SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo

"It looks like SOCOM, and it sounds like SOCOM, but it's not really SOCOM."

SOCOM is one of the most recognizable brands that Sony holds in its formidable stable. From the initial game in the series, which was the first ever to make use of the Broadband Adapter and the USB Headset for PlayStation 2, to the two bigger and better sequels that have followed, the SOCOM name has become synonymous with military-themed shooters on videogame consoles.

With the PSP system moving into its first holiday season, it was a natural fit that Sony would want to have one of its most popular game chains to see a version come out for the fledgling system. This game would not only attempt to draw fans of the console title over to the portable system, and give the PSP a top-notch title for the winter rush, but could also be used as a major example of the PSP's wireless internet functionality, given SOCOM's built-in online community.

Building and maintaining a successful conversion of the SOCOM experience for PSP would be no small task. Given the differences between a home console and a portable game device, as well as the differences between LAN and WLAN connectivity, there were many potential problems that would need to be addressed. Zipper Interactive, the developer behind the SOCOM series, was well acquainted with building a game from scratch to take advantage of a new system's untested online infrastructure, what with their experience from the original launch of the SOCOM series. If anyone was equipped to handle such an experiment, it would be them.

With about as much fanfare as a new portable title can generate, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo hit store shelves on November 8, 2005. With the gift-giving season in full swing, those who have come to love the SOCOM series have two very important questions about this game is: is it SOCOM, and is it any fun to play? Read on:

Visuals:

The game's menus are straightforward and easy to understand. The main menu, and the related submenus, all present the available options simply, and the overall look is crisp and visually appealing. In-game menus are much the same as their console counterparts, with the select button menu allowing the player to browse mission objectives and an area map, while the pause menu is used to abort and restart missions as well. All of the in-game menus are as good as you would expect from a SOCOM game.

Before each new area of operation, an impressive-looking, although obviously pre-rendered, CGI video plays to introduce the main villains for the AO. These look very good, and despite some minor lip synching problems, they are very believable. They adequately inform the player of the situation that they are about to face, which is all that is needed of them.

In-game graphics are as remarkable as have yet been seen on a PSP; in fact, from a slight distance, you might not be able to tell the difference between FTB and the original SOCOM on PS2. That's not to say that it's drop-dead gorgeous; the PSP can only do so much, and FTB seems to tax it near its limits. The maps look nice, with some decent foliage and textures, and indoor environments, while sparse, all look pretty accurate to what you would expect. Character models are the most amazing part of the visuals, with you and your SEAL teammate being the best of them all. You can see different equipment on each SEAL's clothing, and the faces look fairly realistic, even up close. Enemy models, while sporting fewer polygons, also look nice and crisp, and everyone's weapons are rendered as precisely as you would hope for. For the most part, seeing this game in action is a sight to behold, and an impressive testament to the power of the PSP.

Animations for characters and weapons look similarly excellent in FTB, although this is due more to the fact that it borrows them from SOCOM 3 than from its own programming merits. The game's animation flows very nicely from one motion to the next, and there is no jumping or stopping between actions. The frame rate also holds up extremely well, although there is usually not enough action or characters on the screen at once to cause it to drop. The only time it ever will drop severely is in online games, and this only happens in the rare instance of more than ten players gathering on your screen at once.

FTB's graphics and general visual style are of the highest quality yet seen on the PSP, and the game experience greatly profits as a result.

Score: 9/10

Sound:

The SOCOM series, being modeled after real-world situations, have traditionally had a very high-quality acoustic experience. FTB continues this custom to the best of its ability, delivering a solid audio performance that lives up to the game's console bloodlines.

The sound effects during gameplay are almost exactly identical to those found in SOCOM 3 on PS2. All of the weapons, from explosives to rifles, sound exactly how you would expect them to, and the system does an incredible job of conveying the variation in their sounds from different distances and angles. The levels themselves have their own ambient sounds, and while they may repeat every so often, they ultimately add a lot to the atmosphere of each map. None of the effects come off as tinny or canned, which is a major accomplishment for a portable game.

There isn't a tremendous amount of voiceover work in FTB, but what the script lacks in quantity it makes up in quality. The actors who lend their voices to the game all do a dead-on job of playing their roles, from the SEAL team all the way through the entirety of the Terrorist cast. Once again, all of the enemy voices are in the native language of the terrorist group, and this feature adds to the realism of the game.

The music is very similar to that of SOCOM 3, and as a result shares the same great persona. The military-themed songs all fit the mood of the area where they play perfectly, and they all gain and lose momentum in accordance with the proceedings of the level. It isn't going to win any awards, but it fits the bill perfectly.

