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SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation bundled with Bluetooth Headset
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11 new or used available from $49.98
Average customer review:
Product Description
SOCOM breaches onto the PS3 in high-definition with the ultimate next-generation online combat experience. SOCOM Confrontation focuses on online play and the global community and clans that support it. With support for Tournaments, Clan Ladders, Leader Boards, this game is exactly what SOCOM fans have been waiting for. Additionally, you will be able to modify your appearance through facial and physical customization. A global-scale experience, SOCOM Confrontation gives you the opportunity to battle against the best and brightest from the U.S., Europe and Asia. SOCOM Confrontation deploys with five new North African themed maps, including a 32-player version of "Crossroads." Additional themed packs for SOCOM Confrontation will be made available for download via the PlayStation Store. This bundled version of SOCOM Confrontation includes the Official Bluetooth Headset for PlayStation 3, produced specifically for the needs of PlayStation gamers for wireless voice chat on your headset as well as speaker chat functionality through the charger base.
Comprehensive player customization including fully featured load out, encumbrance and unique uniforms Up to seven different game modes are available on each map Advanced player matching - you can form a team with your friends and easily join an online game Regional combat or challenge teams from around the world Additional themed downloadable content packs available post launch
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #4641 in Video Games
- Brand: Sony
- Model: 98152
- Published on: 2008-10
- Released on: 2008-10-14
- ESRB Rating: Mature
- Platform: PLAYSTATION 3
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 2.00" h x 5.50" w x 7.25" l, .49 pounds
Features
- Advanced voice communication systems and immersive audio
- Ultimate 32-player online combat experience featuring stunning high-definition visuals, advanced physics, ballistics, impact and destruction modeling
- Rich interactive and destructible environments supporting multiple game types
- Full support of the SIXAXIS¿ wireless controller, offering greater control
- Choice of playing as various International Special Forces
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Get Ready for Online Combat
Following its success as the number one online PlayStation 2 franchise, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs breaches onto the PlayStation 3 (PS3) computer entertainment system in high-definition this holiday season. SOCOM Confrontation delivers the ultimate next-generation online combat experience made possible by the power of PS3. SOCOM Confrontation focuses on online play and the global community and clans that support it. With support for Tournaments, Clan ladders, Leader Boards and more, this latest title in the multi-million unit selling franchise is exactly what SOCOM fans have been clamoring for. Additionally, players will be able to modify their appearance through facial and physical customization.
A global-scale experience, SOCOM Confrontation gives players the opportunity to battle against the best and brightest from the U.S., Europe and Asia. SOCOM Confrontation deploys with five new North African themed maps, including a 32-player version of "Crossroads." Additional themed packs for SOCOM Confrontation will be made available for download via the PlayStation Store.
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| Key Features
|  SOCOM comes to the PS3 View larger image  Online Combat for Up to 32 Players View larger image  Set Your Sights on SOCOM View larger image |
Includes Official Bluetooth Headset for the PlayStation 3 system
Headset Features:
- Designed and optimized specifically for gaming use
- Compact, sleek and ergonomic design fits comfortably on either ear
- Easily accessible Mute button makes it gamer-friendly
- The included charging cradle allows for convenient charging and storage of the headset
- Compatible with any PlayStation 3 system game which supports headset functionality
- Bluetooth 2.0 compliant. Compatible with devices with Bluetooth 1.1 or higher specification
- Supports Bluetooth headset and hands-free profiles for compatibility with most Bluetooth enabled cell phones and audio devices
- 30 feet (~10 meter) operating range
Customer Reviews
An Ambitious Disappointment
THE GAME
I'll start by saying that this review will NOT be about SOCOM's various technical snafus. I've played the game through several revisions and I've had a fairly smooth ride from a technical standpoint. I'm going to review this game as though it runs perfectly, since I assume Slant Six will have it patched to that point in the very near future.
Instead, I want to discuss SOCOM: Confrontation as a game. And as a game, I've found that it ultimately falls short of being worth its retail price.
The game is ambitiously conceived, and the whole reason I purchased it in the first place was that the designers worked very hard to implement a number of features that I found very appealing and intelligent. Chief among these are the voice communication system and the motion-sensitive cover system. Ultimately, however, both fall short.
The voice system is for the most part well-implemented, but the team-wide chat is the same as any other multiplayer shooter, and the local-area open-mic chat is too quiet and erratic to be useful in combat. In addition, I've found that very few players put these features to use. This is not necessarily the fault of the publishers, but it's unfortunately typical of the experience you'd have playing this title.
The cover system is a nightmare. The game is full of awkwardly-proportioned obstacles that ensure that you will be firing into your own cover time and time again. The game punishes you for finding tactically valuable high ground by sticking a railing in your face that makes shooting downwards impossible. The only bright spot is the fact that you can make your character duck all the way to where he's kissing the dirt, then pop up and shoot. Assuming you don't shoot your own sandbags, it's a good tactic that's proven itself in ambushes.
