Sound: 9
Gameplay: 9
Value: 10
Reviewer's Tilt: 10
Overall: 9.3
Reviewed by Chris
You lead a group of Navy SEALs deep into the jungles of Congo, or the marshes of Thailand, or the deserts of Turkmenistan, and the snowy wastelands of Alaska. You are given a set of unique and realistic objectives, and must use stealth and a variety of SEALs tactics to meet these objectives. You start out at the end of each level at your insertion point, and you complete the mission by finishing at the extraction point. And of course, you communicate to your squad with the headset. The AI responds very well to your voice, even when you try talking in different accents and dialects. Yes, for those of you wondering, you can talk like Arnold Scwarzenegger and the AI will respond. This voice recognition software works extremely well, I have had only very minor problems, and those were very, very rare. Saying something like "Bravo run to Delta" will make team Bravo go to the Delta objective of the area.
This game is not easy. SOCOM follows the gameplay that tactical shooters Ghost Recon and Operation Flashpoint do: only a few bullets will kill you. I love this gameplay, personally. It is much more realistic than most games, and makes the game much more fun. Of course, you have different views to help you out. This is a third person game, but with the press of the up button on the D-pad, you can switch to first-person to investigate your surroundings. Like Ghost Recon, you cannot see your gun model in this mode, which allows you to see your surroundings better. You can also zoom in with the scope, and you have night vision goggles to aid you in those night missions. Lights can be shot out to your advantage. You might need this feature when you are approaching an enemy in a lit room; shoot the light out, put on your night vision goggles and blast away at him while he can't see you. Yeah, it's a bloody game also, but in a realistic sort of way. Don't expect a big pool of blood to gush out from under the enemy's body; it doesn't happen in real life, so it doesn't happen in this game. Instead there is less blood on the ground, but more of it gets sprayed out. For example, shooting a bad guy in the neck results in a spurt of blood to spray out, making the experience more beliveable.
The AI is better than Ghost Recon, but it still needs a lot of work. A lot of times, your team might not move at the right time, and they often let the enemy walk up in front of them and shoot them. Sometimes your combat buddy, Boomer, is not that smart either, often standing in the middle of nowhere, lights shining on him, etc...."come and kill me, please!" He also likes to stand when he should be ducking, but it's not THAT big of a problem. Overall the AI is really good, especially the enemy AI. They will flank you, and hide in water or grass and plug away at you when you are least expecting it.
The graphics are excellent, and really do demonstrate what the PlayStation 2 is capable of. The game runs at a constant framerate, and the textures are brilliant. The shadows are great also, the leaves couldn't be more realistic. You have a lot of foliage to hide in, such as bushes, tall grass, and weeds. And the best part is, enemies can't see you unless they get close. No more perfectionist shots like the cheap AI in Ghost Recon. SOCOM's levels were very well done, and are massive. You will notice a pretty short draw-in distance, but remember, this game is very detailed and has complex environments. But most of the time, fog or snow disguises the draw-in. The painted faces, the detailed uniforms, and the great gun models are something to stare at as well.
Oh, there are plenty of toys for you. Silenced pistols, C4, smoke grenades, frag grenades, machine guns, and rifles. You can even act like Solid Snake with the FAMAS, called by another name in this game. And how are the grenade throws, they work well thanks to our good friend DualShock 2 (thank you very much pressure sensitive!). Guns are used to your advantage depending on the type of mission. Thanks to a very well done Briefing screen at the start of each mission, you can pick the types of weapons and equipment suitable for each mission. You will find that your silenced M141 is your best friend in this game when you want your insertion to be silent.
Presentation is everything in SOCOM. First of all, it must be noted that this is a modern depiction of warfare, and the developers did a fine job of letting the player feel like a SEAL. I already mentioned the headset, of course. That reason alone should get players to buy this game. The Briefing screen features a lot of player customization options, and you can view your objectives and read up on the terrain of the area you are fighting. The maps were done very superbly, and really give the player a sense of what they are dealing with. It also comes with a 20 minute documentary on SEALs training and Hell Week. It's a really entertaining documentary, but I just can't shake the feeling that it is basically a tool thrown together to get some recruits.
When you hear a conversation in Russian from a distance, or go deaf from a grenade explosion, hearing nothing but ringing...you know you're listening to some great sounds. Zipper Interactive obviously knew that they needed to make an environment that would immerse the player, and they succeeded. There are a few sound glitches, like the music cutting short or the computer accidentally saying the same thing twice....but the good outweighs the bad. A very good sound package.
So, does SOCOM live up to the hype? The answer is yes. This is a game that is not to be missed if you own a PlayStation 2. Notice that nowhere in this review did I mention online play via the network adaptor? I figured that you've already heard much of that from other game reviewing websites, I won't spoil the surprise. SOCOM's multiplayer has been getting a lot of attention, but remember there is the single player aspect as well. This entire review was just focusing on the single player aspect, so imagine what fun you will have with that. --Chris Currey