Monday, March 20, 2006

Game Review (SOCOM Fireteam Bravo - PSP)

The SOCOM series came around a few years ago, and was a fairly silent launch title. After being played by thousands of people all over the world, it became pretty popular. A little while later, SOCOM 2 was released, and attracted SOCOM veterans as well as new players. SOCOM 3 was just recently released late this year, and it brought back former players, and yet more new players. However, many people have been dissapointed in SOCOM 3, so a lot went back to SOCOM 2. Should they have? SOCOM Fireteam Bravo came out shortly after SOCOM 3 for the Playstation 2, and to me in many ways it is better.

The Good: Nice graphics, Nice level design, Decent selection of guns, UNBELIEVABLE ONLINE PLAY, solid single player, connects to PS2 for SOCOM 3 and Fireteam Bravo unlockables, can hear other players without mic while playing online.

The Bad: Few glitches, repetetive missions at time, not nearly as many guns as SOCOM 2 or 3, Need another mic to talk online, take a lot of bullets to kill someone, lock on feature can make newbies kings, hard to throw grenades unless you're used to its strange style. SOCOM Fireteam Bravo delivers a lot more than I anticipated. 14 great missions, pretty solid graphics, awesome online play. ( Usually 10-25 thousand people are on all day every day! )

Graphics: 8/10. Many think that the graphics are bland for this game. They are certainly not as good as other PSP titles, but they still are fantastic. The characters don't show much style and texture, but the enviroments sure are great.

Sound: 9/10. Similar to SOCOM 2 and 3 in many ways as far as the sound goes. The guns sound great, the foot steps, grenades, voices, all great. The only downfall is that there is no music during games online. I was suprised at how much this actually brought down my way of "getting into the game." But not so much.

Control: 8/10. The controls at first ( for me ) were almost impossible to control. I couldn't do anything or kill anybody, but for having one analog stick, Zipper makes this game rock. You use the analog nub to move, hold L to strafe, R to lock on, X to shoot, hold triangle to switch from gun to grenades, tap it to stand, crouch or prone, and so on. It's actually pretty easy, even if it will take you about a half hour to get used to them good enough to take the game online and whoop arse.

Fun: 9.5/10. Single player is certainly a blast, even if it doesn't last long, and it is kind of easy, but if you want the full experience of Fireteam bravo, you must play online. Great level design, very little lag for the most part, awesome fun, and the replay value is the best among any PSP title in my opinion. Fireteam bravo offers much more than any other SOCOM game in my opinion, so you must buy this game. ( This game is rated M for violence, but it really should be T. )

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