Any Socom Confrontation impressions? [PS3]

[Vindel_7]

I was thinking of picking this one up but wanted to read some impressions from you fine folks. Has anyone here played it or picked it up yet?

[Destructor]

You have to wait until the second page in order to see impressions. It's sorta a rule around here.

That said - I'm curious too. Somebody grab this game!

[denoginizer]

My question is if I already have CoD4 why would I play this instead? It looks like a bad Counterstrike clone to me.

[Vindel_7]

My question is if I already have CoD4 why would I play this instead? It looks like a bad Counterstrike clone to me.

I have C0D4 as well and love it. But I love shooters and don't just limit myself to just one. I enjoy tactical shooters so I love GRAW 1 and 2. And this one looked interesting and just wanted to know if anyone had any impressions of this game because they have played it.

[denoginizer]

My question is if I already have CoD4 why would I play this instead? It looks like a bad Counterstrike clone to me.

I have C0D4 as well and love it. But I love shooters and don't just limit myself to just one. I enjoy tactical shooters so I love GRAW 1 and 2. And this one looked interesting and just wanted to know if anyone had any impressions of this game because they have played it.

Fair enough. 

From my limited (less than 2 hours) of play in the beta it seems like a bad counterstrike clone.    The original SOCOM on the PS2 became wildly popular because it did things with online play that very few other PS2 games did.  On the PS3 that's not the case.  There are many better options on the PS3.  Unless there have been many changes since I played the beta that is.

[Scraper]

My short take beta impressions are that the game has a lot of potential. It plays a lot like Ghost Recon, in that it is a modern day shooter with 1 shot kills. The maps that I played tended to be dark and thus made it hard to see your enemy even though there is a map system that shows enemy locations when they are making noise and etc. During my beta time they applied two separate and significant patches that helped the game out a lot. Still it can be difficult for new players to figure out some of the mission objectives and what you are supposed to do on each mission. The graphics aren't terrible but they also aren't anything to write home about.

All in all if you like realistic online shooters then SOCOM is pretty good. Also if you are interested in the new PS3 headset then you might as well buy it bundled with SOCOM.

[biggercup]

I am wondering if the game is just for online like Warhawk.
or has single player story mode like GRAW 1 & 2.

[jblank]

It's online only.

I picked it up, with the headset....impressions this evening.

[Bullwinkle]

Evil Avatar has some fairly useless impressions up:  http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67379

Quick question: What makes the PS3 headset better than the bluetooth one I already have?

[jblank]

The Sony logo of course. 

Nothing really. It supports some "HD Audio" spec that is near useless as I think there is only 1 game out that supports it, and that is the game it comes with.

[Vindel_7]

Thanks to those with their impressions thus far. And look forward to more. Thanks guys.

[jblank]

You guys want some pictures of the goodies?

[Vindel_7]

You guys want some pictures of the goodies?

Yes please 

[jblank]

These were taken with my Blackberry so excuse the poor quality. Also, I am in my companies disaster recovery center doing testing, so it's kinda dark.







The USB Cradle and cable are included, as is a second earpiece, in case the original is uncomfortable.

[Vindel_7]

These were taken with my Blackberry so excuse the poor quality. Also, I am in my companies disaster recovery center doing testing, so it's kinda dark.







The USB Cradle and cable are included, as is a second earpiece, in case the original is uncomfortable.

Nice, thanks for the pics.

[jblank]

My pleasure. I'm glad to help.

Again, sorry for the poor quality, it's even darker in here than it looks in those shots.

[Misguided]

When the earpiece is on the cradle it can operate as a microphone.

[Turtle]

I'm still at work and can't pick up my copy until later.  Does this game support split screen in any way?  I've got a LAN party coming up and that's pretty important to me, some of the people there are SOCOM fans, and since I'll only have 1-2 PS3s to bring it's pointless to bring if only one person plays per system.

The headset has a few other features that work in all games such as on screen status displays, a mute button, easy pairing by simply connecting it to the PS3 via usb.   I'm not sure but I think the HD mode is built into the firmware instead of being on a per game basis.

