Before I go any further with this review, let me make it known SOCOM Confrontation is my first experience with a SOCOM game. Right, now that's out of the way, allow me to shed my thoughts on quite possibly the most addictive and enjoyable experiences available to anyone in possession of Sony's magic box.
Confrontation is proof that when it comes down to it, gameplay trumps all, a stripped down, multiplayer only, commandos versus mercenaries tactical shooter that is an absolute joy to play. Despite having some of the worst graphics on the PS3, although it's worth remembering this was initially conceived as a downloadable PSN title, it can keep you glued to the screen for hours at a time while you rescue hostages, capture control points and defuse bombs.
Any good multiplayer shooter requires excellent level design, and Confrontation is no different. The level design is consistently excellent, ranging from middle eastern castles to crumbling urban areas. Each map has a variety of different routes and are filled with tunnels and areas ripe for ambush, be you the one dealing or receiving is another story. Each map also scales up or down depending on the number of players (incidentally, this game allows for 32 player warfare with little to no lag present) in the room, saving you the hassle of wandering round looking for action.
As well as having a set of excellent maps on which to wreak havoc, Confrontation also has a plethora of arms with which to cause said havoc. From standard assault rifles, such as the iconic AK-47, to sniper rifles and shotguns. Each of these can then be customised with a range of different scopes and attachments allowing the user to create a combination for any given map or game mode. What makes this array of guns even more impressive is that they are balanced well, save for one or two, all have their uses.
I previously mentioned the less than stellar graphics, and these are matched with some other technical issues such as pop in, flickery textures and screen tearing. You can be sure this game wont be winning any awards for graphical prowess, audio however, is a rather different matter. The crack of gunfire sounds great both outdoors and in, explosions also give off a deafening bang.
The cut throat nature of the game may scare off the casual Call of Duty fans and as well as the technical issues, there are the more irritating UI hiccups and generally slow menus, but stick with it and you will be rewarded with an immensely satisfying experience, right up there with the best on the PS3. With built in clan and tournament features, this is a game designed to cater to the hardcore and current SOCOM fanbase, which is dedicated enough to keep the game ticking over for years.
In short, if you're looking for a game to dedicate serious time to, then SOCOM confrontation is as good as it gets, my advice is to put the issues aside and immerse yourself into a fantastic shooter, you wont regret it.
Last year I wrote an article titled, The State of SOCOM. I discussed my
love and history for the beloved third person shooter that helped pioneer
online multiplayer on consoles. It has been six years since we last had a
new SOCOM game.
Baffles me as to why they have not done anything with this franchise. Seeing as how it was #1 on the official PlayStation poll.
With all the trash put up weekly on the App Store why has nobody done a clone of this yet. I've been playing Defiance as my go to 3rd person since 2013 but still nothing like that old school Socom/Socom 2 up all night gameplay.
the only game on that list that's like socom is wild land if you want socom type games then you will have to invest in a PC
You are looking at the view point I.e 3rd person view. Rainbow six siege is probably most like socom aside from H-Hour
RAINBOW SIX: is the closest you'll get to Socom.
Also, in response to @lookatthisi
They let go the creators, and I think socom is a game that's hard to clone even the creators had a hard time making Socom 2, Socom 3.
No way man. The devs at Trion made Defiance. I know different genres different games but this could have very easily turned into a war game rather than a kill the mutants/aliens games. Ghost recon actual gameplay is about the closest to the old Socom feel due to the squad format and team commands but it was still clunky at times. Using the wheel was cumbersome to command teammates and strategies on how you approcahed a scenario.
FFS you could control your teammates with a microphone in the ps2 days. You can't tell me that it is that hard when people throw up mods on the pc all the time that mirror the original games using random game engines. These are professionals with money/tech that most people don't have access to.
(Seth Luisi was the problem at zipper, he tried capturing ghost recon/cod fans with Socom by slowly turning the Socom series into Frankenstein GR/COD lite games)
Getting that feel, that rush being the last one alive, Rainbow Six is the closest I got to that feeling since Confrontation. And we all know that was a horrible Socom, but looking back at it, SC was a great game just had a horrible release.
