Sony's PlayStation 3 military shooter, SOCOM Confrontation, takes the series in a drastic new direction. Instead of including a single-player campaign with multiplayer options, it's strictly an online only affair. That'd be fine if it wasn't ruined by numerous glitches.
Like Warhawk before it, SOCOM Confrontation provides multiple options for PlayStation Network users including detailed maps, a mixture of five new North African-themed settings and classic SOCOM favorites from previous games. You also choose between various International Special Forces teams, multiple uniform types and other options, such as facial and physical features. From there, you can jump into an online match and work alongside others to complete missions. There's even leaderboard, tournament and clan ladder support, so you can see how you measure up against others.
Despite these modes, glitches ruin the fun. Constant freeze-ups force you to reset your PlayStation 3, and the long load times and slow menu navigation certainly don't help either. This results in tedious waiting just to get a match set up, if it ever occurs. It looks as if the problem regarding exiting a match and checking its time limit were remedied, but other issues still remain.
Developer Slant Six made some changes for the better, including a bigger emphasis on team play (you can't win a match by yourself) and removing vehicles. However, manual weapon switching sometimes leads to an early death in the heat of combat. For instance, if you have a rifle and need to throw a grenade, it's slightly more complex than just tossing it. This small delay takes just enough time to turn the tide in a battle, leaving you vulnerable to enemy attack. Furthermore, even something as simple as changing gun views takes a little longer than expected. This is one of those times in which realism should've taken a backseat to efficiency, even for SOCOM.
It's sad that these problems occur, because the rest of SOCOM Confrontation is superb. The visuals are surprisingly crisp, with a steady frame rate (even with 32 players at once), gorgeous map designs, smooth character models and realistic lighting effects. It all unfolds at 1280 X 720 resolution, so you've always got a clear view of what's ahead.
Sound quality is also unparalleled. Weapons go off in all directions and bullets whiz past. If you fork over the extra $20 for the bundle, you'll also get the excellent Bluetooth headset. This device works magnificently, not only delivering crystal-clear sound but also blocking out unnecessary background noise.
SOCOM Confrontation has a solid presentation, but the lobby options are severely broken, weapon switching is a chore and the lack of a campaign mode hurts. This is one tour of duty we'll decline until the proper patches are in place.
Reader Comments (48)
Game has great potential--but it is crippled and unacceptable in its current manifestation. Here is my personal experience playing the game online. Going through the menus to get online is TEDIOUS-- it takes me average of 10-12 minutes to cycle through the numerous servers, find the type of game I want with an opening, then load to get into a match. Then, if I my PS3 doesn't initially crash at this point (10-20% of the time), I may get in. At this point, if I'm not condemned as a permanent spectator (5%), I can join and play. But I am not safe even if I reach this checkpoint-- for I still have to mitigate SOME level of lagg--even with the best of luck. I can still have fun at this point, but thats if I REACH this point before giving up. I sincerely hope they fix the game--
inutaihanyou123- Wow, you're another great example of maturity aren't you? I didn't want to imply that makaveli8891 had no legitament arguments, I only disapproved of his method of arguing. Jumping right into an insulting rant (like you have) is just a pet peeve of mine. I could stay on here and keep arguing with you, but its simply not worth my time and I consider an argument finished when one side resorts to childish name calling.
kvhudson... you're sadly mistaken...because I don't see what was offensive in Makaveli's comments. If you think those are that bad, then you need to grow a set and stop being such a damn *****. And you might not be defending the actual review but like he said, you're defending the reviewer. Also, if that mass effect comment didn't hit home then you're much more of a dumba$$ than I thought. And give me one argument that he may have listed that wasn't a legitament argument. The only thing you're doing is crying foul for no damn reason. I'll even say this. That was a terrible review, and even more a reason why game daily isn't even considered to be credable. I was just reading the comments and didn't think to get involved, but your idiotic statements are getting annoying. Take your own advice and shut the hell up if you can't pose a good argument yourself.
