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When it comes to tactical shooters, I’m usually interested in checking them out because even though I typically suck at them, I find that if I use my brain to successfully pull off the tactics or strategy they want me to pull off, it’s immensely satisfying and rewarding. When I hear the words “tactical shooter” my brain immediately thinks of the early Rainbow Six titles, the first Ghost Recon, and SWAT 3 and 4 – games from the late 90s and early 2000s. I consider that time frame to be the golden years for tactical shooters because as far as I can tell, they don’t make them like that anymore. Don’t get me wrong, there’s been sequels and new games and spiritual successors in the genre that have released since to varying success, and even I enjoy some of them, but not many that really replicate or capture what made those games special.
Another tactical shooter series that originated during the golden years is SOCOM which is primarily known for its multiplayer as far as I can tell. The Sony console exclusive series started on PlayStation 2 and, as of this review, ended on PlayStation 3. It’s a series I never got into nor did I realize how popular it was until much later. Developed by Zipper Interactive and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs was released for PlayStation 2 in August, 2002. Unfortunately, the servers for the PS2 and PSP games were shut down some time ago but I believe players have found ways to get online games going. Nevertheless, this review will only focus on the single player and I did play it on a PS2.
The story follows a Navy SEALs fireteam consisting of Boomer, Spectre, Jester, and the player character, Kahuna, as they attempt to neutralize different terrorist threats around the world. A weapons smuggling organization in Alaska, a biological threat in Thailand, a group of mercenaries in the Congo, and a terrorist organization with nuclear devices in Turkmenistan. The campaign consists of twelve missions and the narrative is primarily conveyed through cut scenes and mission briefings. I can’t say I love or hate the story here because the plot doesn’t seem to be the real focus. It feels more like a backdrop for the gameplay. You can easily ignore the narrative and still have a good time.
I would say SOCOM was ahead of its time in some respects. In the console world that is. SOCOM does come with online multiplayer. In fact, it’s one of the earliest titles to use the PS2’s online service. Another standout feature is the headset implementation. With a headset, you can communicate with other players online and issue voice commands to your AI teammates offline. To be clear, online functionality wasn’t anything new for the gaming world. Certainly not for the PC world but also the console world. It just wasn’t like it is today with almost everything being online. The fact is many games that released for the PS2 supported online features. Even some games for consoles that precede the PS2 came with online functionality. But I think it was still a somewhat novel concept for the console world and it helped make SOCOM unique for its time. Xbox Live launched a few months after SOCOM released so I guess you could say online functionality was just starting to really boom in the console world during the sixth-generation era. And the rest is history.
SOCOM is considered a tactical shooter and as someone that typically sucks at games in the genre, I can tell you that this is one of the more accessible tactical shooters I’ve played. You run around the environments with your team and can command them to do different things. Stealth can be a very important aspect of the game and it means staying quiet and out of sight. You want use suppressed weapons, shoot lights to create darkness, stay low, move slow, and stick to the shadows and foliage to remain undetected. One of your teammates is a translator and if he goes down, you won’t be able to eavesdrop on conversations which I thought was a nice touch. Each mission starts with a briefing menu where you can view a map of the area, objectives, and access the armory to change your team’s weapons and equipment.
I think SOCOM makes an interesting first impression. Much of what the game does has been done in other games and I would argue the missions that make up the first two thirds of the campaign on the first run are mostly easy to get through. It’s interesting because the game comes across as pretty easy at first, at least in my experience, but it teaches you a lot and a lot of what it teaches you will come in handy later on when the gameplay becomes much more challenging.
By default, aim assist and Help messages are enabled but can be disabled. Aim assist makes it easy to drop foes and the help messages not only show you the ropes but also kind of guide you through missions. At least some of the early ones. They’ll outright tell you the best approach to situations in some cases. Furthermore, the map you can reference during gameplay will have arrows directing you to the locations of objectives. So at first, I just didn’t get it. I appreciated that the game was teaching me how to play but I felt it was holding my hand a little too much. Plus, your AI teammates do a pretty good job on their own, too, and I was able to rely on them to overcome many obstacles, especially in the beginning. That’s not to say they’re super smart because I’ve seen them do dumb shit, too. Things didn’t really click with me until I hit what I consider a difficulty spike. Specifically the mission “Prison Break”, the mission that kicks off the last set of missions. And I say difficulty spike simply because of the difficulty the game forces you to play on during that first run. For the most part, I felt the missions up to that point were relatively easy then I got to “Prison Break” and got my ass kicked.
In the end, there’s a lot of things I like about SOCOM and some things I don’t. SOCOM’s campaign has a lot of replay value which is good but may not be immediately obvious during the first run. Each time you beat the campaign, you unlock a harder difficulty. Up to a certain point, that is. You can also unlock more weapons in the armory and a level select feature. I don’t necessarily mind the game making things harder for each run but I don’t much care for locking the level select feature behind a specific difficulty. You are graded based on your performance during a mission but on a first run, you won’t be able to replay an already completed mission for a better grade or to try something different. It’s not a really a huge problem but I do find it to be a somewhat odd design choice. For example, you may not want to jump into a harder difficulty right away and, instead, practice or attempt some missions again for a better grade. But you can’t.
