Given Naughty Dog’s reputation for modest poise, there was never much of a doubt as to whether Uncharted 2’s multiplayer modes were going to be any good. Instead, the question the game’s beta must answer is whether they’re going to be relevant as well.

Alongside the entrenched competition that every newcomer has to face in the age of Modern Warfare, there’s also a more philosophical matter to address. How well are the ad-libbed charms of Nathan Drake’s pulpy world suited to the brutal playground of the deathmatch? But while it’s hardly a shock that the small suite of options presented are both competent and polished, it’s somewhat surprising that the beta also reveals a glimpse of an online game you might actually find yourself playing for more than a single rainy weekend.

It’s largely a question of pacing. While both shooting and cover mechanics have an obvious lineage, Uncharted’s rifles and pistols are geared towards long-distance gun-play and the dark pleasures of the surprise snipe-shot, making for a rangier kind of game than the intimate slaughter of something like Gears of War. It’s a focus reflected in the level design too - The Village and the Plaza, the two maps provided, both feature some unexpectedly sly line-of-sight options, while likely camping spots have enough in-built weaknesses to stop all but the most co-ordinated of teams from dominating the terrain by lurking.

Neither environment makes as much of Uncharted’s elegant traversal system as you might expect, however, settling most of the time for either street-by-street shoot-outs or a selection of rooftop hideaways. Despite that, this is a far swifter game than many of its lumbering competitors, and both Deathmatch and Plunder – a skilful reappropriation of Capture the Flag – unfold with refreshing speed, while a selection of boosters (ranging from increased accuracy to larger ammo clips) allow you to alter your strategy from one fight to the next, and the now all-but-mandatory levelling system hopes to take care of your long-term incentive for playing.

In terms of a cooperative offering, Uncharted takes a cue from Resistance 2, and splits players off into a range of discrete micro-adventures, which see three treasure hunters shooting their way through some knockabout scenarios in pursuit of a handy macguffin. When it’s driving you onwards through a mixture of tight corridors and deadly bottlenecks, it’s an enjoyable romp, but things have a tendency to become fiddly whenever the designers throw in a quick environmental objective – such as manoeuvring a bookcase to use as a ladder – with a sketchy contextual interface doing little but temporarily breaking the game’s flow.

Further annoyances come with the fact that, as in the original title, enemies can take an astonishing number of bullets before finally keeling over at times, and, while Naughty Dog has chosen to streamline the pallets of both the deathmatch arenas, presenting artful sets swept with watery greens, blues and browns, the cooperative game gives you an un-tuned blast of dazzling Technicolor glory, and the result is, at least initially, so much detail that the landscape can become difficult to read.

These are small frustrations given the overall polish, however. True to the fiction, Naughty Dog’s dashing adventurer has plundered the best of his competitors, and offered up something that feels rich, varied, and entirely likable. The first outing already proved Uncharted can ape cinema with a breezy skill few other titles possess, then - multiplayer sees it doing a decent job of passing itself off as a sport too.