I tried out the Uncharted 3 beta after it finished downloading. The first thing I did was customize (with what little choices I had) my hero and villain characters, as well as create an emblem. My emblem turned out pretty cool, I think.

After checking out the customization options (and seeing I didn’t really have any options to choose from), I went to matchmaking. Well, I intended to access matchmaking, but my PS3 froze.

Reboot.

I checked to see if my customizations had saved, which they had. I moved to matchmaking again, this time without any freezes. I was excited to try out the new levels, so I decided to play team deathmatch, because that was what I typically played in Uncharted 2. Matchmaking apparently had a problem, because I couldn’t find any other players. A quick search on Twitter (you can follow me @schmete!) revealed that I wasn’t the only one experiencing the matchmaking problem. I checked out the loadout customization and messed with my audio settings to work better with my mic while letting the game try and find some players.

After a few (probably five) minutes of waiting, I figured I’d shut down and try again later. I was a little disappointed, but not surprised. These problems are the reason betas exist, so I can’t complain.

I would have given the beta another shot tonight, but I had a date with the lady (laser tag!), so I’ve been with her. Hopefully most of the larger bugs will be gone by tomorrow, when I get back to the beta. I know the matchmaking has been fixed, so at least I know I’ll actually be able to play.

I’m excited to see how this beta pans out. I’ll probably pick up a retail copy of Uncharted 3 if I really enjoy the multiplayer. Probably.