GOONL!NE

We’ve been playing the Uncharted 2 Beta. Obsessively. we love it, and we’re also pretty good at it, which is kind of a first. We was amazed by the wonderful gameplay, the great, fast multiplayer, and the stunning graphics. We wanted to explore every inch, every nook, every cranny, just to check if we’d missed something.

And so we did. With the help of PSN user BackedOut_  and we set out on a quest; we geared up, packed our stuff and grabbed hold of our AK-47s. And we adventured. Adventured for the hidden bits, sly references and easter eggs….of The Uncharted 2 Beta. And t’was epic.

Machinima

But how could we explore with 8 other screaming lunatics trying to mow us down on every map? Easy. Start up a party, invite a friend or two, and when selecting ‘Mode’, scroll all the way right to ‘Machinama’ In this mode, you can just wonder the levels as you please, and even mess around on ‘The Stage’; a Mirror’s Edge style blank canvas, filled with some cool acrobatics and all the weapons in the Beta. It’s surprisingly unheard of, but a great addition; Go to the Cinema mode afterwards and you can ‘greenscreen’ the level, putting any background in.

Co-op Signs

A very clever *nudge nudge* here. In co-op story mode, when you have to climb up the telegraph pole, jump to the building, swing round a sign and push a bookcase out a window, look very closely at the yellow signs that falls off. It advertises the ‘El Dorado Hotel’, a sly reference to the sought after treasure in Drake’s Fortune. It even has the symbol of the ‘Golden Icon’ you lug around in Capture Multiplayer modes.

The Ice Caves

The Frozen Corpses

So there are two opposing ends of the Ice Caves; one opens out into a huge vista of the mountainside, and the other is a small, claustrophobic room filled with statues and sculptures. Just outside of this room, you’ll find two frozen, dead corpses. However, drop down to the right of this little platform you’re on to find a body leant up, covered in snow, motionless. This gives you a great view of its face; it looks non-human..Almost like a Zombie, and it has what looks like a Bindi spot on its forehead. Creepy…

The Deep Blue

Talking of creepy, this is really freaky. After some messing about, BackedOut_ fired a shot at one of the sculptures on the wall in the room. ‘OMFG!’ he typed into the Text Chat. ‘What?’ I replied. He showed me. Walk right up to the figure and shoot it. It glows a bright, strong, eerie blue. I have no idea why, but it’s awesome.

Sniper’s Paradise

Now to the other end on the map. Go out into the snow so you’re facing the mountains. Then, turn left or right, and look up at the wall. You should see a little passage; climb up to it with your Dragon Sniper, and get some kills, very, very easily. It’s a beautiful, unknown spot that you can exploit as you please.

The Village

A small little gem here. Go inside any of the buildings and look around; you should see some pictures on the wall. It might take a while, but eventually, you realize they’re all made in-game; some shots are parts of the map itself. It’s a really nice touch, and keep anyone who can be bothered to view them immersed.

The Temple

A weird one, this. After playing a match on it, go into the Cinema and view your game. Select ‘Free Camara’, and zoom around to the long corridor with the waterfall at one end. Head to the middle of the space, and look out of the broken roof. You should see a blue, rusting silo and what looks like a broken train next to it (It’s very hard to make out); indicating that this map should appear on the single-player.

The Plaza

We spent ages looking round this place. Turns out, there aren’t many secrets to be seen in this neon-lit, night-time map. That is, until I looked up. Turns out, the tallest building in the Plaza is the Hotel Shanghai; the same hotel Drake and Chole zip-wire from in the . It’s a small world, eh?

Well, after an hour or two of this, our sessions basically turned to beating the crap out of each other, and off we went, hand in hand, to pwn some noobs. That’s our treasure map; but do you have a secret spot or easter egg only you know of? Put it in the comments section – we won’t tell if you don’t…