A buggy shooter with a limited experience available. There are better alternatives to this that are done right.
The problem is that there is no room for learning, you are simply food for the slaughter until you learn to play. At that point you deal with a new enemy: lag and bugs.
The game was very laggy at all times of the day different days of the week. It was extreamly frustrating being killed by lag constantly. Frame rate drops when the battle gets hot and flashy. There are bugs present and often exploited by those players who have been loyal to the series.
Graphic wise, its a decent PS2 game but there's nothing to see that will impress you at all. Maps are stereotypical with the previous series. Rundown city, a night city, grassy/desert type area's. Nothing that pushes the envelope at all. You can customize your player to a degree, but isn't too important since you won't ever see his face or front side. From the back, they look pretty generic.
Storyline? What storyline? It simply doesn't exist. I'm not being sarcastic, its a simple soldier vs terrorist war game.
AI is dependant on your buddies and the other team, so that part isn't applicable.
Gameplay is frustrating. There is a selection of guns, but most won't feel any different than the others. Lag is a very real issue and is often exploited. A player may run in, pray and spray and run back, causing you to seemingly die for no reason at all. Sections of the map are avoided due to this issue. It is a slow process switching between weapons and that becomes a big problem in the heat of battle.
You won't find anything special about this game and all but the diehard fans of Socom will give this game a try. Plauged by lag issues, it turns what might have been an ok experience into a very frustrating one.