I have some generally negative opinions of the SOCOM gameplay after playing in the beta, specifically the way the gameplay interacts with the control scheme and the type of game it presents itself as.  I'll post those in a little bit.

[jblank]

So far the launch (if you can call it that since a launch usually refers to getting something off the ground) of SOCOM is an epic FAIL! I have wasted the last 90 minutes of my night hitting the Start button over and over again, only to keep getting a failed to logon to server message. Couple that with the 1+ hour I spent doing the 3GB install and 500 MB patch download and the 140MB Firmware update, and I am ROYALLY pissed off at Sony.

Probably wont get any impressions from me other than the splash screen looks nice.

[pr0ner]

So far the launch (if you can call it that since a launch usually refers to getting something off the ground) of SOCOM is an epic FAIL! I have wasted the last 90 minutes of my night hitting the Start button over and over again, only to keep getting a failed to logon to server message. Couple that with the 1+ hour I spent doing the 3GB install and 500 MB patch download and the 140MB Firmware update, and I am ROYALLY pissed off at Sony.

Probably wont get any impressions from me other than the splash screen looks nice.

Ouch.

[jblank]

Yeah, it is that bad.

I'm getting more than a bit fed up with BOTH Sony and Microsoft, when it comes to being able to handle "launch day" traffic. Sony in particular, due to them having 2 popular online only games now. It isn't right for us to shell out 60 bucks and not even be able to play the game at all. At least when Microsoft had problems with CoD 4 and Halo 3, we could fall back on the single player, ya know? If they're gonna put these online only games out, they NEED TO MAKE SURE they can handle the customers on day one.

[WalkingFumble]

So far the launch (if you can call it that since a launch usually refers to getting something off the ground) of SOCOM is an epic FAIL! I have wasted the last 90 minutes of my night hitting the Start button over and over again, only to keep getting a failed to logon to server message. Couple that with the 1+ hour I spent doing the 3GB install and 500 MB patch download and the 140MB Firmware update, and I am ROYALLY pissed off at Sony.

Probably wont get any impressions from me other than the splash screen looks nice.

I'm on the 500 meg patch now too.  What the hell.  You would think they would have fixed the login problem with the beta, cause it sounds exactly the same. 

[jblank]

Oh really? Wow, that's just sad then. I wasn't in the beta so I wasn't sure what the deal was.

[denoginizer]

A 500 meg patch for a console game?

Wow.

My major issue with the beta was I would sit for what seemed like 10 minutes every time I joined a game.  It appears that problem has not been fixed.

In my mind the game is just not worth all of the hassle.  As I have said before there are far better multiplayer shooters available right now.

[Scraper]

A 500 meg patch for a console game?

Wow.

This patch size makes sense since they patched the Beta twice within 3 weeks prior to launch. Each patch was over 250mgs. The console world is now accepting the PC patching system.

[Turtle]

Told you guys to wait for release day reviews. 

SOCOM, I think, just isn't up to modern standards.  First, it was developed on way too tight a development schedule for a studio that hasn't had much experience developing to this level.

The game itself has issues with being outdated.  Its control scheme is meant for a single player GRAW-like tactical game, but the multiplayer literally plays like counter strike.

When you get into a good game it can be quite fun, but really only with a certain style of play.  I said like counter strike above and I meant it, a lot of the tactics and strategies that are most effective are very much like CS strategies, and those involving being a cautious tactical shooter are often ineffective.

[denoginizer]

The game itself has issues with being outdated.  Its control scheme is meant for a single player GRAW-like tactical game, but the multiplayer literally plays like counter strike.

When you get into a good game it can be quite fun, but really only with a certain style of play.  I said like counter strike above and I meant it, a lot of the tactics and strategies that are most effective are very much like CS strategies, and those involving being a cautious tactical shooter are often ineffective.

It looks like a bad Counterstrike clone to me.

 

[Turtle]

Yep, and there's the thing.  SOCOM could have been a whole lot better game had Slant 6 been given more leeway to make drastic changes to the game, or perhaps had been handed the series to redo entirely into a full SOCOM 4.

