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»SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo
"The badass little brother"
I hate First Person Shooters! I really do. I also hate the kind of people you often find online in these types of games. They range from whiny little brats who scream in their microphone, to a-hole Halo fans who hate everything that doesn’t deal with killing other players. [Editor’s Note: Halo rules!] Every now and then, you’ll find some good people in these games. What I found in SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo was surprising.
For starters, when I played my first few online games, I wasn’t treated to people calling me a “noob”. I wasn’t told that I suck even though I clearly did. I wasn’t accused for being our team’s downfall. Some of this may be due to the lack of people with microphones, but I was treated kindly by those that did. One thing I like about SOCOM: FTB is that they opted for a one-at-a-time communication system. To communicate, you hold down the circle button. You’ll hear a beep to notify you that you’re live. When you let go of circle, you’ll hear another beep to signify you’re no longer live. When someone else is talking, you can’t. It works really well and you don’t have people talking all the time.
The Playstation Portable (PSP) has had a fairly weak showing of online games so far. We’ve seen shadows of console sports games and the likes of ATV, X-Men, and Twisted Metal. GTA was said to offer some sort of online gaming, but that went south somewhere along the path. Fortunately for us, Zipper Interactive has crafted a masterpiece of online gaming in SOCOM: FTB. Everything you expect to see in the way of online options is present, and that includes friend lists, leaderboards, news feeds, message boards, updates, game searches, live voice chat, and the like are all represented here. Sadly, some of the options are less than fully realized. For example, you can’t send a friend a message or view his leaderboard stats from the friend list. Instead, all you can do is delete them. Another downside is that you can’t invite a friend or a clan member to a game you are already in. The online elements have been established, but what about the game itself?
Right off the bat, you’ll notice some clipping problems with building walls. At times, you can see right through them. Thankfully, shooting through the invisible walls is mostly impossible, however; I have taken damage through the wall on occasion. I guess it makes sense that bullets could penetrate a thin plank of wood, but I’m not so sure that it is a planned outcome.
Major clipping issues aside, SOCOM: FTB is not the undisputed leader in graphic display. While I appreciate the “3D” bushes, they are comprised of very simple, Playstation-esque graphic techniques. From a distance, everything looks great, but up close, you can see glaring flaws. After considering all this, SOCOM: FTB does an amazing job at portraying a realistic environment. The character sprites are highly detailed and animated really well. Characters react realistically when shot and are rarely thrown about like in the movies. In my book, that’s a huge plus.
Despite a rather low volume level, SOCOM: FTB has awesome audio. The menu music is instantly recognizable to anyone who has played SOCOM and the sound effects are incredibly realistic. Playing this game—above any other I’ve played on a portable system before it—without headphones is an absolute crime. Using the Sony Headset, which supplies stereo sound, I was able to hear where shots were coming from. I could hear footsteps to my right or behind me if I listened for them. In tunnels, you can hear everything echo loudly. When playing online with the headset, when I was firing, I could rarely hear another player talking over my own gunshots. If you’d rather hear your teammates, you can turn down the volume level of the weapons. Speaking of hearing your teammates, the audio quality from headset users is exceptional and rarely broken up.
Controlling the game will be a learning experience. I recommend hitting off the single player game for awhile to get the hang of it before hopping online. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s in store: The X button is fire and nothing more. R is used to auto-target, while L is used as a modifier—while in normal mode, left and right on the analog stick allow you to move in that direction rather than turning. Up and Down on the D-pad acts as a zoom or to enter/leave first-person view. You can only use your night vision in first person as well. Left on the D-pad opens up your weapons menu. Right on the D-pad enters free look mode. In this mode, the analog stick acts as a look/aim. You can move in this mode by holding down the L button. Circle does two different things depending on if you’re playing alone or online. When online, hit it to open the communications options menu, or hold it to talk. In campaign mode, hit it to open the “Lonestar” action menu, or hold it to have Lonestar move to your crosshairs or to execute the highlighted action. Triangle is a regular treasure chest of options. Pressing it cycles through the stances: standing, crouching, and prone. Holding it changes to your secondary weapon or back to your main from any weapon or item. When you’re in the weapons menu, it changes your weapon mode. Tapping on Square in the weapons menu reloads the selected weapon. Outside of that menu, tapping it performs special actions like setting charges. Holding it reloads your equipped weapon.
The offline modes in SOCOM: FTB fall short of its online offerings. The campaign mode is short, but entertaining. The fact that they made Lonestar tag along on every mission is kind of disappointing. The inability to save anywhere is something I would like to see, but with the PSP’s on-board ability to go into sleep mode counteracts a true need for this function. A co-op mode for both on and offline would have been excellent, but there is none for either. To extend the game’s single-player life, you can go through any mission again and again with random objectives and enemy placements. It’ll hold the SOCOM addict over while on the road, but it really doesn’t add all that much to the single-player game.
For those wondering, auto-targeting works well but it’s no replacement for actual aiming. As such, many will end up learning how to use the free look mode for everything. Fans of the PS2 games may be turned off by this, but I personally enjoy it more than the console games. One of my biggest beefs with the game is that run and gun tactics seem to be the order of the day when playing online. Another multi-player downside is that sniping seems to have been slightly overlooked on most maps.
SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fire Team Bravo is an excellent online game, but it tends to be lacking as a portable gaming experience. If you don’t have a wireless router or if you just want something to play at work, this may not be the game for you. However, if you’re looking for the best online gaming experience on a portable, SOCOM is right up your alley. I would suggest that you pick up the headset as well if you can find it. It adds so much to the online community aspect of the game.
Article by: Bloodspoor
Posted on: Nov. 14th, 2005 |
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Review Recap |
| Gameplay |
| The controls will take some getting used to. Once you figure it out, you’ll have a blast with this game. |
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Graphics |
| You really get a sense of reality from the game, but there are some clipping issues and old techniques used. |
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Sound |
| Never before have I experienced a sense of 3D aural pleasure on a portable system as good as this game offers. |
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Replay Value |
| Without online, there’s little to do after beating the single-player game, but the online is oh-so-good. You’ll be back for more sooner than you think. |
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