SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo

"Does SOCOM's PSP Debut Set the Stones for a Handheld Game of the Year Sequel?"

INTRODUCTION

SOCOM US NAVY SEALS has been an exclusive to Playstation systems since its debut at the turn of the century. These games were noted by critics as software with smooth gameplay, sleek graphics, and a touch of strategy thrown into the mix. I recently picked up this game, SOCOM Fireteam Bravo, at Gamestop for a mere fifteen bucks just to see how it matched up to the console installations. While FB never really disappoints the player, there are too many major errors that cannot be forgiven to crown this title as an excellent game. FB is schizophrenic: it cannot decide whether to be great or downright terrible. The most noted sign of schizophrenia lies within the framerate, which can run as smoothly as a console game or run as terribly as a 3-D SNES title. And believe me, that is NOT a compliment. But, then again, it is SOCOM, and it does have its moments, so read further in order to discern the reasons why I gave SOCOM a relatively low 7.9.

PRESENTATION

This section of games has been increasingly hard to review because of the simple fact that the standard presentation of games has come so far that developers have to TRY to make a mediocre setting for the game. But SOCOM FB doesn't just live up to this statement; it goes beyond the call of duty and delivers a great story for the PSP, excellent cutscenes, and easily useable interactive menus. An excellent multiplayer mode that emulates its bigger cousins on the PS2 doesn't hurt either. Some people, however, may find the weapons assortment confusing if they have never played any games in the series. Another problem is the lengthy loading screens, which can be excessively annoying during the campaign mode. But besides these minimal reasons, SOCOM ranks up there with Ridge Racer at the top of the PSP presentation ladder.

GRAPHICS

This section of the game is downright disappointing. The character models are low-polygon, bland terrorists that all look exactly the same (save for that the specified person is a VIP, Civilian, etc.). The backdrops can be nice at times, but for the majority of the game, there is no background at all- just a gray fog-like thing. This bad showing of graphical capabilities could be negligible if the framerate stayed steady for the entire game, but that is strangely not the case. IGN editor Jeff Haynes gave SOCOM lenience for sacrificing graphics and gameplay for the large environments that SOCOM immerses you in, but that is no excuse to have sub-PSX graphics on a "next-gen" system. Overall, SOCOM FB does not fully utilize the PSP's graphical capabilities, and I am sure that this disturbed and upsetted SOCOM fans around the world.

SOUND

In contrast to the mediocre graphical job done by FB's developers, Fireteam Bravo's sound is very detailed and fluent. Each gun has a different sound when they are fired (hey, it might not sound impressive, but I have seen games without this quality on consoles), and the dialogue between you (SANDMAN), your partner LONESTAR, and base command is clear and very realistic. You will also find yourself humming the tunes from both in-game and the menus in Fireteam Bravo. The explosions are somewhat muffled, but, then again, I will excuse this because they are very hard to record (Syphon Filter being an obvious example). Players will definitely not be disappointed with SOCOM's sound work.

GAMEPLAY

The gameplay in SOCOM Fireteam Bravo is, all things considered, a mixed bag. There are times where the game is running so smoothly that you will be incredibly astounded by the realistic movements of your soldier and the NPC's around you (like, say, the first few missions). But right around the time where you enter the campaign in South Asia (you may have seen tiny hints of it before this, but I am speaking generally here), the game becomes outrageously bad. It seems that God had pushed SOCOM's gameplay off the heaven cloud for having too many martinis. Unless the developers wanted the last levels to look like a low budget game (and believe me, it wasn't), there is no reasonable excuse for this much bad in an otherwise exciting conclusion to a good story. The multiplayer seems to be diagnosed with the same schizophrenia; it runs either perfectly or barely works at all. I own the headset to communicate with my squad in multiplayer mode, and that doesn't always work either. Lots of static and muffling + a lot of dead silence moments + no real need for it in the first place = bad waste of my $20. If SOCOM had run the same crappy way throughout the entire game, I would have placed this section in the mid-to-low 2's. Just play the first missions and multiplayer every now and then in order to get the most fun out of FB; don't waste your time fumbling through the bad bug-filled levels.

LASTING APPEAL

If, of course, you can live through the horrible last couple of missions, there is a fair amount of replay value in Fireteam Bravo. Extra unlockables from campaign mode (such as primary and secondary weapons, explosives, etc.) is always a nice touch, and the generally potent multiplayer could be your #1 PSP multiplayer choice for a long time (or at least until the sequel comes out). 14 campaign levels even out to about four hours of gameplay to beat the entire campaign in one run-through, and the storyline is generally engaging. Basically, this is the same stuff that we saw from SOCOM 3 about a year ago, and that is definitely not a bad thing.

CONCLUSION

I wouldn't say that I am disappointed in Fireteam Bravo, but I am definitely not enthralled by it either. FB has its unbelievably great moments, but the moments of utter and complete design failure are there as well. The campaign mode, to be honest with you, is nothing that other games don't have on the system (Bond From Russia With Love is a much better singleplayer choice). But SOCOM PSP delivered what the PSP most needed at the time: an overall excellent multiplayer mode.

Reader's Ratings for SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo
Rating Description
9.8 Presentation
Generally perfect in every way. Outside of the gameplay, Fireteam Bravo looks like a genre-buster on the portable consoles. No problems here, but this has become the standard for most games.
5.5 Graphics
Ouch. Not a good start for the SOCOM PSP team. Bland environments, bad soldier details, and horrible gun models all lead up to a less-than-mediocre graphical experience.
9.0 Sound
Good overall tracks, nice sound effects (especially with the guns), and excellently recorded dialogue. There is no problems with the sound in SOCOM PSP except with the terrible sound of explosions.
6.8 Gameplay
I will put this between 6 and 7 because the game has it's great and horrible moments. I will not give as much lenience for the next installment if the framerate for the last few missions is this bad.
8.5 Lasting Appeal
A good amount of unlockables to get from campaign mode and an overall functional (and enteratining) multiplayer is a good asset to the game, giving it a substantial amount of replay value.
7.9 OVERALL
(out of 10 / not an average)

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/11/08

Game Release: SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo (US, 11/08/05)