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SOCOM: Confrontation
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer: Slant Six Games
Genre: Third Person Shooter
Release Date: October 14, 2008
Platform: Playstation 3
Reviewer: Eric
Sony has managed to create some real good franchises since the very first
Playstation. SOCOM was one of those franchises that started on the Playstation 2
and it has expanded to Sony’s portable system as well. When it came time for the
Playstation 3 version fans were excited, but Confrontation is not the game we
waited for.
 What happened during the development of SOCOM: Confrontation? When the game was
first shown at E3 it looked great. You couldn’t tell too much about the gameplay,
but it was promised to be an experience we would enjoy for years to come. The
main thing that Sony promised was great online play too, but with Confrontation
you can start to see how broken Sony’s free online gaming really is.
Confrontation lets you battle between good guys (commandos) and bad buys
(mercenaries). There are 7 stages to pick from, full of everything you’d expect
from in the SOCOM franchise. All of the different gameplay modes are enjoyable
still (7 stages), but most of the time you will stick to the same few modes
because certain modes are not that fun. You can edit some of the options in the
different modes, but all of that won’t matter when it comes to the huge flaws in
Confrontation.
Getting to pick your equipment is a nice. Players can equipment themselves with
their favorite equipment, so instead of running around like an idiot looking for
weapons like in most games you can start off with certain weapons.
Thanks to the motion sensors in the Playstation 3 controller you can twist and
turn your controller for some neat gameplay aspects. Moving the camera this way
was a good idea to add into the game, peeking over objects defiantly feels
natural this way. Thankfully it doesn’t feel like a gimmick/dumb like it may
have on the Wii.
All of the above sounds great but don’t run out any buy the game just yet.
Trying to play a full online match can be very difficult. Matches will end
without any notice thanks to disconnect screens. When the game first was
released it was nearly impossible to complete a full game, but with all the
patches you have a better chance to finish a game. Still Confrontation is an
online game and it is broken, almost to the point where Sony needs to refund
buyers.
 I noticed more disconnects when I was playing with more players. Confrontation
advertises itself as a huge online battle game. You can really start to see how
broken the free online servers really are. Things get much worse when matches
lag, more than it should in 32 player matches. Oh and it should also be noted
about the one minute you have to wait before matches start. This does not make
me want to play the game online, if I do that then there is no reason to play
Confrontation.
There is also a noticeable lag in all matches, causing more problems. When you
first play Confrontation you will loose all the time because of the lag. Once
you can figure out how the lag works you can shoot in that spot and your enemy
will be walking right into it. Of course this problem isn’t as bad as it once
was, though it is still a problem that happens more than it should.
With the new improvements in current Sony games you would assume that SOCOM:
Confrontation would have them. Trophies, easy matchmaking, and hassle free
option screens, you’d think all of that would be in this game. It turns out that
isn’t the case, Confrontation feels like an online Playstation 3 game that came
out during the systems launch. Sony is trying to compete with Microsoft’s
achievements by adding trophies into their games, but why did Confrontation get
ignored? Sony promises another patch soon with trophies, honestly though that is
not enough. Confrontation is not a finished game and it does not even feel like
a beta.
Don’t even worry about your stats in the game too. Some times I didn’t get my
kills from a stage. Not only that my rankings literally got erased. Hours down
the drain but I really don’t care since this game will not be in my collection
for too long.
Final Verdict
SOCOM: Confrontation was supposed to be a good game. All of the promises Sony
gave us when the game was shown seem to be there but it is poorly executed.
Sony’s free online gaming is starting to look real broken and with all the
patches this game has received it is still not worth the price. If you really
want to buy this game I highly recommend waiting until the game is patched a few
more dozen times, right now this game is not worth a dime.
Rating
3.50 out of 10
SOCOM: Confrontation Trailer
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