SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 2
It's official, folks, the PSP version of SOCOM is now officially the better offering.
Published: December 18, 2006
Yeah, it's a scary thought: the PSP iteration of SOCOM this year actually outclasses its PS2 big brother. Blame it on the fact that the PS2 versions of the series have been online-focused for years now, and the whole idea behind the latest outing was to push people into picking up a new single-player game that was keenly linked to the events that happened in Fireteam Bravo 2. Combined Assault is certainly not a bad game, but thanks to some fantastic online play and a great, slightly more action-oriented single-player game, FB2 is just frankly awesome, and only gets better when you put the two versions up against each other.
Like Combined Assault, Fireteam Bravo 2 shoves the SEALs into fictitious near-democratic country of Adjikistan. Rather than a team of four men, fireteam bravo is but two lone ops, sent in to be even more covert and surgical than a four-man team could be. Just shy of 15 missions play out in the same environments found on the PS2, and end up as a fair approximation in the process.
The now-familiar process of dropping into an area, checking your PDA for a map and various objectives and then slowly setting out to pop a bunch of baddies is still here, but it has been augmented slightly by the addition of Command Equity, points earned for finding bits of intel and snapping useful photos. So long as you've accumulated enough CE, you can call in a supply drop or air strike by sighting an area with your binoculars. As you complete some of the side objectives, you'll also build Local Influence, which can help you enlist the help of some of the local sympathizers and the grey market. Neither is absolutely necessary, but they do add a nice little touch (and a little more depth) to what has become rather familiar gameplay.
Like Combined Assault, the level progression has been tweaked a little, allowing you to actively choose what missions you want to take on, and even gives you the option to back into a previous mission to build up more CE or LI or unlock more crosstalk objectives that thicken up the universe you're populating. Sure, it's slightly gimmicky, but to blow up an objective in one game and then come across it in another adds a little geek-out factor that is hard to describe. It's even cooler to see the team from the other game doing their thing from afar. Suffice it to say that it's cool enough to justify having both the PS2 and PSP versions of this story.
One of the biggest gripes folks have had with the PSP, particularly when dealing with a game or franchise that already existed on the PS2, is that the lack of a second analog stick completely janks the whole experience. It's a fair argument, but games like Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror have shown that a shooter -- specifically a slower, more tactical one -- can work with just one stick. Rather than allowing freelook all the time, though, Fireteam Bravo 2 instead uses a lock-on system that converts forward/back movement and side to side turns into circle strafes when the R button is held down.
It works well while on flat land, but the second the game starts to through undulating terrain, it can lead to a little frustration when enemies are clearly shooting at you, but the lock-on doesn't want to grab, so it's a trip into first-person mode for you, all while you're getting peppered with shots. Given that there are no checkpoints in the levels, getting popped by a dude while inching over a ridge is a bitch, though the game does at least gift you with a sizeable number of med kits and allows you to easily heal your teammate, who boasts AI strong enough to cover both his own ass and yours.
Like Combined Assault, Fireteam Bravo 2 shoves the SEALs into fictitious near-democratic country of Adjikistan. Rather than a team of four men, fireteam bravo is but two lone ops, sent in to be even more covert and surgical than a four-man team could be. Just shy of 15 missions play out in the same environments found on the PS2, and end up as a fair approximation in the process.
The now-familiar process of dropping into an area, checking your PDA for a map and various objectives and then slowly setting out to pop a bunch of baddies is still here, but it has been augmented slightly by the addition of Command Equity, points earned for finding bits of intel and snapping useful photos. So long as you've accumulated enough CE, you can call in a supply drop or air strike by sighting an area with your binoculars. As you complete some of the side objectives, you'll also build Local Influence, which can help you enlist the help of some of the local sympathizers and the grey market. Neither is absolutely necessary, but they do add a nice little touch (and a little more depth) to what has become rather familiar gameplay.
Like Combined Assault, the level progression has been tweaked a little, allowing you to actively choose what missions you want to take on, and even gives you the option to back into a previous mission to build up more CE or LI or unlock more crosstalk objectives that thicken up the universe you're populating. Sure, it's slightly gimmicky, but to blow up an objective in one game and then come across it in another adds a little geek-out factor that is hard to describe. It's even cooler to see the team from the other game doing their thing from afar. Suffice it to say that it's cool enough to justify having both the PS2 and PSP versions of this story.
One of the biggest gripes folks have had with the PSP, particularly when dealing with a game or franchise that already existed on the PS2, is that the lack of a second analog stick completely janks the whole experience. It's a fair argument, but games like Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror have shown that a shooter -- specifically a slower, more tactical one -- can work with just one stick. Rather than allowing freelook all the time, though, Fireteam Bravo 2 instead uses a lock-on system that converts forward/back movement and side to side turns into circle strafes when the R button is held down.
It works well while on flat land, but the second the game starts to through undulating terrain, it can lead to a little frustration when enemies are clearly shooting at you, but the lock-on doesn't want to grab, so it's a trip into first-person mode for you, all while you're getting peppered with shots. Given that there are no checkpoints in the levels, getting popped by a dude while inching over a ridge is a bitch, though the game does at least gift you with a sizeable number of med kits and allows you to easily heal your teammate, who boasts AI strong enough to cover both his own ass and yours.
