I know this game has been out for a while but I just got my PSP so it’s new to me and with SOCOM: US Navy Seals Tactical Strike coming out soon it’s timely. For anyone new to gaming or you live under a rock the SOCOM series is a hugely popular military fps in the same vein as Ghost Recon and the like.

SOCOM: Fire Team Bravo 2 is pure heaven. Hands down one of the finest military shooters I have ever played on a hand held. Graphics are beautiful, controls are pure silk and sound is solid. Needless to say I’ll own every game in this series if they all play like this. I loved the Ghost Recon series on pc and this takes that experience and lets me take it wherever I go. I couldn’t ask for more.

The control layout is nicely thought out and easy to work. You can switch between standing, crouching or prone position by using the triangle button. You play in 3rd person and can switch to 1st person or scoped quickly by pushing up on the d-pad. Pushing left on the d-pad changes your rate of fire from single shot to 3 round burst. Did I mentioned I loved this game?

The graphics look incredible and character models look good. Terrain is varied and clean. And at first it’s hard not to keep from getting shot because you want to look at your surrounding not for enemies but at it’s beauty.

Gameplay is uber fun. Fire fights are intense and sniping is the best I’ve ever experienced on a hand held. Imagine going prone, crawling out just a touch from a rocky outcropping and dropping enemies through the cross hairs of your scoped assault rifle (AR-15/M-16). Heck yeah, it’s as fun as it sounds. You also have breathing movement when looking through your scope and the R button steadies your breathing for your sniping pleasure. The only downside to this game is that in 3rd person you have to get your cross hairs close to enemies then press/hold the R button to auto-target them. It’s not a horrible mechanic and one BattleFront needs to invest in but it’s not as accurate as what you get on the DS. But like BattleFront things are all good when you go into 1st person or looking through a scope as it’s free form targeting at that point. You can also choose to drop your issued weapon for a dead enemies so you get a chance to play with different weapons (or you run out of ammo).

There is a lot of great things about SOCOM and it only gets better as it is a greatest hits classic and you can pick it up brand new for $20. I’m a happy camper and a deadly one when camping out enemy forces to snipe.

-Wes

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 1st, 2007 at 8:38 am and is filed under Gaming, Handheld, Sections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.