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> Results: SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 2
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Drug Reference: GamerDad's very first real mission involved taking out a drug production facility. Violence: GamerDad killed loads of bad guys engaged in loads of bad activities. I was part of Sony's beta testing efforts for the first SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo game. My expectations ﾖ based on the awful FPS Coded Arms ﾖ were pretty low, but I have always been looking for that elusive ﾑgreat handheld shooter', so I was willing to give it a shot. I couldn't have been much more pleasantly surprised ﾖ the developers actually ﾑgot it'; they knew what made a good shooter and worked around the limitations of the PSP to produce a game that was fun and playable. The game sold very well ﾖ just over a million copies as of the end of 2006 ﾖ so a sequel was a fairly easy prediction. Once again tasking Zipper Interactive with development duties, Sony has come up with a winner that has improved on every limitation of the original and keeps pace with the best looking games and best shooter controls on the PSP system. The game plays like a hybrid third-person / first-person shooter, and is effective in both modes. The controls are intuitive and well done - the design is theoretically more limiting than the method used in the Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror, but the game design takes it into account fully so it never becomes an issue. The camera is a non-issue because unlike typical third-person action games with variable camera angles, this game has an over-the-shoulder perspective that keeps you in control at all times without ever compromising the view. It just works. I would categorize the load times as 'acceptable' - you aren't going to think you are playing a GBA or DS game as there is plenty of UMD access going on and you will have to wait for missions to begin, but you will never sit for frustrated minutes watching load screen after load screen. The multiplayer game integrates with your single player profile seamlessly and carries over all of your settings and rewards, and also has a friends list and extremely simple game selection. It is the best multiplayer shooter for the PSP available. That's a pretty bold claim - so what is the catch? There is none. SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 2 is a very good game, and more importantly it knows what kind of game it wants to be. It is not trying to be every game for every player. It is a mission-based, moderately-paced, thinly-plotted and multiplayer-focused shooter. And it hits that goal so well that it makes the shooter landscape for the PSP clear - if you are looking for a deep single player shooter experience, get Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror, but if you want great multiplayer grab this game and train up in single-player before trying your luck online. Once you hit multiplayer you'll be hooked - the maps are solid, the weapons are balanced, and there are plenty of players of all skill levels out there to keep things challenging.  
The vast majority of SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 2 is very similar in style and intensity to the original game as well as other T-rated games like Call of Duty, but once again the cutscenes are brutal and very intense. The focus of the game is multiplayer, and since there is full support for of online microphones for team chat, there is the associated concern about unrestricted bad verbal behavior. These make this game more appropriate for somewhat older teens.
One thing that is different this time is that nearly every mission has an objective related to non-lethal capture of enemy combatants, and your Local Influence gets a boost every time you restrain an enemy rather than kill them. I really like this and even showed my wife and kids ﾖ my wife appreciated the message: there are often better ways to do things than just kill everyone, and that the people on the other end of the sniper rifle are people too. Comments? Chat about it in our forums! Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 2 |
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