[PS2] SOCOM US Navy Seals

of je besteld in de UK of in de DE een sony ethernet adapter en
je gaat nu al raggen..

maar hij is online leuker dan offline..
met de headset op
'He Eikel da was ik man'
'what do you say'
'hi SoB why the F u shot me? '

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Op donderdag 3 juli 2003 12:32 schreef Allantois het volgende:
schiet schiet moorden moorden opblazen BOEM

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check anders even in het forum op dgs-online.nl er zijn al veel topics in de PS2 hardware te vinden welke precies alle combos vertellen wat wel en niet werkt....

anyway ik had het geluk om als betatester uitgeloot te zijn
29 eurotjes incl verzendkosten vindt ik geen geld voor een ethernet adapter

en online werkt het 'hetzelfde als gamespy met THPS3/4' gewoon een regio kiezen die je leuk vindt en rammen met die bende...

SOCOM: US Navy SEALs should stand as a sort of object lesson for ambitious developers. Before you get started on the little things, it's wise to make sure the big ones are in order. SOCOM is filled with all kinds of brilliant attention to detail in its presentation, animation, level design, and many other areas, but those don't serve to fill the holes in its artificial intelligence and basic controls. The AI hurts the single-player game, while the control causes problems with the multiplayer game, and as a consequence, neither is as good as it could have been.
This is still the king of the military shooter genre on consoles, but mainly due to the considerable weakness of every other entry in that same category. Certainly it is nowhere near the equal of the top games on the PC, like Counter-Strike and the newly-released Battlefield 1942. But then gamers already fragging away on PC online multiplayer games likely aren't even bothering to read this review.

The question thus arises: if the PlayStation 2 is not presenting you with your first experience playing this type of game, nor your first experience playing online, is it worth your time and effort? It's a difficult one to answer positively. How many people out there a) are willing to spring for broadband, and b) aren't already playing Counter-Strike or Ghost Recon? There's the target audience for SOCOM, we suppose, but we also suppose that it isn't a very big one.

Single-Player Gameplay
SOCOM is a realistic military shooter in the Rainbow Six mold, but if you'd like a more accurate comparison, it's a small-scale version of R6's grandson, Ghost Recon. It's a small-unit infantry combat game rather than a counterterrorism simulation, with freer movement and less exacting mission design. The universally-shared qualities of the genre still apply, though -- death can come quickly, stealth is the most important of skills, and the AI is often eye-poppingly boneheaded.

Ahem. Players of Red Storm's games will get the joke, at least. They should be very familiar with the way in which teammates and enemies alike tend to be killed by their own stupidity in games of this sort. SOCOM, sadly, is no exception to the rule.

Here's an interesting example of the AI behavior, from mission 3, where the objective is to defuse a series of bombs and rescue several hostages on an offshore oil rig. I am parked in front of a bomb, waiting out the 30 or so seconds required to defuse it. My partner is covering me when two terrorists run toward us, intent on doing me a mischief. In response, my partner switches weapons (going through a short animation in the process), runs to the terrorists, knocks the one over the head with his rifle butt, and then knocks the other over the head with his rifle butt. Now, which is the more aggravating problem with the AI: my partner's inability to understand the use of a ranged weapon, or the terrorists' inability to get a single shot off while there's a fellow trying to knock them over the head with a rifle butt?

This is just one example among many. Foolishness and idleness are the main causes of death in SOCOM's single-player game, which leads to an unpleasant sensation on the part of the victorious SEAL: did I win because I was good, or did I win because my opponents were stupid? When it's possible to run through a level on my own, wiping out every single enemy in the process, without receiving a scratch or utilizing the assistance of my teammates, I am inclined to believe the latter.

The AI is essentially the one overriding flaw in the single-player mode. The objective layout and corresponding design of the navigation system have problems -- just like Rainbow Six, where the game sometimes loses track of how to guide you if you deviate from a single path through the level -- but that's a minor complaint in comparison. It's quite unfortunate, because as I say, the details are quite superbly designed. The mission concepts are varied, the mission settings are inventive, the team command interface is excellent, and you're given many opportunities to interact with the environment in different ways. I particularly enjoyed the opportunity to pick up and use any of the weapons scattered around the environment -- a realistic touch, and helpful if you run out of ammo. The only innovation that doesn't quite fly is the voice recognition headset, which is more of a gimmick than a useful feature. The manual team command interface is simple enough that I saw no reason to bother with the headset.

Regardless, it's the AI's weaknesses that thwart many of the game designers' intentions. SOCOM is meant to make the player use teamwork and stealth to win, but in practice, there's not much impetus to bother with either, save for the mission grading system. That's not enough encouragement. Death should be the penalty for sloppy gameplay, not receiving a poor letter grade after successfully completing nearly every mission objective.