There is nothing negative to be said about the sound in FTB. Every aspect, from the pops of gunfire to the mid-battle instructions of terrorists to the sweeping musical score that envelopes it all, lives up to the series' considerably high standards.

Score: 10/10

Gameplay:

The gameplay in the entire SOCOM series has been designed to stress the concepts of teamwork and stealth, which are extremely important to real world SEAL teams. FTB ultimately fails to bring these concepts to fruition on the PSP system, and as a result the gameplay does not feel very much like it is from a version of SOCOM.

The controls for FTB are markedly different from those of the PS2 SOCOM games, due to the replacement of precision aiming with a lock-on feature. The R trigger is used to lock onto the nearest enemy, and tapping the L trigger while locked on allows you to cycle through targets. The X button fires your weapon, while the square button serves as a context-sensitive action button, in addition to allowing you to reload your weapon. Triangle cycles through stances, while circle is used to give orders via a menu. The analog nub moves your character, and holding the L trigger down while moving allows your character to strafe. The D-pad allows for weapon zooming by tapping up or down, as well as controlling your weapon inventory by hitting left and activating freelook by pressing right. The select button brings up a window with the objective map, and the start button brings up the pause menu.

The controls will be difficult for any SOCOM vet to get used to, but they work surprisingly well. There will be times when you'll find yourself wishing you could throw grenades easier, and turning to face enemies that appear behind you is difficult, but overall the control scheme feels comfortable, and you should be used to it within a little while of beginning gameplay. Of course, anyone used to console shooters will definitely get the feeling that they're playing with watered-down controls.

Regrettably, the control scheme – or rather, the necessity of having it – also ends up negating the premise of stealth in the gameplay. Using the lock-on mechanic will instantly let you know where your enemies are, whether they have tried to conceal themselves or not; indeed, pressing the R trigger will even give a warning message if an enemy is in front of you, but too far away to be locked on. Needless to say, this deflates any premise of covertness in the missions beyond the few where you are required to stay out of enemy sight.

The aspect of teamwork also does not make the move to PSP well. Instead of three CPU-controlled teammates, you are given just one buddy to watch your back. This means that you are essentially left on your own to accomplish most of the given tasks, other than the occasional room clearance and explosive planting. In fact, more often than not, you will likely only notice his presence when he does something wrong – a problem that occurs somewhat often.

The A.I. for this commando seems to be no better than that of the SEALs in SOCOMs past, as will still perform such boneheaded maneuvers as not clearing the area of a C4 explosion and trying to melee attack charging enemies in lieu of using his weapon. Luckily, though, the game seems to have been designed to negate most of these programming shortcomings, and he will usually be more helpful than harmful, thanks to his impressive accuracy with long-distance shots. Of course, enemies are similarly mindless, often running into your line of sight while you shoot their friends from a distance, or going prone in the middle of a wide-open area after they hear a bullet whiz by.

The levels themselves are the most interesting part of the game, as the developers have done a good job of translating certain locales onto the PSP. You will be performing a good variety of missions, from sabotaging critical objectives to rescuing and extracting hostages, and the game does a good job of keeping things fresh between levels. It's actually quite regrettable that the design is so good here, because often you will feel like you're achieving little as you breeze through the game. FTB's only really challenging feature is the lack of mid-mission checkpoints, which make some of the longer levels seem more difficult than they actually are.

Another piece of the game that feels bland compared to the console titles are the weapons. Shooting a machine gun or and assault rifle in the PS2 SOCOM games felt appropriately realistic, with each weapon sporting its own accuracy and power characteristics that actually affected how they performed in the game. On PSP, the guns all feel very similar to each other, since you can't really tell which ones work best when you're locked on. Explosives such as grenade launchers and RPGs feel similarly unrealistic to use – a fact compounded by the confounding lack of SOCOM 3's ‘load system,' which limited based on weight how much gear you could bring around with you.

FTB's offline gameplay, while definitely similar to that of the console SOCOMs, does not manage to fully recreate the feel of those games on the PSP, which will ultimately give you the feeling that you're playing a diluted version of the game.

Score: 6/10

Features/Modes:

FTB features ‘Instant Action' missions for every level completed in the single-player game. These are little more than rehashes of the maps from the campaign, with a single overriding objective in place of the story-driven ones. There is little reason to play these, unless you're an obsessive type who needs to complete every challenge the game offers.

As mentioned earlier, FTB offers players access to SOCOM 3's existing online community, as well as several online gameplay modes of its own. This will be detailed in the following section.

