SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs Hands-On Preview

By Ryan Mac Donald, GameSpotPosted Oct 3, 2003 2:39 pm PT

Zipper Interactive's new online action game will be bigger and better than last year's hit.

One of the most anticipated games for the PlayStation 2 being released this holiday season is SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs, Sony and Zipper Interactive's follow-up to last year's superb online action game for the PlayStation 2. While only a year has passed since the first game's release, the development team at Zipper Interactive has been hard at work to ensure that there is enough new content in SOCOM II to call the game a full-fledged sequel. After playing the single-player portion of the game extensively, we're happy to report that this most certainly looks to be the case.

Taking out bad guys is a tough job, but somebody has to do it.

For those who missed out on the excitement surrounding the release of the original game, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs was the first game to deliver on the PlayStation 2's promise of providing online tactical competition that rivaled the experience PC players had enjoyed for years with games like Counter-Strike. The original packaging for SOCOM was a cool oversized box that contained the game as well as a USB headset that you could use for speaking with opponents online and for issuing verbal orders to your virtual teammates when playing the game's single-player mode. Needless to say, there was no doubt that SOCOM was an extremely ambitious game for the PlayStation 2. The only negative aspect of the first SOCOM was that the online mode turned out to be susceptible to cheat devices, which of course spoiled the online competition for many players. Addressing this cheating issue is just one of the things that the team at Zipper Interactive hopes to do with SOCOM II, which looks to be all the first game was, and lots more.

To begin with, you have a choice of online competition, LAN play, or the game's single-player campaign. The online mode lets you play with up to 15 opponents online via the PlayStation 2's network adapter. This time around you'll be able to play the game online only if you have a broadband connection, but if you don't, the LAN play option lets you connect up to 16 PlayStation 2s together for multiplayer action. The mission types included in the game's multiplayer mode allow you and up to eight teammates to take on an opposing team in five game types including demolition, extraction, suppression, and two new types: breach and escort. As the names of the game types imply, the multiplayer goals include hostage rescue missions that task the SEALs with trying to rescue hostages being held by the terrorists, planting explosives at a specific location, and simply eliminating all of the members of the opposing team. These game types set up goals for the two teams to try to accomplish during a round of play. The round ends when one team completes the goal, when both teams fail to do so before the time limit is reached, or when all of the members of one team have been eliminated. The team with the most victories at the end of the designated number of rounds to be played wins. Included in the game are 12 new multiplayer maps in addition to updated versions of the 10 original multiplayer maps that were included in the original SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs.

Working as a team is vital to succeeding in your missions.

If multiplayer isn't your style, SOCOM II does include an all-new single-player campaign that features 12 new missions that take place all over the world in both rural and urban settings in locations like Algeria, Albania, Brazil, and Russia. In the single-player game, not only do you take out bad guys as you roam the countryside completing objectives, but you also lead a four-man SEAL team to help you do so. You can command the team to perform various actions, including planting explosives, clearing rooms, and moving to locations independently. You can issue orders using an onscreen command system that's structured in the style of "who, what, and where." If the onscreen menu cramps your style, you can use the USB headset to issue the orders verbally, as in the original game. Your team is, of course, equipped with the most technologically advanced weaponry available, including M4A1s and MP5s, as well as handguns and sniper rifles. Probably one of the most exciting things about SOCOM II for fans of the original game is all of the new weapons that have been added. In all, there are more than 15 new weapons, including new handguns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, shotguns, submachine guns, machine guns, grenades, and, of course, RPGs.

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1 Comments

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jakeboudville
Posted Sep 29, 2006 1:50 am PT

sounds like fun
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