[Joe]

SOCOM US Navy Seals

From IGN (preview) -

When Sony Computer Entertainment America unveiled its lineup of online games last year at E3, SOCOM: US Navy Seals was the biggest surprise of the bunch because it seemed an entirely new step for the company best known for arcade games such as Twisted Metal, Spyro the Dragon and Crash Bandicoot. The closest it ever came to delivering real simulations to that point was with the arcade-sim blend, Gran Turismo.

But SCEA has gone forward full steam with developer Zipper Interactive, best known for games such as Crimson Skies, Mech Warriors 3, and Recoil for the PC, into the online world of third- person shooters, and SOCOM will make its debut as one of the company's flagship online games when Sony launches the Network Adaptor in August 2002.

While the game wasn't all that impressive in its early stages last year at E3 (2001), this newer, more complete version appears highly polished and accomplished, boasting better textures, framerates, control reaction, and perfectly workable using the bundled voice-recognition headset. IGN was able to sit down and play the game at Zipper Interactive's Seattle office in March in both its single-player and online multiplayer forms.

SOCOM, which stands for Special Operations Command, is a militaristic third-person shooter, playable as a single-player offline game, or as a multiplayer online game via the Network Adaptor, and is focused on the tactical and strategic actions of the US Navy Seals. Zipper is keen to point out that SOCOM is a cooperative team game, targeting cooperative play, enhanced by the use of the headset, and reinforced by several aspects of the game's design.

Players are put into the role of a US Navy Seal who is partnered with three other teammates, and then sent out on various covert missions around the world. The game takes place in several foreign locations, Tailand, Turkmenistan, the Congo, and Alaska, all of which at the time the game was originated are non-political areas of the world, to avoid any mistaken messages or inferences. In the 12 multiplayer or single-player missions, players will experience three major kinds of gameplay, such as demolition (blowing stuff up), extraction (rescue), and elimination (kill, kill, kill!).

Online Play

As a single-player game, users set up in teams of four, and are given the ability to use the headset (or to simply use the game interface, sans the headset, if they like) to direct teammates by simple verb/object commands. For those who want, a USB keyboard is also compatible for conversing, but not as a substitute for the Dual Shock, which, along with the VRH, is the primary peripheral for the game. For online play, gamers should have it easy: Slip in the disc, watch the game start up, click on online play and select your team in a lobby menu to get started.

SCEA is housing servers in San Diego, which can contain as many as 1,000 SOCOM players simultaneously, and the company plans to add more servers should they need them. The game, however, only permits as many as 16 online players from any part of the world to play simultaneously. SCEA has said that there will be no extra or hidden charges to play SOCOM, other than the cost of the game ($59.99), and the standard charges for an online connection, which users with online connections already should be paying for on a monthly to their standard carriers. SOCOM supports only DSL and cable connections, meaning that the game only supports broadband connections, and will not be useable with narrowband connections. SOCOM does not support LAN setups.

Zipper has set up several classifications of play for online users (demolition, extraction, and elimination). When players finally select their teammates and begin the game, the game plays like any squad based online title, encouraging players to watch each other's backs, stay in groups, and to communicate their locations and situations often.

While SOCOM tries to balance stealth and run-and-gun styles of play, it's important to note that this game is not Medal of Honor or Goldeneye. Players will be shot dead after taking two to four shots, and so they're encouraged to use shadow, foliage, and cover often, and to stick with their teammates to stay alive. It's important to note SOCOM is loosely modeled on other online multiplayer games such as Tribes 2, Team Fortress, and Counter Strike, so that it feels and plays like an online game. After dying in a multiplayer match, players are permitted to use a piggyback cam to watch the game from their teammates' perspective. When that particular match is over, players can once again take part in the next game, and in the beginning levels, players can actually select where they want to re-spawn (within reason). After a match, players can see their statistics, including kills, shots taken, shots connected, and various others. Players can also see their progress thanks to ladder system support, the stats of which are located on SCEA's servers.

Voice-Recognition Headset

The voice-recognition headset comes bundled with SOCOM, so if you own the game, you own a headset. The set is ultra light and adjustable, fitting asymmetrically over the head, with one earpiece on the right, and a small, adjustable mike jutting toward the mouth. Gamers don't have to use the headset and they can play using the Dual Shock, but it's far more fun to make use of it, as it broadens the experience notably.

The SOCOM headset is a licensed VRS, made by the L&H Company, and it recognizes from 70- 100 commands, plus combinations of words. It's constructed to work in a very streamlined and simple fashion. Using a verb/object command system, and to communicate with your immediate teammates, players use basic words, such as "deploy," "breach, frag and clear," and other very direct words to take action.

The VRS interface appears on the left-hand side of the screen, and like a computer menu, it shows hierarchical branches to provide simple or more complex commands. Teammates can be directed by using the reticule in conjunction with voice commands. By pointing your gun to a location and using commands, the players direct teammates to attack a specific spot, guard a location, monitor a region, or defend or patrol.

There is no voice recognition training in SOCOM. The system has a 95% accuracy rating, as long as don't slur your words like a drunken sailor, but it does pick up background noise, so it's probably not wise to have, oh, say, Public Enemy playing loudly in your living room, or you might find your teammates acting weirdly.

Gameplay

Blending militaristic stealth with run-and-gun gameplay, Zipper's third-person perspective game aims to be one of the most authentic games of its kind. With full backing from the US Navy Seals, from the admirals all the way down the line, SOCOM's selectable characters, like the Seals themselves, do not specialize in particular areas, but they rather cross-train in many areas. Seals do everything, training in explosives, sniping, technical work, intelligence, combat, and they work in small, deadly teams.

Unlike other games, here, there's a buddy system, and the main objective is to keep your teammates alive and with you. A dialog box appears on screen to convey messages between you and the team. You can mistakenly kill your teammates, and up to two can die, but after if any more die, the mission is a failure. In the mission I played, one teammate is a Russian, and he's kind of like the central communication member, so if he dies, the dialog box will disappear from the screen. Not good.

The first scenario I played placed the SOCOM team on a Russian cargo ship, in which one of the team's missions was to infiltrate the main compartments without detection. In the cover of night, I commanded my mates to stay under cover as I snooped around and quietly sniped off stationed guards along upper and lower locations, without notifying the other guards of their deaths. Only, this didn't work out perfectly the first time, and so I had to engage in straight-up combat, and I died pretty quickly.

Enemy AI acts intelligently, following the same basic military tactics you and your team follow. So, if you alert the enemy, they attack slowly, staying under cover, attacking in squads, using short, and using targeted bursts of gunfire. There are five levels of AI awareness, including direction awareness, specific awareness, and others. So, if you kill an enemy and his buddy walks by and sees the dead body, he'll take notice and act accordingly. Luckily, you can drag dead bodies into the foliage or behind crates. Enemies communicate with one another, so it's crucial to stay low and out of the open. Enemies react to obvious actions, such as breaking windows, but they also react to more subtle things, including footprints, corpses, and blood. Again, you may fail to remain undetected, the game gives you the chance to succeed, but you'll need to be a good shot and command your team to help you. Key elements in your missions to stay under cover, knock out lights and windows, and to lean around corners (oh, and yes, you can lean around corners).

Starting off, your squad is each given two weapons (one single-hand and one two-handed weapon), of which there are 36 total. To gain access to different weapons, kill an enemy to grab his. Players have use of submachine guns, handguns, sniper rifles, M16s, and other weapons. The game also offers satchels, smoke weapons, claymores, and all of them are weapons US Navy Seals would use in real life.