One thing I really like about SOCOM is the freedom it offers. Most maps are designed in what feels like a somewhat linear fashion but they are rather large and the open-ended design allows you to approach situations however you see fit. There’s often multiple routes to take, buildings to infiltrate, some maps contain caves, and you’ll get to navigate around a good variety of environments including a temple, oil rig, and prison. You do have the option to not be stealthy. In most cases, you can go in all guns blazing and simply try not to die. But getting detected may result in more challenging gameplay like enemies on alert, one of the bad guys triggers a bomb timer – stuff like that.
As you make your way through the environments, you can sneak passed foes or drop them and can hide bodies if necessary. Although, I have seen bodies disappear which kind of renders the mechanic redundant in my opinion. You can command your team to fire at will or hold fire and utilize them to set up ambushes, breach and clear rooms, and watch your back. There’s a good amount of commands available, all of which I found to be useful and your teammates will do what they’re told. Also, from what I understand, there are hidden speech commands available for those playing with headsets. Each mission comes with primary and optional objectives to complete. There are no checkpoints so when you die or if all your teammates die or if you fail a primary objective, you must start the mission over from the beginning.
As I mentioned before, I think SOCOM makes an interesting first impression and it’s simply because of the difficulty you’re forced to play on. I found it easy to just run through areas and gun foes down for most of the campaign. Then I got to the mission “Prison Break” where that wasn’t so easy anymore. And I do feel this mission is a difficulty spike just because of how much easier the preceding missions were up to that point. The game says you have fifteen minutes to infiltrate a prison, retrieve a map, and extract a prisoner before a Hind returns and it will attempt to gun you down when it arrives. If you’re detected at all before you’re able to infiltrate, an alarm goes off and enemies are on alert. Plus, some foes here carry grenade launchers that can easily drop you and your teammates so you need to be careful.
This mission can be frustrating but also very rewarding and I think that’s why it’s where the game clicked with me. I won’t say it’s my favorite mission but being stealthy here can be very rewarding and you’ll need to utilize your team and much of what you learned to succeed and avoid the frustration. I guess it’s when I realized SOCOM is more than just a third-person shooter with stealth. This mission is also a good example of the kind of freedom the game gives you. You don’t have to be stealthy and can certainly succeed by running and gunning but getting detected, especially during the first part of the mission, makes it more challenging. That said, it can be very trial and error so hopefully you have patience. I failed this mission several times and always ended up getting detected at some point but just simply getting inside the prison and disabling the generator before the alarm goes off was rewarding. And I was somewhat eager to keep trying. The feeling of sneaking around with your team, dropping enemies quietly, and infiltrating without being detected can be exciting.
Each mission will require you to complete a set of objectives and you only have to complete the primary ones. But completing optional objectives can make things easier. The objectives are what you would expect from a game like this. Things like defuse bombs, destroy things, clear buildings, collect intel, and rescue and extract people. As indicated earlier, the environments are somewhat large but you can study a map at the mission briefing menu and the map you can reference during gameplay will typically show you where you need to go. Objective markers appear on the radar so you should always know what direction to move in at any time. Enemies can be found patrolling and standing around and you should be mindful of your surroundings and check corners because it can be easy to miss foes or get sniped if you’re not paying attention.
SOCOM definitely looks like a game from its time. The character models look decent, the animations are solid, and I like the muzzle flashes. For the most part, I would say the environments feature enough details to help nail the realistic look they’re going for. Not only that but I enjoyed the variety of environments on offer. Each threat you go after is set in a different part of the world so you basically come to a new what I’ll call biome every few missions. As for the audio, I really enjoyed the sounds of the weapons fire in this game. Unsuppressed weapons sound loud and powerful and that along with the animations and muzzle flashes help make the gunplay feel satisfying. On the technical side, I noticed the frame rate dip from time to time and my character fell through the ground once but most of the time I didn’t encounter any noticeable bugs or issues.
Ultimately, I enjoyed SOCOM and feel it’s a solid tactical shooter for a home console. I can’t say it’s my favorite game in the genre but I think it did enough to differentiate itself from others of its kind at the time it released. Being stealthy and ordering teammates around was nothing new and there are some design decisions here I don’t agree with but, for the most part, I don’t have a lot of negative things to say about the game. The game is fun if you like the style of gameplay. It’s more than just a standard third-person shooter. It will make you think and I appreciate the amount of replay value it offers, especially since the official multiplayer servers were shut down some time ago. I also like the freedom the game gives you, allowing you to experiment with different tactics and strategies. I do feel the difficulty spikes hard at a certain point but everything the game teaches you and all the handholding that came before that point should prepare you for what SOCOM is really trying to convey, what it’s really about. If you take advantage of the relatively easy difficulty of the first two thirds of the campaign during that first playthrough and just run through every mission without any attempt to remain undetected, I feel the spike or wall you will eventually hit will hurt a lot more. But that’s just my take on it. The game is easy until its not. The last set of missions can really kick your ass. In the end, I think SOCOM works well as a tactical third-person shooter and stealth game and I only hope the sequels expand on and improve what was established here.
I would recommend SOCOM because it’s fun and in my opinion, a good introduction to the tactical shooter genre. It does a good job teaching you the mechanics and goes easy on you in the beginning. It comes with a good amount of replay value and gives you enough room to experiment and try different things and the gameplay can be rewarding. Definitely check it out.