Socom: confrontation. The first next-gen socom, the millions of socom fans were waiting for this game what seems like forever. When it finally came, many of those fans were disappointed, the game was unplayable - it really seemed like Sony rushed Slant Six to get the game out so they could release the headset bundle.
However, it was only released in NA at this point, us europeans only got the official release on the 13th of march. This is when i bought the game, i had heard and personally witnessed the problems with the game (in the beta) - but when i finally played the full version all of these problems seem to have been resolved. I have only encountered one laggy match, the communications are up there with the best of all console games - crystal clear (Maybe that is because of the official playstation headset and the High quality mode).
A regular gamer, if they came into this game now and had never heard of all the problems it would have probably would not even know the game had problems. The only remaining problem, which isn't too bad is the long load times before the matches.
Graphics:
To put it simply, the graphics are not the greatest, but certainly not the worst. They are "average". What i think they do well in the graphics are the smoke, fire and the weapon fire effects - they really are something that needs to be noticed. The socom games have never been known for their graphics, so this isn't much of a suprise for the socom fans. The night maps look great, the lighting engine is really shown off here.
Sound:
One of the places the older socom games technically excelled in is sound, they have amazing sound effects - the gun fire, the background sounds, the explosions, everything - all really well done. Highly underrated.
Gameplay:
Socom, is in my opinion up there with the very best of tactical shooters - its gameplay is unique to socom, there has been other games that have tried to rip it off but have never touched the great formula created for socom - the gameplay here is amazing, very realisitic and requires much more skill to master over your average shooter. The night maps add a whole new tactical layer to the game which is great.
Online:
This is an online only game, there is no offline modes so of course, the online is the best part of the game. All the features are there, great party system - loads of players online, loads of regional lobby's. Great customisation - it is all there. As explained above, the game previously had loads of problems, but they for the most part been sorted.
Conclusion:
This game was rushed, it is terrible how this game and its fans were treated, they rushed out an online only game that didn't work online.
However, like i have explained above twice - the games problems for the most part have been sorted and the team have been releasing regular patches to make sure they keep on improving whatever little problems that may occur.
If you were a socom fan in the past, buy this now. If you like tactical shooters, but this now, if you like shooters and like the look of this game, give it a try - it won't be for everyone but shouldn't be ignored anymore.
