What’s good, ladies and gents? Squid here to give you a rundown of the latest map pack by your dogs, er Naughty Dog that is. Before I forget, I’ll give a short intro of just who “Squid” is here at the conclusion but in the mean time, lets check out some new digs, shall we?
Drake’s Deception map pack comes after two previous Flashback(FB)/rehash packs. Both FB’s contained throwbacks from the grand days of Uncharted 2. As great as it is to relive those moments, the UC community was fiend’n for some new architecture to scale. Insert Graveyard, Oasis, London Streets & Old Quarter.
If you are a Gears fan, Graveyard has a reminiscent vibe from Drydocks…except it’s on open water. This is the first time open water traversal has been introduced to the multiplayer, adding a new and interesting approach to how you size up this map. It isn’t a game breaking dynamic but it does add viable escape routes and sneak attacks to unwary opponents. I have to be honest, I once thought this maps was destined to be a mistake but I was glad to be proven wrong. This is a competitive gamer’s dream, as the map itself is well laid out, even with it being smack dab in a large body of water. Power weapons and the spawns are well placed with the focus of the map being the middle, allowing this addition to be a quality experience on either Team Deathmatch, Team Objective or Plunder.
Check out a quick friendly scrim with some of the boys from DTMB and our typical crew:
On to Oasis, which is another foray into the Rub’ al Khali desert. Oasis is a tiered map with ruins on both spawn zones, allowing for an equal and ample amount of cover to dodge incoming fire. The glare and saturation from the level itself is impressive and is very reminiscent of the “OP” sun from Battlefield 3, that however can be a bad thing. Power weapons are scarce on Oasis, which starts off with the Mag, Sawed-off and the riot shield. That is until an “air drop” dynamic event throws an RPG into the mix a few minutes after the start of the map. Overall this map is visually impressive and has a nice “heatwave” effect over distances but I feel like it could be spaced out some. Of course Uncharted, especially its multiplayer, is known for its platforming/traversal but it almost feels like parts of the cliff walls are forced/overused. This squeezes the map together making it best for 4v4, where as the 5th member of each team would create an unbalanced wildcard. Either way, it has a decent balance and is better than some of the original launch maps. That is a plus in itself.
Most UC3 players have a love/hate relationship with London Underground (a UC3 launch map) but will that change with London Streets? I believe it can, as this could easily be the dark-horse for the “best map” award in Uncharted 3. It’s linear and practically a giant box with an industrial feel. From an outside view, that could be a bad thing but when vertical traversal is in play, a linear map can balance the playing field. Like Oasis, power weapons are not abundant but they are spaced evenly between the Villains & Heroes spawn areas. This is without a doubt one of the most close quarters maps in Uncharted. This intensifies modes such as Team Objective and Plunder because of how close the action is not matter where you spawn. It will take time for teams and players to adjust to the tight corners but if you want constant action, this is your map. Of course, in typical Naughty Dog fashion, a dynamic event is present. Somewhere towards the middle of the match, an armored vehicle arrives, driving through the streets spraying unsuspecting victims with a barrage of gunfire. It comes and goes quickly but it has the same feeling as the Tank dynamic event on the UC2 favorite, Village, at a much quicker rate.
Old Quarter, a beautiful map with an old Counter Strike ambiance, is probably the largest of the 4 new maps. It is a nice mix of Syria (launch map) and Village (mentioned early) but keeping all the good portions and removing the bad. The large courtyard is surrounded by catwalks and long stairs, allowing quick and easy access to major power weapon areas such as the SAS and the Mag. Team Objective seems to be the best gamemode for this map, as Plunder has odd capture points and TDM is just…well TDM. It does, however add a nice dynamic for the UC universe since most maps that are this large, are wide open. There are plenty of tight corners and tiered engagements to focus on during a match on Old Quarter. Check out my boy Hihi as he does another fly through of Old Quarter.
When it comes down to it, if you are a Fortune Hunter member, there is NO reason you shouldn’t have already downloaded this. If you are new to the UC multiplayer universe, I would becomed accustom to Uncharted and its “learning curve”, then hit up this map pack and the previous flashbacks. Worth the cash; therefore, I dig it!
But, before I go, I’ll give you a quick rundown of just who I am and what I will be doing here at ESG.
Jason “Squid” Heitman
US Navy Vet (Cooler than Gator)
Founder and Co-Owner of http://www.youtube.com/user/DontTauntMeBro?feature=mhee
Squids Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/JustSquid
Reviews. Editorials. Gameplay. Nonsense.
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