By Andy Matheson on December 8th, 2003

Presentation

The original SOCOM had some pretty good presentation, mainly in the areas of menus and mission breakdowns. SOCOM II improves upon it, with menus even easier to navigate and mission breakdowns that are even more detailed and make you feel like you’re actually about to go out and fight.

The online presentation isn’t bad either. Upon logging on, you have access to clan menus, friend lists and game servers. Each menu loads within a second and give you every bit of info you need. Before joining an online game, you can just glance at it and see how many people are in it, is friendly fire on or off, what map is it, what type of game is it, password enabled or not.

Graphics

SOCOM II won’t be winning any awards for its graphics, but that is fine. The graphics are pretty sporadic. Player models are very detailed, but they don’t really animate very well. Some maps are detailed, others don’t look as polished and suffer from a lot of fog. The special effects have been improved from SOCOM, but they are still barely above average.

The framerate is sold though, and the different locales throughout the game actually look different this time around.

Sound

SOCOM was the first console game to really use a headset as a main part of the gameplay. In the offline mode you can bark out orders to your AI squad and they’ll follow. It’s a lot easier than using the menus. In online mode, teamwork and communication is key to winning and simply talking into the headset is a lot faster and effective than stopping to type on a keyboard.

SOCOM II improves upon the original in the sound department in almost every way. Almost every gun sounded the same in SOCOM. Now when you hear gunfire you’ll be muttering to yourself "Ok, that’s an M4A1 SD, that’s one of my guys." Not only that but you can tell which direction it is from. The sound is that good. Nothing better than having a sniper shoot at you, miss, and then you can pinpoint exactly where he is hiding simply from the sound of the shot. SOCOM II does a lot of things right, and sound is one of them. The music is also pretty good, as are the voice overs for squad members and enemies in the single player game.

Gameplay

SOCOM II is a realistic type 3rd person action game. In the single player mode, you are the leader of a group of 4 elite Navy Seals. You set out across different locales like Brazil or Albania, and destroy terrorist factions. The AI in these missions are MUCH improved over the original. In SOCOM you could rush up to a terrorist and even if he was looking right at you, you could kill him before he even began to react. Not in SOCOM II.

In this game, you better shoot to kill. Keeping cover and using stealth is vital as well. If you shoot at someone and miss or do not kill them, they will take cover and call for help right away. Who cares right? In the first SOCOM you could wipe out a group of 6 terrorists without breaking a sweat. Not this time. Enemies have deadly accuracy and use the same cover techniques you do. Also, SOCOM II features a lot of ambush points for enemies to use as well, and the computer uses gun turrets/sniper positions very well. All of this said, the single player game is very much better than the originals, but it is still something most people will not want to play through, atleast not more than a couple times.

The levels are too long, mission objectives just seem to keep pouring in, and there isn’t a save funtion in-level or even checkpoints. Also, the AI is much improved but there are still holes. Just like in SOCOM 1, POW and teammate soldiers get caught on everything and it gets very annoying. Walking down a cliff or steep area is a pain because while you carefully walk down, your teammates or prisoners usually just hop down, killing or seriously wounding themselves. Overall though some of the missions and just plain boring. You will want to play through it though, because that’s the only way you can unlock some of the skins for online play.

But really, who cares about the single player game when SOCOM II has such a killer online game? Thousands of people agree, to the tune of about 73,000 a day. To compare numbers, MS said XBL had its best day in November with about 83,000 people online during one day. SOCOM II has over 70,000 alone a day. That’s how much ass this game kicks online.

Fans of the original will feel right at home when they go online. Aside from cosmetic changes and the server now giving players more information on each game, the menus are basically unchanged. You simply login and you’re ready to join. The online mode this year boasts tons of improvements, some small and some huge.

Friends list. You can now see everyone on your friends list and see exactly what server/game they’re in, and send them a text message while they’re playing. Can’t even imagine how much time you save.

Improved clan system. Now there is no need to put your clan tag into your name. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve tried to recruit someone on SOCOM I and have them say "well I don’t wanna lose rank by making a new name with the tag." No need anymore. If you join a clan, tat clans tag is instantly put in front of your name everytime you join a game. Also, you can click on the clan menu now and see where each member is playing, thier rank and all of thier stats.