As for the mechanics of the game, they're decidedly sub-par. The controls are needlessly complex. For example, there are three zoom levels, which means you need two buttons to navigate among them. Weapon switching is an incredible chore, and even though you have a quick-swap button, you can't configure which weapon comes up when you press it, so it defaults to your mostly useless pistol when grenades would be a far more desirable option. Instead, you have to hold the weapon select button, fiddle with the D-pad to find the weapon you want, then release the swap button while holding the D-pad. Even knowing how to do it, you still mess it up some of the time. Also, for a game bent on seeming "realistic", it is decidedly unbalanced when it comes to movement and shooting. Characters walking at full speed suffer no accuracy penalty vs. characters that are crouched still or even prone. Call of Duty 4 and 5, which are more arcade-y in other areas, offer far more realism in this regard. You have to slow down and use your sights to shoot at even moderately close range. But since the 3rd person view makes shooting difficult, and players have learned that you might as well charge, the game devolves into a lot of close-range circle-strafing, which is decidedly unrealistic, unenjoyable, and just plain stupid.
To make matters worse with SOCOM, the online experience itself is not well-designed. After using Call of Duty's simple, streamlined, easy matchmaking system, going to a PC-style menu of servers is a major step backwards. When you make yes/no selections in the menu, the cursor lags and jumps around, often picking the option you DIDN'T want. Another annoyance is that, while you can configure many different character loadouts, you can't switch among them without leaving the server! Not to constantly compare the game to the Call of Duty series, but this is clearly inferior. In COD, you can switch your profile any time you wish to adjust to the game type and map. SOCOM does not allow this, which is a major annoyance given the fact that multiple equipment loadouts come in handy depending on the game type, and most ranked room run in medley form. True, you can change your weapons and secondaries between lives, but these all have to be done one item at a time. Also, you can't change your armor settings mid-game at all.
There are some good points to this game. Character creation is deep, fun, and the instant availability of weapons and camouflage let you design your warrior just how you'd like. The weapons have a realistic feel, aided by the outstanding sound design and excellent explosion and impact effects. And Crossroads really is the best multiplayer map that's ever been made. It's just spectacular. I score markedly better on this map than any of the others. I'm going to miss it when I sell this game next week.
But the best part of this game isn't part of the game at all, it's...
THE HEADSET
There's no denying it. This headset is an outstanding piece of kit. It's discreet, light, it functions perfectly, pairs easily, sounds great, is comfortable enough, and the battery lasts a long, long time. It also survived a fall from about six feet up onto a hardwood floor, so I'd say it's durable. I had to use the included smaller ear disc, since I have funny ears, but hey, they were nice enough to provide it. Assuming future titles will have headset support, this is a must-own.
SOCOM: Confrontation is a disappointing, frustrating game whose many bright spots fail to outweigh its even bigger annoyances. In an online shooter market packed with two Call of Duty games, Resistance 2, and the upcoming Killzone 2, there simply is no room for this game among its many superior competitors.
Socom is the best team oriented shooter game
First the headset:
It is bigger than the Warhawk Jabra headset and a little heavier too, but it doesn't really bother me.
The headset cradle is really handy for charging the headset.
The light indicator showing if it is fully charge or charging is really cool.
The sound quality is really great and other Socom players have confirmed this with me while in game.
The game installation:
The worst installation ever!!!
First you need to disable auto-start disc or the game will not work.
Then, underneath the game disc on the XMB you need to run an installer first. This thing takes long to install, so be patient.
After that you can run the game, but it will prompt you to download an update, which again takes a long time.
For some reason after the update the game was saying that my saved game profile was corrupted so I had to deleted and run the game again.
The game
The menus are all the same as the beta and all the options you get for weapons, head, face, gear and all those are the same.
I logged into a West Coast server and played in a game with 16 players. The game loaded fast and initially I felt no lag in this Factory map where we were playing TDM. Later another map with a factory flooded and kind of redish loaded and we were playing with the satchel. This time there was a bit of stop and go lag, but for most of the game it was minimal.
I was really impressed with the quality of the graphics and the sound was excellent.
It wasn't as fun as playing with friends though, because those people I was playing with didn't want to communicate and they were just doing their own thing, which is playing like a TDM. It wasn't until I started to communicate that they were like, wha?, Ah? Oh Ok.... bunch of n00bs
Oh, by the way, my Internet is really sucky, 1.5 Mbps download and 300 kbps upload. ATT should be upgrading me to 3.0 down and 500 up tonight. I can't wait.
Get ready to ruin your social life
This is a sweet game. It's got a lot of bugs still, but overall, it's better than COD4 in the fact that not all of it is "run and gun," (not sure how COD5 is yet). However, just like other versions of socom, you're going to get the glitchers that will ruin some of your games, but most of the time you're finding rooms with real players. On the con side, it's hard to connect some of the time, you'll get a little bit of lag some of the time, and every now and then, i'll hear someone that's lost their sound on the other end of the mic (hasn't happened to me yet). But all of these are really minor considering they might happen once out of twenty times. Oh, and the initial download is just uncalled for, so when you get it, plug it in, hit the download button, and go somewhere for a couple of hours, because that's how long it will take to load into your ps3. On the pro side, the bluetooth is pretty flawless, and it's a good package deal (I think I caught it for $55 on a pre-order for both the game and mic), and it's flat out addicting. Overall, this game is pretty fun, and if you're not a freak about how perfect a game should be when it first comes out, you'll really like this one.
