PS3; �39.99; cert 16+; Zipper Interactive/Sony
Despite being an increasingly rare example of a Sony exclusive, the SOCOM franchise never previously made much impact beyond the US. But the squad-based, third/first-person shooter (it snaps into first-person view when you aim) pioneered online gaming on the PlayStation 2. Special Forces is the fourth instalment and the first proper one for the PS3, and it turns out to be something of a curate's egg.
It's the first SOCOM game with a proper, focused, story-led single-player game: set in the Far East, you play Special Forces operative Cullen Gray who, with his two-man team, hooks up with two South Korean Special Forces soldiers and finds himself in the middle of what becomes more or less a war to gain control of the Malacca Straits and hold the world to ransom. The missions (uniquely for SOCOM) take place in a fairly small geographical area, and generally involve being beset by huge numbers of enemies ? although they are interspersed with stealth interludes, for which you take the controls of a female South Korean soldier called 45.
SOCOM: Special Forces' single-player game is impressively absorbing, given the franchise's lack of pedigree in that area. The missions are quite varied and believable and the stealth ? while not being as rigorous as, say, Metal Gear Solid ? is pretty convincing. The British characters have actually been voiced by Brits. Enemy AI is good, it's vital to control your squad in a strategic manner, the weapons are good (and get better, as you can collect enemy weapons and equip them in future missions) and there are some impressively high-tech aspects, such as convincing particle effects like smoke and destructible cover. And the control system is perfect for Sony's Move ? indeed, it provides an example of exactly the sort of game you can't play using Kinect.
However, there are a few issues. The graphics, though crisp, look curiously dated, in a texture-free, old-school arcade-machine style. You often have to be annoyingly precise in your orientation, in order to snap to cover or heal downed squad-members, which is hardly ideal in the middle of a fire-fight. And, following the modern trend, the single-player game is pretty short.
That, to be fair, is somewhat ameliorated by a decent multiplayer side, which takes in the typical Capture The Flag and Deathmatch modes, but innovates with Bomb Squad, in which you must protect a squad-member while he or she defuses a bomb. And it supports up to five-player co-op play, which really lets the game go to town on cranking up the AI, and forces you to act in a highly co-ordinated manner with your fellow players.
SOCOM: Special Forces is, by some distance, the best SOCOM game yet, although it still lacks polish in comparison with the likes of Call of Duty and Crysis 2. If you view such concerns as mere superficialities, then you'll find that it is an enjoyable, pretty well crafted effort which you might find yourself playing for a decent period of time online.
? Game reviewed on PlayStation 3
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2011/apr/27/socom-special-forcesps3-review
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