Multiplayer Gameplay
The online multiplayer game partially fixes the AI difficulties by providing human opponents. I say "partially," because many friends and foes online are going to make the bots in the single-player game look like Audie Murphy. At the very least, however, they'll shoot when they see someone.

SOCOM provides a few different game types for online team play, based on models familiar from Counter-Strike and the like. Suppression is team deathmatch. Demolition is a smart variation on single-flag CTF crossed with CS bomb-planting -- there's one bomb in the middle of the map, which either team can use to blow up the other's base and win. Hostage Rescue is exactly that, with the usual kink thrown in by neither team's interest in seeing the hostages die.

Teamplay is more interesting than the single-player game, because when you die, it's usually for a good reason. The realistic damage system (one-shot kills are quite common) and relatively imprecise controls (the pistoleros that dominate PC FPS games will find their skills much less useful here) mean that victory goes to the player who gets the drop on another, not the one who's quickest on the draw. Sneaking around stealthily, using teammates to implement diversionary tactics, and shooting the bad guys in the back are the order of the day.

The available game types provide a reasonable amount of variety, Demolition being an especially clever design, but it would have been nice to see some more complex missions, more along the lines of the single-player game. Suppression gets old fast, and even the other two wear a bit after a while. Longer missions with multiple objectives for both sides, like the Assault levels in Unreal Tournament, would be perfect for this type of game, creating a fluctuating strategic environment and offering many more opportunities for creative level design.

A more significant problem, of course, will be the people. A lot of people are going to want to play this like Quake, which it most emphatically is not. Against each other, they will get involved in lengthy, pathetically hilarious circle-strafing shootouts, and against intelligent players, they will die like flies. This is just peachy if they're on the other team, but it's a bit aggravating if they're your erstwhile allies. It remains to be seen how badly the idiocy of its players can hurt SOCOM as a multiplayer experience, but at present, it's a significant worry. The built-in clan system helps a bit, though, offering a few options to make sure a team consists entirely of friends.

As for the technical aspects of the online game, it's been no problem for us so far. Registering and connecting online has been a snap, lag hasn't intruded (likely thanks to the broadband-only stipulation), and online, the voice communication headset manages to jump the gap between gimmick and useful gameplay innovation. After extended play, the noise may wear out its welcome, but if your team consists only of people you'd like to talk to, it's handy for setting up strategies in situations where you're familiar with the level. It also keeps the volume down -- when the editors here get together to play Battlefield 1942, the constant cross-office hollering becomes a problem.

Graphics
The details vs. big picture theme applies to SOCOM's visuals as well. As a rule, its textures and model detail are relatively simple. Its inanimate constructions are usually pretty rough around the edges, covered in simple patterns and colors, and the character models are very simple, oft-repeated designs. On the other hand, though, its levels are designed with obvious care and attention to detail, even if the engine that draws them isn't the most powerful, and while the characters may not be much to look at standing still, their movements are something else entirely.
The most common animation for the bad guys is, naturally, death, which they do very well. There's a wide selection of smooth, realistic death animations, as well as related sequences for wounds -- an enemy will take a round in a non-vital location, fall down while reacting to it, and then smoothly get back up. The SEALs, meanwhile, have several different animations for fiddling with their inventory, reloading weapons, and sending hand signals to teammates in addition to dying. These are all of similar quality.

SOCOM's game worlds generally don't leap out and grab you with their looks, but the quality is in the details. Each area is realistically laid out, with different types of locations rather than lots of cloned buildings, and both interior and exterior details add an extra degree of realism. While the built-in mission routes tend to stick you to a rail, the levels aren't designed that way -- if you like, there's plenty of room to wander around and explore, doing a little sightseeing. Light and shadow fall appropriately, and the pattern of lighting and cover is designed to provide opportunities for stealthy movement.

Special effects for weather and the like are a little hit-or-miss. The rain isn't especially impressive, but snow in places like Alaska looks a fair bit nicer, especially since it's complemented by tracks and blood trails in the flakes that have already fallen. There's also the odd bit of what looks like volumetric lighting, seen in the interior of ships and a few other places, which adds a strong atmospheric touch.

Sound
Sound effects are another important element of the atmosphere of this type of game, and SOCOM does quite well in that regard, presenting a strong combination of voice acting, environmental sounds, and more active effects. The gunfire effects show particular attention to detail. They're of the lighter, more realistic sort -- silenced weapons sound particularly authentic, since you can hear the sound of the bolt cycling in between a brief bit of noise from the muzzle and the subsequent ricochet effect.

Voices from both sides of the line are an effective component of the game's presentation. There's the calm voice of your control presenting mission objectives, the more varied voices of your fireteam on the tac net (they have a large selection of different responses to commands, all nicely gung-ho), and the many different tongues spoken by the terrorist bad guys. The foreign languages actually become part of an interesting little gameplay element -- if one of your objectives is to overhear a conversation in Russian, you can't complete that objective if the one Russian speaker on the fireteam dies.

