Socom has managed to establish itself as a formidable franchise for Sony Computer Entertainment. Zipper Interactive's exclusive military-shooter has come a long way since it originally debuted on the market back in 2002. Interestingly, the multiplayer component has grown very deep and very large (supporting up to 32 players). As for the single-player campaign, it’s a standard stop-the-terrorists storyline with a couple of high-points and some noteworthy flaws.
First off, I’ll mention that the multiplayer portion of the game is the more favored feature in Combined Assault. Gamers can take the action online with three other players in a cooperative campaign, or engage in some classic death matching with up to 31 other players. There’s also a host of game types to keep the online community coming back for more, ranging from escort missions, extractions, convoys, breaching, and more. There’s a list of features and filters so gamers can setup exactly what kind of multiplayer game they’d like to play. The vehicles also play a major role in the team-combat scenario, as well as breaching into opponent territory, not unlike Halo 2. But that’s not really a big surprise, considering Socom’s multiplayer gameplay has always been a strong point for the series. If there were a drawback, it would come from the awful frame-rate that ensues when a lot of action is taking place on screen, but you should and could expect that with 32 total online players – some with not so stellar connections. Ultimately, though, the multiplayer mode truly kicks butt.
Multiplayer saves the day!
The single-player, however, is not quite as visceral. Mainly, it’s the same game as the multiplayer, just that three of your teammates are A.I. controlled. Indeed, it makes for some very difficult maneuvering, team executions, and sniping when you have to rely on the sometimes-inaccurate artificial intelligence. In fact, you might as well forget about long-range attacks...your teammates won’t pace or time a shot if their lives depended on it...and their lives will depend on it (not to mention your life as well), in some cases. On the plus side, the A.I. is just a small problem in a game that generally does most of everything right. The team commands offer players an extensive list of options. As a matter of fact, the game pauses once the command window opens, allowing all the different commands and options players have to open up at their disposal, without worrying about getting killed. Again, if the A.I. were as competent and intuitive as the actual commands they were given, both elements of the game would be golden.
Another minor gripe is with the zooming and night-vision...they aren’t separate. I know this is seriously more of a pet peeve than an actual problem. But coming off of a Ghost Recon or Splinter Cell game -- it’s very difficult re-adjusting to what seems like a very linear control scheme in Socom. It’s not entirely bad, it's just annoying that you can’t double-zoom and have night-vision on at the same time.
Unfortunately, my biggest gripe with the game comes in the form of the checkpoints. Saving a checkpoint would have been a tremendous blessing to a game like this. But the preset (usually single) checkpoints administered through each level can sometimes cause you to stay stuck on a level longer than need be. Simple mistakes can sometimes cause a mission to end, and restarting from a checkpoint can take up to 30 minutes just to re-do entire segments of a level. Had the game been compact like Splinter Cell stages, the checkpoints wouldn’t have been as bad. But Socom has some fairly massive playing fields, which are as fun as they are challenging…the challenge is mostly due to the lack of checkpoints, though, at not really enemy A.I. I suppose, this helps keep the game’s replay intact for the single-player mode, but gamers who aren’t so patient, will quickly get frustrated with this feature.
As for the actual missions, the game has a series of main objectives and a multitude of secondary objectives. Both sets of objectives aren’t terribly hard, however they do prove to be challenging. But before setting out on a mission, players can customize their weapon payout with a cache of accessories. For instance, players can choose the weapon they want and then add a sniper scope, or an extra shotgun attachment, or even an air cannon. Depending on the team’s weapons, though, will determine how successful they are (and how successful you are) when engaging enemies on the battlefield. I think the weapon dynamic is quite cool, although the shootouts seem a bit clunky at times. But if you’ve played previous Socom games, then the shooting in Combined Assault won't feel very different.
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