Instead, you get this outdated online only game this meant to pander to old SOCOM fans with outdated controls from the PS2 era.  The release schedule is tied to the bluetooth headset so they don't even have time to include the beta fixes in the pressed disc.

For example, what if they'd just taken a nod to the Gears/Uncharted control scheme by putting the aiming on the left button/trigger and shooting on the right (or switched for lefties).  I really don't see any reason for the game not to use this method, instead you have this weird multi level zoom on the dpad where you have to take your thumb off the movement stick to use and it's difficult to quickly snap in and out of aiming.  This makes it difficult to people who use the more tactical mid to long range guns that rely on aiming and zoom to face off against people running around using assault rifles and aiming from the hip.

Because of the perspective and the way the zoom and leaning works, it's difficult to use those features at all to present a small profile and hit your target.  Usually it's a wall in the way, or your crouching puts your barrel too low that your bullets hit the thing your crouching behind.  It takes such a long time to get into a good position that either the battle has moved beyond that point, or someone with an assault rifle or SMG has strafed past you at warp speed to shoot you in the back.

[Vindel_7]

I think I may be the only one who got to play this game last night  It took me about 30 minutes to get all of the updates and yes I did get the cannot login to server the first try but after that I was in and playing the game. Played for about 2-3 hours straight without any hickups. But sounds like a hit and miss. But from what I did play I was quite pleased with the game.

Graphics are good. Not stellar but I would say on par with the Ghost series, which I thought looked fantastic. And it took no time to get used to the controls. I was fraggin people and it was a blast. Everyone was using their head sets and I didn't run across any tools with their l33t dood speak or anything. Over I had a good time.

Now let's hope I have this good of luck tonight when I try and play 

[leo8877]

I got into the BETA and could never launch a game so I just deleted it.  Sucks that it sounds like that made it to retail as well.

[CeeKay]

the headset looks cool (and looking at how much it costs it might be better to get the game with it for an extra 10 bucks), but what is up with the large 'Not for Resale' on the box?  Is that Sony's attempt at trying to stop used game sales?

[leo8877]

the headset looks cool (and looking at how much it costs it might be better to get the game with it for an extra 10 bucks), but what is up with the large 'Not for Resale' on the box?  Is that Sony's attempt at trying to stop used game sales?

Those stickers are huge deterrents! 

[Bullwinkle]

the headset looks cool (and looking at how much it costs it might be better to get the game with it for an extra 10 bucks), but what is up with the large 'Not for Resale' on the box?  Is that Sony's attempt at trying to stop used game sales?

That's fairly common in bundled games.  It's supposed to come with the package, not be sold individually.  It's more a deterrent for the stores than for the used game industry.  They don't want anyone breaking a bundle down and selling the individual parts.

[Vindel_7]

I will say one great thing about the game is the sound. Some of the best sound effects I have heard in a console shooter. I really like how it sounds when there is a fire fight going on in the distance, how it echo's through out the battlefield.

[ATB]

I will say one great thing about the game is the sound. Some of the best sound effects I have heard in a console shooter. I really like how it sounds when there is a fire fight going on in the distance, how it echo's through out the battlefield.

Can you give us more?  How's the play?

[Vindel_7]

I think it is a very simple control set up. R1 to fire your primary weapon. L1 to switch weapons. R2 to sprint. The O button to switch to frags for RPG if you have one. X button to jump and climb and L2 to talk. and the triangle button to stand, crouch and go prone.

The movement is nice and fluid. The game moves at a good pace. Not to fast and not to slow. But depending on your gear layout you can move a bit faster or slower. There are a lot of options on creating your character either your commando or Merc.

[ATB]

So how do i know when the headset is done charging? When it stops flashing?

[Vindel_7]

So how do i know when the headset is done charging? When it stops flashing?

Yes, it should be a solid red ring.

[Dreamshadow]

So how do i know when the headset is done charging? When it stops flashing?

Yes, it should be a solid red ring.

I thought red rings were bad?

[ATB]

So how do i know when the headset is done charging? When it stops flashing?

Yes, it should be a solid red ring.

I thought red rings were bad?

OMG WRONG SYSTAM! ROFLOTRL!