I didn't play defiance, but ghost recon is and was trash.
A lot will defend Seth saying he was a puppet, but his inactions or actions didn't help. He helped ruin the franchise.
JM:
"Would you purchase a game you can’t play for a single penny? Video game retailer GameStop seems to think that it is worth trying to sell to this market."
Yeah I would definitely pay for a SOCOM remaster. Easily Sony's best franchise by a long shot, too bad they've managed to ruin it.
Back to the actual question, I own SOCOM Confrontation. The game was attacked relentlessly when it appeared. Some of those attacks were warranted. However one of the big things they used to assault the game was, "It's multiplayer only"
Where is that accusation now?
How is that MP only games suddenly get a pass?
If you stuck it out with SOCOM Confrontation you know that it took a lot of patches and 6 months. But if you kept your course you know a great secret. Confrontation eventually became a kick ass SOCOM game. Plenty of people played it the first week or the first month and dropped it. But to those that stuck around you know the game, eventually, kicked ass. I am not excusing it's state out of the box. But in the same breath I will also say it evolved into something deserving the SOCOM name.
Morganfell is right. That game was the most fun I had had in a Tps in a long time after it got fixed. It was very tactical.
Yup. Confrontation turned into a much better game over time. Just as MAG did. Too bad they're useless to own now (Which I do). I'm just hoping Sony brings back SOCOM on PS4 in a big way. I'd also like a Warhawk game. The shooter market has turned into to many twitch run, shoot, kill, die, spawn games. I like the slower pace of SOCOM, and the openness of Warhawk... actually, I just really prefer 3rd person shooters. Can't wait for Star Wars Battlefront. DICE better make it 3rd person. It can have a 1st person option like the others, but what fun is it to turn into a super character, and you can't see them?
Only $60? I'd HAPPILY pay $60 for each PS2 Socom game. Hell, make it $250 and I'd pay it! Socom 1 and 2 are worth more alone!
Socom is 12 years old and still has better online features than multi million dollar games of 2014! Lobbies, User Created Ranked Rooms, able to allow or disallow certain weapon types, no explosions, and guess what?! The community back then actually voted out the scrubs who used OP weapons. Now THAT you don't see now days. If you pulled out the M203 in Socom, your ass was voted out before you even blinked.
You bring back so many memories. You are absolutely right about the m203, that shit didn't fly back then.
Wasn't the IW80-A2 another popular "noob" gun that got lots of people kicked out for using? The M14...now that gun took some time to master, at the launch of SOCOM 2 anyways.
Glitchy garbage. Why pay $60 for a ps2 game on a new console, just play your old ps2.
The reason it did so well is there were no other ps2 multi player games to play. Look at the ps3 socom games....they didn't do so hot because people had battlefield, call of duty, Killzone,.....lots of choices.....socom suffered when the fans found new games.
If Sony didn't waste their $360 million on psnow they could've kept zipper opened and made another socom AND mag.
@DirtyPimp
I put in over 3,000 hours of SOCOM II. I'd pay more than 60 bucks for a simple HD version. Just give me East 19, Central 7, the breach maps, and Foxhunt all in glorious high definition and I'll gladly revisit the early 2000's on a nightly basis.
The servers are down.. I wouldn't buy any.. on top I own all except Socom 4... I couldn't dare taint my collection any more.
BTW: H-Hour is the new Socom... supposed to be S2 all over again... with some S1 mechanics.
For a collector to have it on the shelf i can see them buying it,it's just a penny.
Depends the situation. Usually if they have a trade in X and get Y bonus for preowned purchases, a store will let you have the excess credit if you make 1 purchase and 1 cent is cheap enough where I wouldn't have to bother returning it or eating the cost out of laziness.
Stan replied passionately, sadness creasing his face, “they’re shutting us down. Offline, man, off-fucking-line. I dedicated my life to this, and it’s just ending. This is the last battle.” - PSLS
It would have been nice if they added that to the actual article instead of the wannabe tear-jerker stuff.
@pixelsword
I know right, I was thinking the same thing. It was more of a read between the lines and pick up the pieces in the comment section..
