Back in the glory years of the PS2, there was a short plot that got a lot of hype and made owners of the organization very excited. SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs was your typical 3rd person shooter, but it also brought a new look to the way we played: commanding your troops with a headset and your voice.
Since that pioneering release in 2002, we have seen other games in the serial and they have stuck with the same gameplay mechanic. With SOCOM 4, that rule remains unchanged, only this time you`re not a SEAL.
You work as Ops Commander Cullen Gary, in point of a five-person NATO team charged with taking down an entire army occupying an unknown country in Southeast Asia. The history has been done before and seems uninspired. There isn`t much character development, and what little there is centers entirely on Grey and the other playable character, Forty-Five. The only redeeming factor for the tale is the voice acting. It is superbly done with some clever one-liners.
As previously stated, SOCOM 4 stays true to its inheritance of squad-based gameplay. When you meet as Gray, you are in command of two-man teams Blue and Gold. Blue Team`s specialty is mid-range combat with assault rifles as chief weapons, while the Gold Team`s specialty is long-range and suppression with silenced weapons and sniper rifles.Commanding the troops is a snap, as it is handled with the directional pad. To dominate the Blue Team to a location, simply place your cursor and press left on the d-pad. For the Gold Team, press right. If you wish your teams to take out a particular target, just put your cursor on the foe and pressing the appropriate button, and they will drive them out. This is useful as the process gets rather intense towards the end of the game. I did, however, run into some problems with murder of orders. For instance, I targeted an enemy sniper for the Gold Team to lead out.
I figured this wouldn`t be a problem, as the squad was right adjacent to me and I could see the enemy. After a pair of minutes, the team reported back that they didn`t receive a visual. This happened more than once, which was surprising because the AI is approximately of the smartest I have encountered in some time. The serious word is that you actually don`t want to head out targets all that much as, like I said, your team is very healthy and experience when to shoot. In fact, you can let your team do all the dirty work for you. There is still a prize for doing exactly that. But really, what`s the fun in that?
Playing as Forty-Five is completely different. Since she is division of the Gold Team and uses silent techniques, her missions are stealth based. The gameplay is distinctive for stealth missions: stay in shadows and don`t be seen otherwise you will be killed. As I don`t take the patience for stealing and choose to run round and take things, her missions were the most frustrating.Learning the layout of the map and enemy locations is purely trial and error; nothing new for stealth.
The most frustrating thing about this plot is the fact that, unlike your teammates, Gray cannot be revived. Fortunately, checkpoints are handled well so you don`t get to go too far from where you died.
When you have realized the one player campaign, you can catch a few friends and try the co-op mission modes. There are a few different options here. You can produce a quick match, join friends who are already playing co-op missions, create a custom co-op challenge, or simply make a co-op game. If you only need to make a co-op game, you take two different choices. You can play Takedown, which has you fighting through enemy forces with the end of eliminating the enemy VIP character. You can also represent a game mode called Espionage, which has you fighting enemy forces to find and upload data. For the sentence I got to turn these modes, I had a lot of fun. The intense action carries over from the individual player movement and does want you to stay in communication with your buddies. You`ll take them to track your butt, and if they go to do that, you will die. If you do find yourself dying a lot, you can customise the plot by toning down the trouble and amount of opposition forces.
The customization doesn`t end there. The weapons you win and tied up in the one player are carried over to the multiplayer modes. Don`t get too excited, though. The weapon customization is awful. Each weapon can simply be upgraded to 5 levels. Scopes and suppressors are the only unlockables. Thanks to other military combat games, we have been spoiled with customization. SOCOM simply does not present on this aspect.
Unfortunately, the competitive multiplayer was unavailable due to PSN outages. We will update our impressions right here as shortly as the PSN is up and we are capable to work online.
While SOCOM has its flaws, the plot is very enjoyable. The one player campaign is fun, with squad command being slow to do and an absolute necessity, but I had more fun with the multiplayer. I had a blast playing with friends, yelling at them to carry out enemies that had me pinned down. If the small problems are fixed, the back will be that often more enjoyable. Unfortunately, with a lot of early titles in this genre, it`s all too probable that SOCOM 4 will get confused in the crowd.
Review copy provided by publisher.
No comments:
Post a Comment