SOCOM's dynamic soundtrack is effective, but it's not quite so smoothly tuned as what we've heard in games like Metal Gear Solid 2. The tracks themselves are excellent, a strong orchestral score reminiscent of Red Storm's games, but the transition from ambient sounds to the heavy music that accompanies a combat situation is a bit too stark, and the battle music hangs on a little too long after a situation ends. It would be nice if there were a "medium" setting for a mild threat -- a single lone enemy, say, or the comedown after a firefight -- but as it is, the rather binary nature of the soundtrack breaks the mood.

Closing Comments
I'm disappointed that I didn't enjoy SOCOM more than I did, because it's obvious that a great deal of care went into many parts of this game's design. It is a superb piece of presentation and interface design -- it does a better job with team command controls than any other PS2 game we've seen -- and its world is build with serious attention to detail. If its other problems were fixed, it would be one of the very best games on PS2.
As it is, though, the AI design robs the single-player game of its impact. The significance of a success is in proportion to the challenge overcome, and while I often succeeded in SOCOM's missions, I didn't feel all that successful. The online multiplayer game is significantly better, but it's only very impressive in comparison to the absence of competition on a console. Players with access to the alternatives available on the PC aren't likely to be too impressed.

Inevitably, though, I speak from the perspective of one such player. Those who've never gotten to try a game like this online, and who are willing to make the necessary investment in a broadband connection, should be quite impressed by SOCOM's online game, and they shouldn't have any problems jumping right in.

Presentation
Superb interface design, and realistic detail throughout in graphics, sound, control, everything. The online interface is very user-friendly, and includes built-in community options. 9.0

Graphics
Not immediately impressive, but the more you see, the more the little details in animation and design show through. 7.0

Sound
The dynamic soundtrack isn't engineered as well as some, but the sound effects and voice acting are ace. 8.0

Gameplay
Online multiplayer is good, if not great, but the real problem is the single-player game's AI. It shoots some unpleasantly big holes in otherwise strong design. 5.0

Lasting Appeal
Toss-up. The online game presents potentially infinite replay value, but only if it hooks you. 7.0

OVERALL SCORE (not an average) 7.5

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Op donderdag 3 juli 2003 14:16 schreef Guusie het volgende:

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Nu nog vertalen in het nederlands meneer Gieling

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Eersgister kreeg ik hem dan binnen. Aangesloten en binnen 15 minuten had ik connectie met Central Station. Tot hij hier vast liep. Toen begon het gedonder. Sinds dien loopt hij telkens vast bij het connecten naar Central Station. Ook Socom spelen lukt niet online omdat hij ook hier telkens vast loopt.

De helpdesk staat ook voor een raadsel en gaat er van uit dat het een hardware probleem is maar dit lijkt mij sterk. Immers maakt hij wel connectie en heb ik hiervoor nooit problemen gehad.

Zijn er andere die ook dit soort problemen hebben?

Offline begon me al redelijk snel te vervelen, maar als je online bent is het ontzettend verslavend

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Blow to PS2 Online gaming as SOCOM cheats emerge

Fire International gets all fired up about letting cheats prosper online

PlayStation 2 online gaming received a severe setback this week, with game peripheral and cheat product manufacturer Fire International announcing that it is distributing cheats for popular online title SOCOM: US Navy SEALs.

The game is already rife with cheats in the USA, according to our sources there, but having cheat products commercially available for it within weeks of its UK launch is a PR nightmare for Sony regardless.

The cheats, which are designed to work with Fire International's Xploder cheat product, allow players to use unlimited ammunition, eliminate recoil on weapons and fire more rapidly than should be possible.

An unrepentant Fire actually issued a press release boasting about the "breakthrough", which happily crowed that "Xploder is the one and only option for gamers who wish to crack ALL their games wide open.... The Xploder total cheating system once again blazes a trail and leaves the competition in its wake!"

This is obviously bad news for PS2 Online as a whole, although Sony claims that the forthcoming release of SOCOM 2 will patch up these cheating problems and will introduce an Xbox Live style system that enables the banning of cheats from the online service entirely.

One can't help but feel that Fire International - whose product line-up also includes the popular Blaze peripherals - is also walking a fine line here. If a lot of pissed off online gamers decide to boycott all of the company's products - as happened to a PC graphics card manufacturer which released cheat drivers for its cards a few years back - it could end up turning the company's "breakthrough" rather sour in the final analysis.

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Op zaterdag 5 juli 2003 10:01 schreef Strolie75 het volgende:

[..]

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Op zaterdag 5 juli 2003 13:15 schreef Guusie het volgende:

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Neej ik heb al socom! probeer V&A

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dan kan je he sowiso niet ook op v&a zetten