While gaming purists may squirm at the sight of the appearance of yet another sequel on retail shelves, SOCOM 3 is no mere rehash or lame game expansion. This is a true sequel; bigger and better in ever way. It is as if they have listened to the SOCOM online community and given them what they demanded. Zipper has improved on almost all areas of the game. The fans asked and Zipper delivered; maps so large they truly dwarf the maps of SOCOM I and II, solid 32 player, on-line play, a variety of land vehicles and water craft, the ability to swim, and for once, a compelling single player campaign that is worthy of your time.
Before you load out you'll want to choose your weapons. You can select a primary weapon with a choice of two attachments, a secondary weapon plus attachment as well as a choice of explosives. The game boasts 30 weapons for you to mix and match. (Sony claim over 950 different weapons configurations). You can of course just choose the default load out and certainly the offline campaign can be tackled without spending any time mixing and matching your arsenal. In fact you are advised to be wary about what combinations of weapons you select because the weight of your equipment is now factored into the mix. Select too heavy a weapon and you'll be moving with all the grace and speed of a 'Biggest Loser' competitor in week one of the competition.
Choose your weapons wisely or you'll quite literally weigh the team down.
Once you've slung your gun and grabbed your grenades you can head out to the single player campaign which sees you leading a squad of four, through 12 single player missions set in Morocco, Poland and South Asia. In previous SOCOM titles, the single player campaign was really only worth dabbling in to hone your skills before entering into the online game. Once the novelty of the voice command system (using the USB headset) wore off, the single player campaign quickly became tired. Thankfully that's not the case this time around. There's a few reasons for this. As mentioned earlier, the maps are simply massive, in fact five times the size of the maps in SOCOM II. The maps are streamed from the disc as you play which allows for a seamless experience as you traverse the vast mission area. There's an excellent check-point system in place. You'll rarely find yourself playing for more than ten minutes without being rewarded with a check point. The land vehicles and water craft including tanks, Humvees, jeeps, trucks and assault boats as well as an assortment of civilian vehicles such as utes (er SUV's) assist with your progression over these sizeable distances, but never in a manner that feels forced.
Just one of the many vehicles and water craft now on offer.
If your new to SOCOM, there's a lot of controls to get your head around initially, especially with the addition of the vehicles, but the initial training level does an excellent job of gradually introducing the various control systems so that you both enjoy the level and at its completion are able to competently control your squad, control vehicles, and navigate from point to point. You can now swim as well. Surely swimming was an obvious inclusion for a Navy SEAL, but better late than never. Many maps contain bodies of water, rivers, lakes and the like. You can often surprise enemies using the water for a stealthy approach and can even remain submerged and undetected for short periods. You can't shoot while in water more than waist deep however. This new feature does add another tactical layer to the game as well as added realism.
The game AI is a slightly mixed bag. At times, the enemy AI seem to be graced with a bit more of the grey matter than your own squad members. Enemy AI seems as interested in staying alive as it is in killing you and your squad members and for the most part will duck for cover when fired upon. Your own squad members will at times stumble into your line of fire, and are sometimes so much slower when on the move that you'll start to question what's in their packs. You'll also encounter the odd glitch when one squad member will simply refuse to board a vehicle like a stubborn toddler, and you'll find yourself getting all your men off and then order them back on again to successfully achieve what should have been a simple task. This lack of AI is only an occasional failing however and doesn't mar the game. You can't always blame your squad. What might seem like a slow-witted squad member might simply be the game forcing a realism outcome. A case in point is when your behind the wheel, driving past enemy positions. Despite circling the enemy position your squad member manning the machine gun seems only to be firing warning shots. Stop the jeep, man the gun and you quickly dispatch the enemy AI. That's because shooting accuracy is handled in a realistic way. As it should, your movement and position have a great bearing on the success of your shot; which is more than likely why your squad member was having difficulty hitting nothing but the desert sand.
If you've read the Fireteam Bravo review, you'll be familiar with the 'Crosstalk' Feature. Link up your PS2 and PSP and depending on your progression through both games you'll have unlocked skins, weapons and in certain cases, gathered intelligence that will have a bearing on future missions. While Zipper should be congratulated for this cross platform functionality it hasn't been perfectly implemented. On one occasion I was alerted to an ambush on the road ahead; and not simply told but given the exact coordinates. Forewarned, it was no problem to take out the enemy AI and progress down the road. 'Crosstalk' is a great idea but we'd like to see it giving us more gameplay for our dollar, not less.
The game features a few areas such as mines and building where you'll be fighting the enemy up close and personal.
The single player has some rewarding moments, where gameplay, graphics, audio atmosphere and scripting combine to produce something truly memorable, one such level sees you mopping up pockets of resistance, walking amongst a destroyed convoy of destroyed vehicles and charred bodies, smoke swirling, some terrorists surrendering, some fighting to the end. The Hollywood feel is further heightened with a soaring soundtrack performed by a seventy piece orchestra and composed by James Michael Dooley, who has a number of big movies to his credit. Of course we’ve seen it before, but this time around you're playing, not watching. There are enough similar moments throughout the single player campaign where the elements combine well enough to produce something truly immersive and engaging.
On the subject of audio, not much has been improved on this front, but it was already of a very high standard before. Voice acting is excellent, sound effects convincing and the soundtrack adds rather than detracts to the gameplay experience. Visually, SOCOM was never a stunner, and the latest game has not improved dramatically on that aspect of the game. Instead Zipper has focused on increasing map sizes and adding all the new features. The game still boasts great animations on both SEALs and terrorists, explosions and smoke effects are convincing and head shots are rewarded with the kind of gory blood squirting you'd expect with a bullet between the eyes.
Of course, a worthy single player campaign is just icing on the cake. Chances are you volunteered for duty to take part in the online action, and SOCOM 3doesn't disappoint. The game now supports twice the number of players, up from 16 to 32, which is good because the 12 available maps are truly vast. Team work and cooperation are even more vital as a result, although the map sizes can be contracted to accommodate smaller groups of players This is not a game you would want to play
without voice support. Veteran will love the expanded gameplay on offer with the vehicles and the ability to swim. Such is the long standing popularity of the game that new comers may find the going tough initially (another good reason to play through the single player mission). Whether playing an old favourite such as 'demolition', 'extraction' or one of the two new modes, 'control' and 'convoy' or playing by day or by night (a new gameplay addition, all modes deliver fun by the army truck load. Games with 32 players can sometime suffer from occasional slowdown, but this is the exception and not the rule and doesn't spoil the experience.
A week or so back I was critical of the Xbox version of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter for offering less, not more than previous versions of the game. SOCOM 3 shows exactly what a sequel should be. It should improve on earlier versions of the game. It should retain everything that works and make it better; it should tackle the games problems and fix them. It should offer new gameplay, new features. Zipper Interactive has done exactly that. If you're a fan of SOCOM you'll have little to complain about and a great deal to love in this game. If you've never played SOCOM then there has never been a more convincing reason to start. Even those reluctant to play online now have a worthwhile single player campaign that alone is worth the price of admission.
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