SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs

"Where's Charlie Sheen?"

Sony's best-selling SOCOM franchise has always been the flagship title for the PS2's online network. This military squad-based shooter has a strong fanbase and the first two entries of the series still have thousands playing online to this very day. Now Sony has released the third entry in the series with the same subtitle as the first two (hooray for originality), SOCOM 3: US Navy Seals. Fans shouldn't be disappointed here, as developer Zipper has delivered a commendable sequel with more maps, vastly improved online play (now supporting up to 32 players), thrown vehicles into the mix, and iced the cake with another thrilling single player campaign.

SOCOM 3 still plays like the two prior entries, but with a few modifications and new features. Players can now swim across water, and even temporarily hold their breath and go underwater for some extra depth for gamers who prefer stealth gameplay. However, it is worth noting that while swimming, you cannot fire weapons. The other major addition to the gameplay is the ability to commandeer a variety of vehicles. The armored humvee quickly became a favorite of mine, whether I drove it or manned the turret. It took me a while to adapt to the driving controls after being used to driving Warthogs in the Halo games for so long, but after a while it, became second nature. There are several other options for vehicles that I also liked, such as a pick-up truck with a mounted turret and a raft with several turrets planted on it for major damage.

Commanding your squad is still done via menus or through a USB headset. Commands can be assigned to the L2 button for more convenient access. The AI for your squadmates is pretty solid for the most part. However, every now and then, they would test my nerves, taking a longer and less safe way to regroup with me or would run out in the open in the midst of heated enemy fire. For a majority of the time, I had no problem with them during the single player campaign.

Speaking of the campaign, it is divided up into three parts where the Seals will execute missions in North Africa, South Asia, and Poland. There is a lot of variety in the mission types, most of them play similar to missions in the past games where the Seals set out on missions such as search and destroy, hostage rescues, defending bases, and capturing enemy officers to name a few. A lot of the stages add vehicles to the mix that freshens up the gameplay a bit. Each stage also has multiple checkpoints that automatically top off the squad's ammo and lifebar. SOCOM purists will probably be offended by this, but I actually prefer it as it made proceeding through the much longer missions a lot less frustrating.

You'll want to make sure to complete the campaign a few times as it unlocks some extra skins and weapon parts to use for the awesome online play. A major highlight of this area is that developers Zipper have doubled the max amount of players from 16 to 32. I became an instant fan of 16v16 deathmatches that had respawn and vehicles activated. It became a fun and intense battleground to wreak havoc on. Surprisingly lag is not that much of an issue with a high amount of players as I originally thought it would be. All the maps can be chosen to be played in night or daytime which completely differentiates how you plan your strategy. It is like playing on two different maps all together.

What isn't all that different is the graphics engine. The three year old engine showcases visuals that are nowhere in the same league of more current military shooters like the Ghost Recon or Call of Duty series. For the PS2, they are acceptable, but I just get the feeling they could have been polished up a bit from the two years since the last installment. Most of the terrain textures are washed out and look somewhat muddy, and some of the character models for the enemies leave a lot to be desired. On the upside, this does allow for a fast framerate as I seldom noticed any hints of slowdown, even in the most engaging of firefights.

The audio is a lot better. There is a well crafted soundtrack that kicks in at just the right moments that really helps keeps the pace flowing in the campaign. All the sound effects are right on the money too, and they play a big factor in detecting where shots are coming from and how close enemies are approaching from. The voice acting is another bright spot in the campaign. All the voice actors have a convincing tone to them and the terrorists even speak in their native tongue that add to the authenticity that the SOCOM titles are known to deliver.

Fans of the series don't even need to ask if they should think twice about picking up SOCOM 3. It delivers on nearly all aspects. Even gamers who don't have online capabilities should check this out as it delivers a good single player campaign on top of one of the best online modes of the entire PS2 library. SOCOM 3 is a must buy for all military shooter fans and should rank high on your holiday wish list.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/16/05