makaveli8891- You could have "called it as you see it" in a very different way and still gotten your point across. I'm NOT defending this review as you suggest and I'm actually a little pissed by your suggestion that I have some sort of "connection" to the reviewer. So once again all you've proven is that you can only argue by insulting the people who oppose your view. And for your information, name calling isn't the only form of an insult and I never specifically said you were name calling. Why not simply try to make some decent arguments like Icsaint2 is doing without resorting to bashing? Lastly, your actions are not validated simply because a large number of people share your opinion. Listen, just try to show a little respect next time because for heavens sake, it IS just a video game we're talking about. Icsaint2- I do understand what argument you're trying to make. Once again, I'm only saying that everyone here bashing this review is worrying about a hangnail when there is a gunshot wounded involved. The game is not playable, lets just all agree to see what happens after the patch. robgamedaily- "The only issue here is that Sony shipped a game to market when it clearly wasn't ready for it. PERIOD, end of story." I agree completely, any game with this much of a fanbase shouldn't be having these issues.
And you wrote a review, when you clear weren't ready for it. PERIOD. End of story.
The only issue here is that Sony shipped a game to market when it clearly wasn't ready for it. PERIOD, end of story.
Thank you saint for showing common sense. And hudson, if you really think all of that is really immature, then I'd be afraid to imagine what you'd consider a lot of the rest of the comments on this review or the thoughts of a lot of the other people who read this. The only thing I did was call it like I see it. I didn't use inappropriate name calling like you claimed, nor was I making obscene statements. And to be honest, I wouldn't doubt if you had any connection to the reviewer since you're about the only person to defend him, and quite frankly, your assertions sound just like his. This will be the last time I say this, but when someone writes up a review with false elements that can be publicly read and change the way someone, without prior knowledge about the game, feels about it, and in fact may affect their purchase can be a problem. That's not good dude. And from this point on, whatever. I'm officially dropping out because Robert is being respectful by not commenting any more towards the reactions of the fanbase (but oddly enough, only to your constant defending). Out of respect to him, I'll let this die, also because of him saying he's going to leave this review open for another look once the game has been patched and fixed. And if anything, if I was him, I'd state much more clearer that he will do as he said and write up a re-review once the game is fully playable. He may have said that he won't play it till it's patched, but the fact is, the whole re-review statement wasn't clearly made in the article. Regardless, there will be flames that will spark up from time to time, but that should be expected from writing up an incomplete review. But never the less, I'm done. Keep talking about it and claiming that I'm the one overreacting over this subject when, no matter how you look at it, it's an issue. I'm gone.
"If this game were in a playable state, then maybe I could understand some of the reactions." Exactly, how can you really review something if you can't even play it for an extended period of time? 90% of the problems with the game are server related. In the times I've been able to play through an entire match with no problems, my impression of the game is that its solid. But the gameplay is hampered by crappy servers. My suggestion to anyone reading this is to check out IGN's review if you want an accurate depiction of what's going on with the game at the moment. (http://ps3.ign.com/articles/921/921739p1.html ) The guy over there has actually taken the time to really try to play the game dispite the server problems.
Ok makaveli8891, here are just some examples of your comments I found to be immature: "You obviously don't know what the hell you are talking about." "I see you had to leave a comment on 1up's comment section as well to make yourself feel even better for your asinine review." "Yea, cop out now." "Smart decision... you already have one foot in the grave. Keep going and you'll eventually get buried." All of the above comments were immature and if you don't understand why, just try criticizing someone in the same manner in person. Just see then what kind of reaction you would get. You'd probably be lucky not getting slugged right in the face. Once again, I understand the whole argument concerning exiting a game and the timer. But you're arguing over issues that don't break the game! So once again, I don't see the point. If this game were in a playable state, then maybe I could understand some of the reactions.
Worst review ever? The fact that those issues aren't even relevant from the launch of the game, just the open beta, you know, a testing phase? Not to mention they were severely reduced through patches DURING the beta. But the weapon select? You do realise there is a weapon quick select that switches between your main weapon (the weapon you are currently using) and the weapon you used last. It's L1 on my control scheme. So, I equip grenades whenever I need to throw them, experience this split-second delay, then hit L1, get my weapon out. I need to throw another grenade? Hit L1 button, get them out without any delay at all, throw it, then hit L1 and get my M16 back out. The review might want to actually play the game they review, rather than loading up a map or two on the beta without thoroughly testing the game, doing what any Tom, **** or Harry could do, being paid or not.