RETRO REBOOT - SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs (PlayStation 2)

It's seldom when I'm such a big fan of a game in a genre that I'm completely terrible at playing. Tactical shooters are layered in complexity and generally have a lot of mechanics I'm a fan of, if you ignore the fact that I'm a horrendous shot and have the poise of a moth butting its head against a lamppost. SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs was the first game I played that nailed the subgenre very well on console.

Prior to SOCOM's launch, Sony and various magazine publications were enthusiastic about its utilization of a two-way USB headset and microphone as the PlayStation 2 was Sony's foray into online console co-op play. Along with speaking to your human teammates, you could also issue commands with you A.I. partners through certain words and phrases. More on that later. SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs was developed in 2002 by Zipper Interactive, a studio that had a knack for military-style warfare games, namely MechWarrior 3, one of my favorite PC games from the late 90's. Sony closed the division down in 2012 for "resource re-alignment". Lightly coded for "yeah, we're done with this". This also was a year off from the launch of the PS4, meaning the future of the SOCOM franchise will likely remain in eternal limbo. And people wonder why I have a beef with the Sony brand. They regularly get rid of nice things. SOCOM uses Santa Monica's Kinetica engine, named after the futuristic racer of the same name. It would later be used for developing games like God of War 1 and 2, Jak and Daxter, The Getaway, and Twisted Metal Black.

I have the official PlayStation 2 headset, which was manufactured by Logitech. I'm not an aficionado of gaming headsets, admittedly, so I'd say the craftsmanship on these are moderately okay for the time period they were made, perhaps a little on the flimsy side. I can't remember if this was the set that came with the edition of SOCOM I bought back in the day, I feel like it was probably a little more elaborate. I have a pretty large head, so there was some discomfort during play. Not pinching, just very itchy and prodding.

SOCOM's single player campaign is 12 missions total. You guide three CPU controlled teammates as you take out terrorists in Alaska, Thailand, Congo, and Turkmenistan in the far away future of 2006!!!! Clearly the terrorists wanted to put a stop to Big Momma's House 2. Your team is broken up into two units, Alpha Team (Kahuna, which is you, and Boomer) and Bravo Team (Jester and Spectre). As far as A.I. teammates go, you could do significantly worse. It's not as bad as my experiences in SWAT 4, Kingdom Hearts, Dynasty Warriors, Final Fantasy XV, I need not go on. Bravo generally hangs back and covers your six, mostly moving in when you progress. They very seldom make mistakes or get in your way to expose you and are pretty quick on the draw if an enemy outs your position.

How the voice commands operate are intricate, but surprisingly well done. Command phrases are made up of three components, "who", "what", "and "where". By holding down Circle, you state either TEAM, ABLE (Boomer), BRAVO, or ESCORTEE (when you have an additional person in your custody, followed by the action, such as "RUN TO", "DEPLOY", or "LEAD TO". The "where" is determined by navigation points "Charlie", "Delta", "Echo", "Foxtrot", "Juliet", "Romeo", "Whisky", X-Ray", and "ZULU". Crosshairs are also a destination point, like having an enemy soldier highlighted. It took me a while to get a lot of these commands down to memory, so any mishaps were a result of my own incompetence. You can use the dropdown menu commands by pressing Circle and highlighting the specific selection. Highly recommended to use this until one gets the vocal orders down to a science.

The headset is a pretty novel feature, the rest of the controls are pretty precise. It is worth noting that SOCOM is one of the PS2 games that made use out of the pressure sensitive buttons analog buttons for the Dualshock 2. Depending on how gently or firm you press R1 determines how far you throw your grenade. This was a very underutilized tool that was massively hyped by Sony, but beyond some sports games, it was quickly just a thing drummed up to be the next step in gaming that only a handful of directors or studios would take advantage of through the PlayStation 2's lifespan. Or PS3's lifespan. At least by that point, smarter indie developers got some engagement out them.

Enemies are not really slouches in the SOCOM games, they are very aggressive and will swarm quickly without prejudice. Unlike Metal Gear Solid, which I believe masquerades as a stealth game, SOCOM is very meticulously paced. In between understanding the effectiveness of the commands and the tight routes soldiers travel in, it's very imperative to take one's time. There is a score that's attributed to how peerless your stealth is carried out in the mission. Guns-a-blazin is certainly possible, but your team can get eliminated. I am mildly perturbed by the lack of checkpoints, I don't mind dying and all, but having to start the mission all the way over is an easy way to tilt me.

SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs is a game that's actually aged pretty well. The controls are pretty responsive and the headset, while technically gimmicky, is a cool addition that gives the game and the series some personality. I never played it online at the time, or the later entries, so I don't know how smooth those experiences were. The servers for the SOCOM series on PS2 and PSP were still active up until 2012, so that's some tenure and a receding, but dedicated community. Even as a single player game, I feel some enjoyment can be had from this and it has great replay value. Solid visuals for its time, some creative maps, and a nice balance of weapons and skills, SOCOM is in my list of coolest PS2 titles. 

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