SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs Preview

Ask any PS2 online multiplayer fan and they’ll tell you that even three years after its release they still play SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs and why not?  Online the game rivals the Xbox Live favorite Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon and its sequel, SOCOM 2, brought us even more maps and loads of new features.

Now Sony Computer Entertainment and Zipper Interactive bring us a much deeper and more massive game that judging by the early glance at its single and multiplayer features will surely become an instant classic.  Why, might you ask, am I drooling over an early build?  Well, according to one of the designers, Travis Steiner, this game has more of everything we loved about the first two games and made it longer, bigger and better.  Oh, and there are vehicles now and the online multiplayer matches now support up to thirty-two players.  Go ahead, start drooling, that’s what napkins are for.

Just one of the many new features, aside from the fact that the SEALs can now swim and duck underwater to avoid being spotted, is the fact that you can customize your weapons from the start.  This means that if you want to take an assault approach you can but you can also chose to go the stealth route as well.  Depending on how you approach the mission, you can select the appropriate weapon type (sniper rifles for stealth, for example, and full automatic for assault).

Once again you are put in the combat boots of a seasoned commander and his Bravo Team.  The single player missions take place over a massive map with various paths you can take.  Because the missions are now longer and the maps up to six times larger, there are checkpoints for saving your game in mid-mission.

And did I mention the vehicles? There are land vehicles like Humvee or all-terrain vehicles and even watercrafts like a gunboats.  You can climb on board and fire the attached weapons or pilot said vehicle.  You can even steal enemy vehicles and use it against them!

“SEALs improvise in real life,” Steiner said.  “So they do so in the game.”

Apart from the vehicles and weapon customization there’s a new Command Menu that’s a lot easier and faster to master.  Ordering your squad to breach a certain area can now be done with a single button so the action in this game is a lot smoother.  You’ll be thankful for that seeing as there will be more enemies on screen this time around.

Online the game will support up to a whopping thirty-two players on screen at once.  How this will affect the flow of the game remains to be seen but the online features already look pretty promising.  Apart from the fact that that game supports clans and includes vehicles, there are seven different multiplayer modes including two new ones (Convoy and Control).  The game will also feature clan challenges where the clan leader can set a challenge against another clan to be played at a specific time.  There’s also a leader board that helps determine your position in the game depending on your performance.  There will also be a buddy list, message center to post messages and there’s even the possibility of downloadable content in the future.

Talk of a possible cross-platform feature might also be in the works seeing as SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs: Fireteam Bravo for the PSP is in the works.  While it’s too early to reveal much about it, we’re hoping the two games will share exclusive maps or weapons via a USB connection. 

Once again the SOCOM means impress its loyal fans with better gameplay and a rich online multiplayer game filled to the brim with an astounding amount of new features.  As Steiner said at the end of the presentation: “The SOCOM makers are SOCOM players so we’re looking to make each game better than the last.”

Amen to that. 

We can expect SOCOM 3 to hit the shelves in the fall of this year.

E3 2005

For All E3 2005 Previews