In Uncharted 2’s multiplayer, the weapon selection has been cut back and the remaining guns have been modified to specialize their roles. Rather than picking up the first weapon and shooting blindly, players have to decide what their skills are and find the weapon that suits them just right.
Pistols and Siderms
92FS-9mm: The starting sidearm in any multiplayer game, the 92FS is deceptively powerful and a good weapon to fall back on. It is also an effective weapon to use while hanging off ledges and outcroppings. When starting a match, if precision is required, try using this instead of the AK-47 until a more powerful weapon is found.
Micro-9mm: A single-handed machine pistol, the Micro-9 is a low-powered but fast firing weapon that is incredibly effective up close. It loses much of its accuracy at any range beyond a few metres and is best used as a backup weapon for when the enemy sneaks around. If a player can sneak up on their enemy, it is a quick way of taking them down as well as being safer to perform than a stealth kill.
Pistole: A cut-down shotgun turned into a pistol, the Pistole is a powerful weapon up close, but with its wide shot spread and two shot load, most beginners will have a hard time handling the weapon in intense firefights. To make up for its shortcomings, its nature as pistol lets it fire from precarious ledges and it provides close range power that many primary weapons cannot muster.
Desert 5: The most powerful all-round pistol, the Desert 5 is a slow shooting but incredibly powerful handgun. Capable of stopping a played with a single well placed shot, this gun needs some accuracy to gain the most out of it. Due to its small clip, shots should be conserved, although unloading a clip in the general direction of the enemy will usually score at least one kill.
Primary Weapons
AK-47: The starting primary weapon, the AK is a reliable assault rifle that deals reasonable damage. Fairly inaccurate, the AK is generally superceded by any other weapon. That said, it can kill with prolonged fire and is a decidedly fearsome close range rifle.
FAL: A rifle that fires in 3-shot bursts, the FAL is an accurate long ranged that features a weak scope to complement it. Though its poor fire rate makes it a poor close range and blind fire weapon, with a little precision, it can be exceptional. For people unusued to hitting a moving target though, the FAL should be missed until they have some more practice.
Moss 12: One of two shotguns available in multiplayer, the Moss 12 is an almost assured kill with at least two shots from close range. Although slow firing and difficult to find, this gun is particularly good at both performing and defending against sneak attacks. Due to the single shot nature of the weapon, a beginner may want to practice their aiming and shooting on the move to get the most of it.
M4: The best assault rifle in the game and probably the most effective all-round weapon, the M4 is usually hard to find but worth a pickup. Effective and accurate at all ranges, the M4 can be used for almost any role. With a high ammo capacity and firing rate, this weapon can be dangerous in the hands of beginners and experts alike.
Dragon Sniper: The longest ranged weapon available, the Dragon is a powerful sniper rifle that will kill with a single shot to almost anywhere on the body. It is best fired from a good hiding spot and zoomed with the rifle scope which can be magnified to increase its focus. It is rarely successful at ranges other than long, so anyone closer is best dealt with with a sidearm.
Special Weapons
RPG-7: A rare weapon, the RPG usually carries only one or two shots, but the blast and splash damage are enough to leave anyone in its wake either dead or near it. Loud and a little slow, the RPG requires some timing to catch running opponents and at least a little accuracy to ensure that it catches them in the blast.
M32-Hammer: A grenade laucher, the Hammer has a surprisingly fast fire rate and each grenade has power comparable an ND1 and explodes on contact. While beginners might me tempted to fire all six shots in unison, each Hammer round should be used sparingly and treated like both an RPG round and a grenade; the former for its contact explosion and the latter for its gravity arc.
GAU-19: A man-portable minigun, the terror of singleplayer loses much of its utility in multiplayer. Although it boasts an unparallelled fire rate and ammo cap, it slows the user to a crawl, has a long wind-up and restricts them from making any acrobatic manoeuvres. As holding the GAU makes the player an easy target, it is very high risk and often not worth the effort.
MK-ND1: Standard grenades, ND1s can be lobbed in an arc or simply thrown at opponents, the force usually being enough to kill. A clever tactic for being pursued is to aim low and drop a live grenade on the ground, hoping for pursuers to run over it and be caught in the explosion.
Because most guns appear on most maps, players are likely to encounter each of them during the course of the game, whether firing or on the receiving end of one. Although most will be familiar to players of the single-player campaign, it is important to learn how they differ and where they are found in multiplayer. This knowledge can mean the difference between scoring another kill or becoming one.