You can also connect via the PSP's Ad-Hoc mode to other systems in your immediate area to play the equivalent of LAN games, although the maximum number of players per game in these matches drops from sixteen to ten. This setup is nice if you have several friends with PSPs and a copy of the game, but since this is unlikely to be the case for most gamers, this mode isn't all that important.

There are a few unlockable items that can be used in online play, such as weapons and character skins, which are obtained by completing the game on various difficulty levels. These are fairly easy to obtain, though they aren't going to give anyone but diehard online fans reason to play through all of the campaign again.

In a first for a PSP game, FTB includes something called ‘crosstalk' with the PS2 game SOCOM 3. This means that you can hook your PSP up to your PS2 via a USB connector cable, and if your have a copy of both SOCOM 3 and Fireteam Bravo, you can unlock new features in each based on what you've achieved in the other. Achieving certain objectives in SOCOM 3 will make others in Fireteam Bravo easier, and vice versa. The benefits from using crosstalk are somewhat negligible in most levels (like the pinpointing the locations of various useless weapons stashes, or increasing the health of NPCs under your protection), but they will occasionally help you out greatly by making one of your key objectives easier. Regardless of their usefulness, it's nice to see such a feature implemented, although it clearly won't be a motivator for many people to try the game out.

The inclusion of Instant Action and unlockable content should keep diehards satisfied with their time with FTB, but without access to the online content most players will see little reason to play past the short single-player mode.

Score: 8/10

Online Play:

SOCOM has achieved its massive popularity through its wildly popular online gameplay mode, and FTB tries to capitalize on this by offering full online match capabilities for anyone able to connect. In the end, though, the gameplay's weaknesses turn the online play into a very poor imitation of what SOCOM should be.

There are five different match types in FTB, three of which are based on traditional SOCOM game modes. These three (Suppression, a team deathmatch, Demolition, team-based game with a goal of destroying the opposing team's base with a bomb, and Extraction, where the SEALs must extract several hostages that are under Terrorist control) are the only game modes that bear real resemblance to the traditional SOCOM gameplay style. The two new modes are Captive, which is similar to Suppression except that you can be revived by teammates, and Free For All, which is an individual deathmatch between everyone in a room comprised entirely of terrorists.

The real problem with online play is that tactics basically mean nothing in FTB. Games using the three regular SOCOM game modes are rare to find online, and so most of the time you will be playing in rooms with Captive set as the mode. Since this mode allows you to be revived by any living teammate that finds your body, matches more often than not end up as wars of attrition, with the team that has larger numbers to begin or guards the corpses of their kills the best usually coming out on top. This is entirely contrary to the idea of SOCOM's gameplay (and really, the whole concept behind the SEALs), which is to be the smarter group, rather than the most powerful. These games can be fun, but they are not nearly as deep or as involving as those of the console SOCOM games.

The controls also hurt the gameplay strongly when matching up against other players. The inability to quickly switch between your weapons, as well as the lack of a sound mechanism for deploying grenades, really limit how you can approach combat against other players. The worst problem, though, is getting caught from behind. This essentially ensures your death, since turning around to face your opponent takes a terribly long time. Some of the maps are quite large, and it is easy for opposing players to get behind you in rooms with a high number of players, so the lack of a quick-turn ability will likely leave you frustrated more than once.

The gameplay does get a bit better when you are able to use the PSP microphone/headset, which retails separately from the game. Being able to chat with your teammates, as is done in the console game, allows you a bit better level of teamwork, but it ultimately doesn't matter nearly as much as it should. There is little latency in the game, although this is likely a function of there being a lot fewer players using FTB online (less than 2000 at any given moment) then have used the console SOCOM games.

FTB's online play fails to achieve anything more than any basic shooter would, and as a result it feels starkly different than its console brethren. It may be the most fully-featured online game for the PSP to date, but it still doesn't do the system justice from a gameplay standpoint.

Score: 7/10

Total Score:

SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo may not have had much of a chance from the start. It tries its hardest to bring the SOCOM experience to the PSP, and it does an excellent job of capturing the look and atmosphere of the series; sadly, this system was just not made for the type of gameplay that this franchise is known for. Despite this, FTB's best merits may yet best be found in its failings, since they may aid other developers in figuring out how to appropriately create a shooter for the PSP sometime down the road.

If you own a PSP, and want a shooter with a strong online mode that you can pick up and play with little of a learning curve, then you should give FTB a try. If you are a fan of the SOCOM series, and own a PSP, you should also try out the game, to see if it can fill your need to play the game on the go. If you don't fit either one of these categories, though, then you may want to stick with your console shooters until the next big-time game hits the PSP.

Score: 7/10 (not an average)

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Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/19/05