"SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation," a purely online, multi-player shooter, is still in beta, but now a public beta, which means players such as myself have a chance of getting in.
People can pre-order the game from GameStop and let two of their friends join the fray, as well as those who purchased the June edition of the PlayStation Network magazine Qore. This, in effect, is opening the door to a lot of players that otherwise would have to wait for the official Oct. 14 release, and that is where the problem lies.
The "Confrontation" servers simply cannot handle the amount of players that have come through the floodgates. Even an initial connection to the network is a game of chance. And once you're connected, it's still a crapshoot as to whether or not you're even going to get to play. There are approximately 10 servers for each of the United States' three zones - east, west, and central - with specific servers for other select countries, clan games and foreign language speakers. Each server is capable of handling 256 players, and every server is likely to be full except for Spanish and French servers.
Once you connect, however, things are not likely to improve.
During gameplay you will probably encounter heavy lag no matter what, and you will probably die.
Unlike in other online shooters, when you lag, your character will simply stop running, crouch down and stare at the ground as it waits for a connection. This doesn't just manifest itself as a sign to you that you're lagging out, but also as a sign to every other player in the game and leaves you as a free kill.
Even aside from the network issues, Confrontation simply does not play that well. In fact, it doesn't even play like a SOCOM game. It's as if you're at a party and someone put on a nametag that says "Hi, my name is SOCOM!" and tries to convince you of that fact for the rest of the night.
Yes, that is disconcerting, and even more so when you're playing the game.
Player movement is extremely slow. Going between prone and standing takes twice as long as it should and that extra time immobile and not firing could cost you. You could forego a heavy primary weapon, change to light armor and pick the lightest pistol, still only to move like you're stuck in mud. Ostensibly, "Confrontation" developer Slant Six Games consciously made this decision as they've included a Gears of War-esque run button in which you hunker down and run, sans weapon usage.
That's fine by me, just not in a SOCOM game.
Though the controls remain largely unchanged, the aiming of "Confrontation" doesn't feel right at all. Even with extensive sensitivity options, there is still something not right about all of it. Reticule movement and acceleration is unsavory no matter what, and unsatisfactory shooting mechanics will leave you dead in the water in any shooter game.
However, motion controls have been introduced to the game, the concept of which is very welcome. Essentially, while in cover, tilting the controller from side to side or front to back will allow you to peek around and over walls. This is very intuitive, especially for those gamers who are already inclined to lean into intense games in an attempt to solicit the supernatural for help. Unfortunately, you're not likely to get a chance to use this feature as in all the games I've played so far, everyone is favoring run 'n gunning over subdued tactical gameplay.
And that's just it, though. Slant Six is able to develop the features, but it's up to the players to use them. The built-in clan system allows you to invite players (which, oddly enough, include all of your PSN friends, not just those who have played Confrontation), set up clan matches and view your clan's statistics. The calendar seems like it will become a handy little feature once the game hits retail, because any invitations you accept and events you deem necessary are automatically added to your schedule.
Also in the game is character customization, which is surprisingly deep. You can change how your character looks for both SEAL and mercenary teams with a separate weapons configuration for each. The weapons and attachments readily available to the player are plentiful, utilizing a nice risk-reward system of better weapons hindering your mobility. Each part of the player's body can potentially have one of 21 camouflage options in head gear and armor selections. You can choose from numerous faces, facial hair and scars, and voice options. It will be extremely unlikely you will encounter another player that looks and sounds exactly like you.
Too bad the same cannot be said about the actual game. The graphics as a whole are largely unimpressive. They look to be about as standard as they come on the PlayStation 3, with great character models and details, but have an unusual amount of muddy and noticeably repeated textures throughout. Particle effects and weapon sounds look fantastic, but when a game looks as uninspired as this, it's hard to look deeper to the highlights.
Like I said, however, this is still just a beta. Everything I said should be taken with an extremely large chunk of salt. Slant Six still has more than a month to fix these issues. In fact, most of my complaints are not even with the game itself, but rather with the sluggish and unresponsive network. If every game could handle over 10,000 players at beta launch, then I might say, "shame on Slant Six." However, betas almost universally improve before launch. Graphics, gameplay and networking all take a step up, and if that's the case with Confrontation, then it should be quite the shooter gem when it releases.
Be the first to comment on this article!