SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs
For Zipper's third military outing, refinement's the name of the game.
Published: June 1, 2005
Few things have ended up as sure a thing as the SOCOM series. Sony's partnership with Seattle-based developer Zipper Interactive ended up being one of the most lucrative 2nd-party deals in the company's history, and helped them join the ranks of long-time partners like Naughty Dog and Insomniac.
Even from a purely online standpoint, SOCOM has been Sony's killer app, and was almos single-handedly responsible for galvanizing the online service, and helped support it against the admittedly more focused and better thought out Xbox Live service. Free online play plus a game that really utilized ladders, plus had the capacity to support millions of accounts and 35,000 people playing during peak sessions meant PS2 gamers had something they could go back to time and again.
Then again, it's not like the single-player game was a slouch. Using the headset to issue commands to AI squadmates is still cool (if a novelty from an ease of use standpoint), but the upgrade from the first to second game definitely felt like things were skewed towards the online side of things. This was probably a wise decision, since I don't know anyone who still plays through the offline bits, but more than a few people are horribly addicted to playing against other people.
SOCOM 3, however, represents a pretty fundamental rebuilding of the best parts of both modes from the ground up. The single-player mode will get a huge gameplay boost in the form of drivable vehicles, which are more than just transportation, but actually serve as a digital representation of the core tactics that SEAL teams adopt when using vehicles, namely stripping things down to the basics and then loading them out with enough weapons to effectively establish 360 degrees of suppressive fire. This means aside from the driver, everyone in a vehicle can take aim at something (while playing, you can switch from driver to gunner if you need to scratch that itchy trigger finger). While SEAL vehicles are obviously ideal, it's absolutely possible to "appropriate" anything else on the field by simply capping the driver and hopping in, GTA-style.
Actually issuing common orders has been streamlined into a context-sensitive system dubbed Team Command Actions, allowing you to simply point crosshairs at a target and issue the appropriate command (breach, move to, attack, etc.) and a general overhaul of the interface into a less complex circular system replaces the old nested system of branching orders. It's a nice touch, and should make commanding your squad mates a lot easier. Of course, if you want to take the lead, you certainly can, including now leading breaches to clear rooms if you'd like.
For entrenched enemies, the all-new Airburst grenade launcher lets you target the general area of an enemy and then launch a payload of shrapnel that explodes overhead, raining debris down on the target to either kill them or flush them out. This is a very real weapon, and just went into use overseas, and demonstrates the kind of relationship Zipper and the U.S. Military have. Should you need to find cover, the developers added in swimming and the ability to submerge, face-up to avoid enemy patrols. It was undeniably cool to watch a SEAL just slowly sink down into a stream and tread water, nearly invisible to any nearby patrols.
Multiplayer has seen an even bigger shot of steroids. Up to 32 players can join a game, (double the previous SOCOMs), four can spectate, and in both single- and multiplayer, the new customizable weapons system lets you combine those 30+ weapons and 20 attachments to create more than 800 different loadouts (800 was the number Zipper gave us, but Sony is going as high as nearly 1,000 possible combinations).
The levels are now streamed, allowing for absolutely massive missions and multiplayer environments (some of which include old maps that have been slightly updated). The 12 new levels now are up to six times larger than previous maps, and boast a better rendering engine that incorporates volumetric smoke and haze as well as improved detail (though we still were amazed the development team could pick a vaguely dark blob out as an enemy during the demo). Before actually launching into a mission, there's also the option to pick your spawn point on an overhead map during the briefing.
The increased size of the levels also means objectives and mission types (there are seven in all now) can change on the fly, offering a whole lot more variety across the various missions in Poland (where we got our private demo showing), Morocco and South Asia. These new settings will play host to the two new modes -- Convoy, where you protect a convoy moving from one point on the map to the next from ambush, and Control, where teams will drop beacons on control points in an effort to claim and hold an section until one side has reached 50 points.
Even from a purely online standpoint, SOCOM has been Sony's killer app, and was almos single-handedly responsible for galvanizing the online service, and helped support it against the admittedly more focused and better thought out Xbox Live service. Free online play plus a game that really utilized ladders, plus had the capacity to support millions of accounts and 35,000 people playing during peak sessions meant PS2 gamers had something they could go back to time and again.
Then again, it's not like the single-player game was a slouch. Using the headset to issue commands to AI squadmates is still cool (if a novelty from an ease of use standpoint), but the upgrade from the first to second game definitely felt like things were skewed towards the online side of things. This was probably a wise decision, since I don't know anyone who still plays through the offline bits, but more than a few people are horribly addicted to playing against other people.
SOCOM 3, however, represents a pretty fundamental rebuilding of the best parts of both modes from the ground up. The single-player mode will get a huge gameplay boost in the form of drivable vehicles, which are more than just transportation, but actually serve as a digital representation of the core tactics that SEAL teams adopt when using vehicles, namely stripping things down to the basics and then loading them out with enough weapons to effectively establish 360 degrees of suppressive fire. This means aside from the driver, everyone in a vehicle can take aim at something (while playing, you can switch from driver to gunner if you need to scratch that itchy trigger finger). While SEAL vehicles are obviously ideal, it's absolutely possible to "appropriate" anything else on the field by simply capping the driver and hopping in, GTA-style.
Actually issuing common orders has been streamlined into a context-sensitive system dubbed Team Command Actions, allowing you to simply point crosshairs at a target and issue the appropriate command (breach, move to, attack, etc.) and a general overhaul of the interface into a less complex circular system replaces the old nested system of branching orders. It's a nice touch, and should make commanding your squad mates a lot easier. Of course, if you want to take the lead, you certainly can, including now leading breaches to clear rooms if you'd like.
For entrenched enemies, the all-new Airburst grenade launcher lets you target the general area of an enemy and then launch a payload of shrapnel that explodes overhead, raining debris down on the target to either kill them or flush them out. This is a very real weapon, and just went into use overseas, and demonstrates the kind of relationship Zipper and the U.S. Military have. Should you need to find cover, the developers added in swimming and the ability to submerge, face-up to avoid enemy patrols. It was undeniably cool to watch a SEAL just slowly sink down into a stream and tread water, nearly invisible to any nearby patrols.
Multiplayer has seen an even bigger shot of steroids. Up to 32 players can join a game, (double the previous SOCOMs), four can spectate, and in both single- and multiplayer, the new customizable weapons system lets you combine those 30+ weapons and 20 attachments to create more than 800 different loadouts (800 was the number Zipper gave us, but Sony is going as high as nearly 1,000 possible combinations).
The levels are now streamed, allowing for absolutely massive missions and multiplayer environments (some of which include old maps that have been slightly updated). The 12 new levels now are up to six times larger than previous maps, and boast a better rendering engine that incorporates volumetric smoke and haze as well as improved detail (though we still were amazed the development team could pick a vaguely dark blob out as an enemy during the demo). Before actually launching into a mission, there's also the option to pick your spawn point on an overhead map during the briefing.
The increased size of the levels also means objectives and mission types (there are seven in all now) can change on the fly, offering a whole lot more variety across the various missions in Poland (where we got our private demo showing), Morocco and South Asia. These new settings will play host to the two new modes -- Convoy, where you protect a convoy moving from one point on the map to the next from ambush, and Control, where teams will drop beacons on control points in an effort to claim and hold an section until one side has reached 50 points.
