried to get into another match and after another 15 mins of screwing around, I gave up. Don't know what the problem is here, but if this is how the multiplayer is when I get my actual copy I won't be playing it at all. I'll finish the single player and put it on the shelf. Bad impression so far!

Overloaded servers. Try during an off-peak time.

 

[ONUOsFan]

I haven't had a chance to play since the demo went live to everyone, but this is a little disappointing if it's true (I've heard random reports of people having problems like this when no one else was, so maybe it's just that)... I was hoping the matchmaking process would get better with more players online, not worse, assuming the problem was that there weren't enough players.

If they're having problems with the servers now, how will it be when the game actually launches? The only good news is that between Naughty Dog and Sony they have too much riding on this for it to flop, so they'll have to figure it out.

 

[lakebum431]

That's the thing. It tells you on one of the early screens how many players are online. The first period I was trying there were over 13k players. That doesn't seem like a high number but it seems like there would be enough there to get a game match. I actually tried again at about 1:00 AM Eastern (first time was around 8 PM) and had the same issue. This time it said there were just over 7k players online. Thinking that it could be something on my end I put COD4 in and it loaded right up into a game with no lag or issues at all so this is a U2 problem for sure

 

[ONUOsFan]

That's the thing. It tells you on one of the early screens how many players are online. The first period I was trying there were over 13k players. That doesn't seem like a high number but it seems like there would be enough there to get a game match. I actually tried again at about 1:00 AM Eastern (first time was around 8 PM) and had the same issue. This time it said there were just over 7k players online. Thinking that it could be something on my end I put COD4 in and it loaded right up into a game with no lag or issues at all so this is a U2 problem for sure

Most of the times I've played it's been like 2k-3k players online... I've had this problem rarely (once every 3-4 hours, maybe?), but usually I just back out of the matchmaking if I go too long without getting a game, and when I go back in it's ok - it's never been a consistent thing. Still, you'd think they'd have it figured out by now - this complaint goes all the way back to the first week of the closed beta earlier this year....

On a side note, I'm almost getting to the point now that I'm not playing as much... just haven't had a lot of time lately, and knowing that all of my stats are going to be reset doesn't make me all that eager to get leveled-up, so I'm just waiting for 10/14. Of course, then I'll be playing single-player...

 

[lakebum431]

That's my main concern (that they don't get this fixed before the release) and the multiplayer part tanks. That would be a huge disappointment as I've heard really good things about it (when you can play). Hopefully they will be shifting over to a new/bigger/better server soon!

 

[ONUOsFan]

That's my main concern (that they don't get this fixed before the release) and the multiplayer part tanks. That would be a huge disappointment as I've heard really good things about it (when you can play). Hopefully they will be shifting over to a new/bigger/better server soon!

I actually read something yesterday from Evan Wells that they're using the demo to gauge how many servers they will need for the actual release, so I guess that's promising....

Also, I played 8 or 9 games last night and got into all but one of them almost right away - the one I had problems with took about 90 seconds or so.....

 

[yourbeliefs]

I think I may just wait until the full version comes out and they squash out some more of the bugs.