Platform: Playstation 2

Genre: Military Shooter

Publisher: SCEA (Sony Computer Entertainment America0

Developer: Zipper Interactive

ETA: October 11, 2005

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Review: SOCOM U.S. Navy Seals (PS2)

Review: SOCOM II: U.S. Navy Seals (PS2)

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With the success of the first two SOCOM games for the PS2, it would make only sense that Sony would release a third version. Combined, the first two games of the series have sold over one million copies worldwide. SOCOM certainly has a large fan base and even more importantly, is one the key reasons why Sony’s network adapter became successful.

It’s been almost two years since SOCOM II was released on the PS2. When it first hit the shelves, SOCOM II was a great game with an excellent amount of game modes and community options. Unfortunately as time passed, the SOCOM II experience was hindered by dreadful online lag, increased stat padding (basically cheating), and a decent amount of glitches. Some of these problems were severe enough to cause some players to migrate back to the original SOCOM.

There were several things Sony attempted to do to improve the online experience and multiple patches were released over the last two years to address gameplay issues. Also, Sony’s promise of downloadable maps came true, but unfortunately since a majority of players didn’t own the hard drive, more than half of SOCOM II players never experienced the new maps.

The SOCOM series is back this fall and looks to raise the bar once again. First and foremost is a brand new game engine. One of the main purposes of the new game engine is so the developers could create even more massive environments, at least twice the size of those 

seen in SOCOM II. The beta contained one map called Harvester, which is set in the Polish countryside. The map is about twice the size of the online map Foxhunt from SOCOM II.  The character models look detailed and the animations look superb. There is one cool new graphical affect added to the game. When a bullet strikes your character, the screen will now become a blur for a few seconds, temporarily impairing your vision. So far it doesn’t appear that any new victory dances are in the game, just the same old ones from SOCOM II. The only real drag with the game’s visuals is the occasional hiccup in the frame rate during large-scale firefights. Also, the explosions look terrific.

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A total of seven game modes are able to be played on each map in the game.  SOCOM III contains the five modes found in the previous game as well as two new modes of play: Convoy and Control.

Convoy puts the Seals in charge of protecting a lightly armored convoy through enemy territory, while the terrorists attempt to destroy the convoy. Control is a variation of King of Hill where both teams attempt to take over more spawn points than the other team. Both of these modes are excellent and require a hefty amount of teamwork.

Vehicles have finally found their way into the online play. The vehicles include supply trucks, humvees (lightly armored and heavily armored), technicals and boats. Both, the Terrorists and SEALs have their own vehicles, but if a vehicle is left unoccupied, then either side can take control of it. Most of the vehicles in the game allow multiple characters to ride in them. The vehicle controls are somewhat similar to Halo’s, with both analog sticks being used to steer the vehicles. The vehicles, especially the humvees and technicals work great for transporting soldiers, as well as providing much needed support for your ground forces. At the same time, it’s not too difficult to disable a vehicle. You’ll have enough weapons at your disposal to fend off vehicles. However, in the beta, there were some noticeable bugs related to the vehicles that will hopefully be gone when the full version is released October 11^th. Sometimes when you fire a rocket at a humvee, the rockets would go straight through and not even explode. Each vehicle can sustain different levels of damage. Some vehicles require at least two rockets to be destroyed, while others require more.

Easily the best addition to SOCOM III is the weapons customization feature. Each primary weapon in the game (with exceptions to the rocket launchers) can be customized with a maximum of two attachments. The attachments include silencers, scopes, pistol grips, and M203 tubes. This makes for a number of interesting combinations. Your accuracy and running speed will be affected depending on how you outfit your weapon. Naturally, the heavier the load-out you choose, the slower your player runs. The weapons customization adds a whole new element to the gameplay as you can have over 900 different weapon combinations.

Aside from the actual gameplay, there are a number of new online features. There are built-in in-game message boards, survey polls, new friends list and so on. The menus are more accessible as you can now cycle more quickly between servers than in the previous games.

SOCOM III’s online play is looking quite promising right now. But honestly, I can’t wait to try the single player mode.

- Siddharth Masand

(October 2, 2005)