SOCOM: Confrontation

Flip · 06-30-2008, 01:00 AM

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To this day, the SOCOM franchise remains the most popular of the PlayStation 2's online repertoire. But as the first game in the series to arrive on the PlayStation 3, the upcoming SOCOM: Confrontation faces a far different climate than its predecessors. With online connectivity out of the box and a much more painless network-registration process, PS3 owners already enjoy a wider selection of online shooters. So how do the folks at Sony and Slant Six plan on competing in this new market? To answer that question, we were recently treated to a developer demo showcasing some of the game's new features, capped off by our own chance to play this tactical third-person shooter.

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Among the most ambitious features in SOCOM: Confrontation is the broad palette of community tools soon to be available through the official Web site, SOCOM.com. Instead of taking the standard route of using the game's Web site to advertise a scant few bullet points and screenshots, Sony and Slant Six plan on delivering a portal for you to organize a variety of aspects relating to your personal playing time and your clan. The series is already known for having built-in clan support, but now the Web site will add even more to that. The two big features relating to clans are tournaments and ladders. With tournaments, you can sign up online and check out brackets and information on the other teams. When you've signed up online, matches are automatically set up in the game itself; you just boot up the system and the preset match options are already in place, ready for the clans to compete.

Clan ladders use a similar system of automated matches, but with a bit more vigilante flair to the proceedings. Rather than using a ranking system that organizes clans based on their total number of wins and so forth, the clan ladder organizes groups based on who they've defeated and who they've lost to. Consequently, you can challenge the group above you to a match, and if you win, you'll move ahead of them on the ladder. When you challenge a clan, the lobbies are all preloaded, just like with tournaments. And if you're just in it on your own, it looks like you'll be able to track your own personal progress as well. You keep track of your level, ranking, medals you've earned, and other miscellaneous stats related to your performance. We even noticed a body-shaped heat map on the personal-profile mockup, perhaps letting you know all of the places where you've been shot in your playing time.

But if all this Web 2.0 business isn't your thing, you can rest assured knowing that there's still a game driving all of it. And that new game has plenty of interesting features as well. As you may have heard, Confrontation will be a multiplayer-only affair like Warhawk, available either through the PlayStation Network or in retail outlets at a reduced price. The final game will offer seven maps and seven gameplay modes. However, maps aren't exclusive to any one mode and can be mixed and matched. The map total includes five new maps scalable to 8-, 16- and 32-player matches, and two classic maps with 16-player caps. The gameplay modes encompass all of the modes featured in previous games, including classics such as team suppression, escort, control, and elimination

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All of the maps offer the same general North African setting, which will eventually change with downloadable maps. The one we got to play is called Casbah. This one is set in a walled fortress that features numerous courtyards, stairways, bridges, and even a pair of towers that can be strategically demolished in certain game modes. This map seemed to provide a nice balance between cramped corridors and wide-open areas ripe for large-scale firefights. Another new map that we were shown is Quarantine. Although we didn't get to play it, we were told that it's very symmetrical and has a sort of industrial water-complex scene, with pipes that react to the sound of hot water running through them in uncompressed 7.1 surround sound, an area in the game that Slant Six appears to be very proud of.

Whether you're already in the match or strolling through the pregame menu, you'll be able to customize several aspects of your character. This includes being able to alter your primary and secondary weapons in addition to your sidearm. Each weapon can be modified with two attachments, whether they're suppressers, grenade launchers, sights, scopes, and so on. You can also customize your character by choosing which of five real-world elite military units you belong to, the type of camo you wear, and armor classes for your legs and torso. If you want to make a German KSK operative who looks like a lollipop due to light leg armor and superheavy torso armor, you can feel free to make that choice.

-gamespot.com

KenTheKiller · 06-30-2008, 01:01 AM

Wow the graphics look sweet. Sounds good. I doubt I'll get a PS3 any time soon but if I do... I might get this game.

Daddy · 06-30-2008, 04:41 AM

I loved the game on PS2. I'm like Ken, I doubt I will get a PS3 anytime soon but I would definitely get this game if I did. The graphics look top notch.

SOCOM: Confrontation

This is a discussion on SOCOM: Confrontation within the Entertainment forums, part of the Entertainment Forums category; To this day, the SOCOM franchise remains the most popular of the PlayStation 2's online repertoire. But as the first ...