Tonight, I did what director David O. Russell could not: bring Uncharted's Nathan Drake to the silver screen. At AMC theaters on both coasts tonight, Uncharted 3 developer Naughty Dog hosted preview events to showcase the game’s new and improved multiplayer system in full stereoscopic 3D. Were you not able to make it to the preview event in your area? Don’t worry, GameXplain was there, and now we’re here to let you know what you missed.

The centerpiece of the event was a multiplayer tournament with teams of five facing off against each other in the game’s Deathmatch mode. Much blood was spilled in the name of freedom, or science, or whatever is the abstract ideal of your choice, and I came away with some impressions of the game and a healthy dollop of humility. Both valuable things.

The multiplayer has changed in some important ways from the last game. Customization has become a big part of the multiplayer experience, both for your weapons and your actual character. While the teams are still divided visually into Heroes and Villains, you can take the hero or villain of your choice and alter their clothes, and even colors, to create a character to intimidate and humiliate your enemies.  Weapons can be customized extensively as well, not only with the genre standards like changing accuracy or rate of fire, but also by adding abilities such as tagging enemies for your teammates.

Likewise, you may not have guessed from all the sand and desert, but Nathan Drake is a big hockey fan. If one team starts really annihilating their competition, the game will institute a new feature -- the Power Play. By giving the losing team a temporary buff or the winning team a VIP to protect, the Power Play gives boring lopsided match-ups a chance to be interesting again. Also spicing things up is the game’s Buddy System; similar to squad systems in other games, this lets you spawn at a friend’s location and gives you bonuses for sticking with them in combat. This keeps you from having to run back to combat and helps cut down on spawn camping.

Despite all the new bells and whistles in the multiplayer, the core of the system is still taken directly from the single player. If you found the cover system and aiming controls a bit stiff in the last game, you’re in for more of the same in this one. No amount of customization or combat perks will make the basic experience feel any different. On the other hand, if you liked Uncharted 2’s multiplayer, there’s a ton of new content for you to look forward to in this one.

The combat isn’t all that’s taken directly from the single player experience: multiplayer also gets in on Uncharted’s unbelievable cinematic action scenes. One of the levels we tackled tonight starts both teams out on parallel moving trains, barrelling through a tunnel at breakneck speeds while the teams exchange gunfire and leap from one train to the other. A lot of multiplayer levels have excitement or even tension; this level had drama. If Uncharted 3 is really looking to make a name for itself in the multiplayer arena, levels like this one are going to be what does it. Plenty of games have customization and character perks, but levels that seem ripped from an 80s action flick are something that only Naughty Dog can offer.

I mentioned that we got to play the game in 3D for part of the tournament, but honestly, it made little to no impression on me. I can see how the game’s single player could be very impressive, but just running around the multiplayer levels I could barely even tell the 3D was active. I suppose that’s better than it being actively annoying, but it’s still not much of an endorsement.

Fans of Nathan Drake’s misadventures in keeping up with the Indiana Joneses will also be pleased to hear that the game’s multiplayer mode will have a ton of post-launch support. In fact, tonight Naughty Dog confirmed the rumors that Uncharted 3 will join the ranks of games like Gears of War 3 and Forza 4 in having a DLC Season Pass.

Called the Fortune Hunter’s Club, it will run you $24.99 and give you access to the game’s first four (count ‘em, four) DLC map packs and the first three character skin packs. If you pre-order, they’ll also throw in a premium XMB theme. It’s a good deal if you know you’re going to want the map packs, and from what I saw tonight, maps may be the highlight of Uncharted’s multiplayer.

If you want to see the maps for yourself, Naughty Dog will be running the preview event for two more nights (the 19th and 20th).  Check out AMC’s event website for more info on how to register for your pass, and good luck in the tournament!

Uncharted has honestly only ever appealed to me as a single player experience, sporting wild cinematic action and some of the best character chemistry I’ve ever seen in a game. We didn’t see much of the single player at tonight’s event, but from what I saw it looks like Uncharted 3 promises to be just as wild a ride as its predecessors. After tonight’s railway experiences, though, I think I’ve changed my mind about the multiplayer.  I may break down and play a non-PC shooter, after all.  And that, my friends, is saying something.