Improved headset features. You can now mute teammates and tell EXACTLY who is talking. So that annoying guy who keeps screaming into the mic is no longer unknown. And for the little kids, there’s a voice modulation option so everyone sounds like a man. Everyone can now talk in the lobby too.

There’s also a load of small changes, including the lobby feature that starts the game once enough people "g^", or "ready up". And while in a game, you can now see exactly who is alive and dead, so now you know that when you’re the last man alive on your team, maybe the other team only has one alive as well.

Aside from cosmetic improvements and changes, SOCOM II also boasts 2 new gameplay modes and tons of new maps. All in all, there are 5 gameplay modes:

Extraction- Seals must locate and extract hostages. Terrorists must stop the Seals from extracting the hostages. Both teams can win by elminating the other team, both teams can lose by killing the hostages.

Supression- Simple, just kill everyone on the opposite side. Whichever team is left with no one alive loses.

Demolition- There is a bomb in the center of the map. The goal is to get it, plant it at the designated point, and detonate it. Either team can get the bomb, either team can win by detonation or eliminating the other team.

Breach- One of the new modes. In this mode, there are different variations. Some maps have either team bunkered into a base, and the opposite team must blow its way into the base with C4 and detonate a bomb in the opponents "main building" to win. Other maps have one bomb in the middle of the map and either team can get it, make thier way to the enemies base and detonate it. Either team can also win by eliminating the other team.

Escort- The other new mode in SOCOM II, escort has the Seal team having to protect 3 VIP’s. They can either just sit and protect them somewhere and wait for the time to run out, or move them to an extraction point and extract them. You get more points for extracting, but it’s a lot more dangerous since the terrorists will be guarding the extraction areas. Terrorists can win by eliminating all 3 VIPs or all Seals. They can eliminate the Seals ability to extract VIP’s by killing 2 of them. If time runs out with a VIP alive, the Seals win.

The new game modes are awesome and add a lot of depth to the game. The new maps are a bit of a mixed bag to me. Some of them are just brilliant while others make me wonder how the hell Zipper thought the map would be fun. The original 10 maps from the first game are back though, so if you enjoyed one of those well, atleast you know there’s something you’ll enjoy.

The game probably has more replay value than any game I’ve ever seen. Once you get tired of one type of game, there are 4 other game types and still 22 maps to keep you occupied. And even when you tired of all 5 modes, there are things like respawn, pistol only and sniper only tweaks to still make the game fresh. And when Sony releases the hard drive, Zipper will be releasing stuff for that as well, so expect patches, new levels and weapons, etc to keep you occupied well past SOCOM 3.

The new game does have a couple flaws. For starters, the new pressure-sensitive method for changing stance sucks because sometimes you wanna crouch but your guy throws himself onto the ground instead. Secondly, the game now has a health meter, and it takes more shots to kill someone. I cannot mention the amount of times I’ve snuck up behind someone and blasted them to hell, only to have them turn around, fire twice and kill me. It takes getting used to but it eventually comes. You really gotta learn how to get that headshot.

Overall

Overall, where SOCOM 1 was great, SOCOM II is even better. The game just never gets old, and never loses its edge. About a week ago I was in an IRC room with some clanmates, looking at my stats. I have somewhere near 200 games played, and 1 suicide. I actually remembered the suicide. That’s how good the gameplay is.

SOCOM II leaves no reason to doubt why it’s the best and most played online console game and is a sure candidate for Game of the Year. It gets my vote in fact. Any PS2 owner needs to pick it up now, and anyone who isn’t a PS2 owner needs to pass on XBox Live and get this game.

The Good
+ Tons of users online
+ Addictive online gameplay
+ Presentation is top-notch
+ No cheaters
+ 22 maps
+ 2 new modes and tons of customization options
+ More balance in gameplay
+ Much better AI in single player game
+ Unlimited replay value
+ Loads of potential with HDD

The Bad
- Still freezes every once in awhile
- Some stages still have minor glitches
- Only 24 hours in a day to play