It boils down to liking SOCOM 2. If you liked it, you'll like SOCOM 3.
User Rating: 8.2 | SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs (Greatest Hits) PS2
SOCOM is one of those series that you either like or don't like. If you liked SOCOM (SOCOM 2 more particularly), then you will like this one. First off, the single-player mode. The game starts by giving you an option to play a mission that shows you the controls and basics. You again play as Specter and have Jester on Able team. Bravo team is again made up of various people depending on the level (or mission). The game is more fun with the headset, although I seemed to have more trouble with voice recognition in this version than SOCOM 2. Voice commands have also been trimmed down. For example, instead of having Fireteam get to a waypoint via "stealth to...", they can only "move to...". Another odd thing is that waypoints you are trying to get to sometimes can't be issued to teammates. So say you are trying to get to waypoint Papa, the option to send teammates there may not be available. Annoyances aside, the game has improved in other ways. A particular notable that is new to this game (especially online) are vehicles. Drive them yourself or have someone else do the driving while you get on the turret provides the highlights of some of the levels. As far as online, this game is much improved over SOCOM 2. Cheaters are much less common, and again, vehicles come into play online, although they tend to make the matches sometimes one-sided. Many online modes keep things fresh too. One problem, however, with online is the inability to respawn. During some Breach matches, for example, rounds are five minutes long. So say you die 30 seconds in, you get to sit for 4 and a half minutes. Also, you can't spectate another player's view. You can only twirl the camera from where you died. Although this game does have minor flaws (what game doesn't?), the new additions tip the scale. 
