A good break from battlefield and call of duty for a weekend, but that is about it.
Anyway the first thing you notice is the matching system is somewhat cumbersome and confusing compared to other games. the only one i had success joining was medley which is 32v 32 matches with various game types (hence the name)
Once you get in the game you get to pick your 2 weapons( like an assault rife with sub machine gun) character model and grenades. This was a n ice touch as you can change load outs during the match so your not stuck with a bad combination for the whole match.
After that you jump out of your base and start hunting the enemy's because there is not really any direction on any thing else to do, because even if it says protect your bomb defuser you won't know who that is for awhile. That is a big problem of the game it doesn't really tell you what to do and if you do figure it out you are not well rewarded.
Most off the time i thought "well i could get the objective and help win the match...or i could just kill people and get my gun upgraded." when you start with a crappy gun the choice is clear.
There in lies another problem most of the games guns are very inaccurate or lack any sort of power. The ironic thing is when you shoot someone each bullet that lands looks devasting, with blood squirting out in a realistic fashion. Which only makes the fact that they can run away from a shower of bullets all the more frustating.
The other big thing that keeps this game from being great is the grenades. There is a reason call of duty only gives you one frag grenade. If you remember the first modern warfare the enemy"s would rain them on your head
constantly.
Apparently zipper liked this feature as oddly you will see you have been killed by concussion grenades. So the player can get 2 frag grenades plus 2 mini frag grenades (concussions). Now if you do the math that is 32 X 4 grenades aka 128 grenades coming for you.
This is a game breaker as the whole game wants you to use cover. well cover is great at avoiding fire but with a small arsenal of grenades in every soldier's pocket good luck holding a position.
The maps on the other hand are really cool. Even if its not the best graphics it is still fun to fight in a jungle fort and old ruins. I only wish there was more of them although this is a problem of most shooters these days. (unless you buy more).
The worst problem with the game is spawn camping. I know this can happen in many games but in socom you have fixed spawn points and the enemy can easily set up and kill you as you appear. It is very annoying to respawn in a cloud of smoke as enemies rampage towards you and you see the character fall back to the ground.
I'm really not sure why modern shooters don;t take notes from other games where players that enter the other teams spawn zone die or the players in there spawn are invincible for a few seconds. There has to be a better way so you are not kicked when you are down.
In conclusion it can be a very fun game and a great break from the bigger franchises but at the end of the day I doubt most people will play it more than a weekend. It needs to tone down grenades add some more cool maps and update the visuals. I recommend a rental if you can.