What you get is a functional online third-person shooter. But that's all you get.
The Socom games on the Playstation 2 made interesting experiments with team-based tactical shooting, voice-commands, weapon customizations, and even vehicular combat that was integrated into the single-player mode. Well, to make things simple, Confrontation has no single player mode, not even a co-op component. Right away, this is easily the biggest disappointment about confrontation. Seeing that we're well into the "next-generation" of games, multiplayer components seem to be all the rage, and that's fine. But keep in mind, Confrontation is a full-price game, which makes the omission of any campaign mode a real cheap-shot to the wallet area. For a full-price game without single-player, the mutliplayer had better be a "damn-good" experience.
The good news is, the multiplayer experience is solid; it works well for the most part. There have been a few changes however; for instance, the vehicular combat seen in Socom 3 and Combined Assault is gone. The maps, while still supporting 32 players, feel a lot tighter than in previous games. Whereas Socom 3 and Combined Assault offered gigantic (often empty,) battlefields, Confrontation scales down the surface area, adding more tight quarters, while still retaining the opportunity for some long-distance sniping. The result is an experience that feels a lot more like Socom 2's gameplay. Those who played the previous games will be happy to know that the controls retain 98% similarity, with the exception of melee attacks being mapped to the L3 stick, and fire-mode/weapon organizing to the circle button.
Confrontation is veteran-friendly, but also simple enough that players new to the series won't have too much trouble jumping in. Those new to the series will easily find a weapon that suits their tastes; and there are quite a lot of them. The weapon customization from Socom 3 also returns here, as players are given 2 slots per weapon to attach a number of different scopes, laser pointers, grips and grenade launchers. When first starting out, players are given the opportunity to "create" their own character, either a Commando or Mercenary, and give them armor and different types of clothing. The character creation is a nice addition to the Socom series, but doesn't feel as robust as what could be found in Rainbow Six Vegas 2.
Finding a game to play could either be simple, or time-consuming (not necessarily a bad thing). You have the quick match option, or as in previous titles, you can pick a specific lobby to join (US East/West, Canada East/West, etc.) Each lobby holds up to 256 players, and is usually full regardless of the time of day you happen to play at. Since the game was released, there have been a few patches and updates put up for download, and for the most part, the lag and glitches appear to be fixed. This however might be entirely subjective depending on your connection, and the lobby you're playing from. I have encountered some matches that had a little bit of lag, but nothing that really caused too much of a problem. The loading times might also vary from time to time. For the most part, running and shooting plays out relatively smoothly.
The graphics are well done, but nothing spectacular. The elements of a next-gen visual experience are there; the environments and structures are normal-mapped, and there are some nice lighting effects. However, the character models look absolutely brutal compared to those found in other third-person shooters. The audio component is lacking the ambient soundtrack found in previous games, but the gunfire and explosions all sound crisper than ever.
If you're only thinking about buying this game now, be prepared for a mandatory install process, a 2-fold patch download and install, and a lot of waiting. From the time you pop the disc in, until you actually get to play your first match, you may have to wait roughly an hour and a half for everything to download and install (this of course again depends on your connection speed).
If you loved the tight-quarters action from Socom 2, you will feel right at home with Confrontation. Those who grew accustomed to the long-distance fire fights found in Socom 3/Combined Assault will have a little bit of catching up to do. While it's definitely great to see the core multiplayer experience carry over from last-gen intact, the formula is starting to get a little bit dated. Since the last Socom title, the shooter genre, and the PS3 itself has seen a lot of great shooters released, some that really make Confrontation seem a little bit inferior. With the technical horsepower provided by the PS3, it would have been great to see Slant-Six improve upon the mechanics that previous entries brought to the table and really take advantage of some new technology. Instead what they've produced is a rather hollow, half-finished experience that leaves you hoping for a lot more, especially for the price. Overall, what you get is a functional online third-person shooter. But that's all you get.