I didn't even really try this game, I almost picked it up a couple days at my local gameswap though. Glad I didn't now, I'm gonna have to let those guys know that the games a bust now.
This is exactly why I don't want an all digital future. Once the servers go down that's it, game over. I like that I can still put my Super Nintendo games in the console and it'll work even after all these years...
I own(ed) it, I got a platinum and once I did, I went on once in a while, but never like I did before; I might put it in once or twice before the servers go down, or maybe I'll sell it to gamestop before they realize it.
The game was very under supported. I got my platinum then put some more time into it after. I stopped playing after one of those "Play with the Devs" days. Damn Devs always were on SVER and screwing over the other teams.
I caught one dev so desperate to show superiority he was altering things in the background for himself. Caught him multiple times with a bunker rocket only for him to stand there unphazed. After a bit I wasn't the only one on my platoon catching the BS at work. Since I rarely bother to go back. I do play with my cousin when he gets the urge to go play, otherwise I avoid it.
Have a few of my PSN friends looking to play before the servers get shut down. Probably will join in on that. I'm hoping MAG 2 happens for PS4 more than anything, hopefully without Zipper in the background this time. I have my digital copy on PSN for the time being though.
Dude, they ALWAYS play SVER because the balance is in SVER's favor, and people have been complaining about that since the beta, plus they do change the background. Once in the beta, I found a good spot to ding one of SVER's bunkers, and the next day, the put a tree or a bar where I was so I could not do it.
In that sense, I'm glad Zipper is gone.
Ask any player who put any decent amount of time in and they'll tell you it was promise fulfilled. It may not have reached the top sales or following ever but for the community and the people who cared for it, it delivered a hell of a lot.
That's what I've been hearing, I really hope they return to that game and make it a franchise, bring it back on PS4 with updated graphics, fix some of those bugs, as well as some of the mechanics, that shit would be awesome, they could have had a HUGE following for that game.
They already have, it's removed from PSN along with all DLC and now it's just up to the retailers to stop supplying online.
MAG will be missed, my all-time favorite shooter. They're shutting servers down in January.
"Before I go any further with this review, let me make it known SOCOM Confrontation is my first experience with a SOCOM game".
Having never played any of the other games in the series you do not see the serious lack of features that were stripped out of this game. Things that were present in the first game almost 8 years ago. Even the character animation and overall gameplay suck compared to these first games.
This game is a failure that went away from all of the previous iterations, and became the most flawed one in the series. This imo is because /6 tried to put their spin on an already successful franchise. Alienating your core base in an effort to compete with other twitch shooters will always be a recipe for failure. Though honestly if it would have not been released with the Socom name I probably would not have been expecting so much. It is currently a mediocre 3rd person shooter at best.
This does not even take into account the absolutely horrid release, and things not working after five 500mb patches.
Socom: Confrontation 4/10
i agree with the review, its an insanely fun game that actual requires skill and practice unlike most twitch shooters nowadays. The only thing i disagree with you on is the graphics, they are really not that bad, it looks better than warhawk. I loved all the previous socoms especially 1 and 2 and this one is not too bad compared to those but I really cant wait for MAG and SOCOM 4.
thx for the review , i really don't know should i but this game of Killzone 2 ?
it is so fun to play, especially with friends and the communication in this game is great. Just good fun
I dissagree on the graphics opinion though.
i believe the graphics are wonderful. i understand what you mean by less than steller because i also play metal gear online and the graphics for that game are incredible.
gameplay and sound is where socom shines!
there is no other shooter roght now that comes close to the intensity and nails gunfire dialog the way socom does. 2 weapons that will scare you into caution are the ameli light machine gun and the grenade. if you hear it? RUN!
I let my cousin borrow my killzone 2 for a while and have been playing socom everynight. I have surround sound which is fantastic with the proxy chat feature but even better for the late nights i have a surround sound headphones that i crank way up to deafening levels. today, i dont hear so good.
theres nothing better than watching a few episosodes of Generation Kill and then playing some rounds of socom. you have no choice but to communicate and get some.