SOCOM: U.S Navy SEALs Tactical Strike
SCEA decided to change things up with the latest title in the SOCOM PSP franchise. Vancouver based Slant Six is now taking over development for the November release of "SOCOM: U.S Navy SEALs Tactical Strike", so they re-engineered the game model and this time the emphasis is on strategy. It's based more on Special Operations skill and training than a third person shoot everything that moves style of play.
The basic game format is to evaluate, plan, then execute your mission objectives. Gamers take the role of battlefield commander rather than an actual special operations soldier. Being a personal fan of the SOCOM series, I couldn't wait to check out the new format.
The story line follows a violent insurgent group, hostile to the Panamanian government, attacking the Office of the Interior Minister in a coordinated coup attempt. During the attack the Ambassador to Panama is kidnapped, and that's where the Special Operations Command steps in.
Your mission starts you out trying to rescue the Ambassador. This time you're equipped with a four man team broken up into two elements, Able and Bravo, similar to the Playstation format.
Newly added to this years combat is the ability to select not only from a U.S Navy SEAL team but the ability to select from other Special Operations teams from around the world. You can select SOF teams from Great Britain Australia, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, and South Korea.
In addition, the game is actually spoken in the native language of the team selected. For those who don't want to go international and want you can still select the Navy SEAL team from the good ol' USA. In case you're wondering, this years SEAL squad consists of Wraith, Bronco (both from SOCOM: Mobile Recon), Kahuna (from the original PS2 SOCOM), and fresh out of BUDs Aztec.
I will say the featured tutorial for the first mission is a must. The overall feel of the game has changed since Fireteam Bravo 2, so getting used to the command and control concept is a must for the first level. As far as controlling your fireteam issuing commands is as simple as moving the cursor to a specific location and then hitting the circle button. The circle button essentially executes team movements, the triangle button cancels moves, and the X button handles weapons firing.
For controlling your teams firing you have a range of options. Commands include Hold Fire, Stealth Kill (for a silenced knife attack), Field of Fire which covers a wide range of targets in a field range, and Fire at Will. Likewise, you can concentrate your shots to a specific target by moving the cursor over a specific target, then your team will attack that target with a full onslaught.
One of my personal favorites is the sniper attack. You can call on the sniper on your team to take a long distance shot on an enemy. After pressing the square button and bring the sniper command, the screen goes into the scope view and you can see your shooter take the shot. It's awesome because you score quick guaranteed headshots on enemies from long distances. In certain cases your sniper will not take the shot if too many obstacles are in the way or if the target is clearly out of range.
Just like its Playstation counterpart in Tactical Strike you can order Able element to a specific location and have Bravo element cover them, so use of either elements or the entire fireteam is flexible.
Using the L and R shoulder buttons allows gamers to select each element of individual members in the element. Also available is the ability to heal wounded teammates. You can issue the command when the he is in need of health or when wounded on the ground, but in those cases you have to tend to you teammate quickly or else he dies, which means mission over. One annoying aspect to the overall game is the load time after you die during a mission.
The game goes to the stats menu then the main menu before you can restart from your last checkpoint. That coupled with the PSP's load time makes it annoying. After a while you get desensitized to it and use it as an excellent time to change the playlist on your MP3 player.
Slant Six has kept the same basic mission format from the previous titles. You have to complete a series of objectives in any order, with some bonus objectives in the mission, before you can call it day. At any time once you have completed a mission gamers can replay that mission in Instant Action mode.
Enemy AI seemed to be a bit intelligent at times, ducking and taking cover but there not too mobile and that's what key in a firefight. Occasionally, the enemy will position snipers in some obscure places making it tricky to win a fight. Likewise, what gets frustrating is when your team members don't seek cover while out in the open. A seek cover command is surely needed and absent from this title.
In some cases combat can seem slower, but we have encountered heavy firefights where you had to diver actions to different places at different times. Tactical Strike is very engaging because in certain cases when the situation turns sour, you have to order you're some of your squad members to provide suppressing cover fire while you heal a wounded member. Tactical Strike is also playable in a multiplayer format with 2-4 player Ad Hoc mode and online Infrastructure play with voice chat, if you have the PSP headset.
Above all, gamers that like hardcore shooters would actually enjoy this one as will fans of the series. There are three difficulty settings and multiplayer mode will keep you busy for some time, giving it a high replay value. At the Lieutenant level, veterans of the series should be able to breeze right through the game. Tactical Strike is put together well with solid gameplay, and should be part of every gamers holiday list. Check out some additional in game screenshots here.
SOCOM: U.S Navy SEALs Tactical Strike is rated "T" for Teen (Content suitable for ages 13 or older) and is available exclusively for the Playstation Portable gaming system.