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SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Review - PS2

Move over Conflict: Desert Storm, So long Ghost Recon. SOCOM has arrived, and it's here to stay. The US Navy SEALs are blasting their way into the largest gaming market in the world, and they're kicking off the promising online service that Sony is tremendously excited about. Does SOCOM live up to it's expectations? GameBiz says "It does".

With 12 treacherous missions, including everything that a SEAL has to do in real life, SOCOM is a must buy for all Army/Navy lovers. The terrorists are planning to destroy the world, and your job is to get in there and kick some butt, SEAL style. It's up to you to protect freedom wherever it is in danger, regardless of your safety and well-being.

Game Play

Kahuna, Boomer, Jester and Spectre are your 4 men, and with those men you will take on terrorist organisations, and seek freedom for anybody, anywhere. That's the job of the US Navy SEALs, and that's the role that you play in SOCOM. Single player is practically a warm up for online play, and the missions are quite strenuous at times, especially given there are no checkpoints. Overall however, SOCOM is one of the better games on the PS2, and is well worth the extra cash, especially considering it has that nifty little accessory called a headset.

SOCOM single-player takes you on 12 dangerous missions of all sorts, including reconnaissance, demolitions, hostage rescue, and ambushes. You are Kahuna, Boomer is on your crew as Able, and Jester & Spectre take up the Bravo crew. You can only give Boomer a limited amount of individual orders, which are actually sometimes useful considering you can order Boomer to throw grenades, and giving him the location for it is easier than slicing cheese. Jester & Spectre are your scouts basically; as you can get them to go wherever you want, do whatever you want, etc. If you know the mission off by heart, you could practically get them to do it all for you.

Stealth is a BIG part of SOCOM. If you've played Splinter Cell, it won't seem THAT stealthy, but you still do have to remain hidden in the shadows if you're looking for the perfect score. Neutralising the enemy turrets silently can earn bonus points at the end when the score is working out your rank. Using the crouch, or even the prone (lie down) position throughout the whole mission is not an uncommon manoeuvrer. Using the D pad on the controller, you can zoom in to 1st person view, and then to night vision mode and then depending on what weapon you're using either your binoculars, or an 8X zoom. it's great when you can switch between 3rd person view and 1st person view in a game, as it means no gamer will be disappointed with the view!

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