FIRE IN THE HOLE!
The missions themselves are fun and challenging even on the lowest difficulty setting. The levels are large enough to make you believe they are part of a larger world, while small enough to be playable. For example, on one of the early missions you're required to clear and cross a bridge, clear a ravine camp of enemies 1/4 mile away and then progress to an underground encampment another 1/3 mile along only to find yourself 1/4 mile away from the pickup point! If, like me, you enjoy stealth and sniping, you'll get your fix here. There is a large amount of variety to the missions that take you throughout the world tracking terrorists and infiltrating their encampments in the day and night through rain and snow.
For those that have never played Socom, this game is based on a 2 man squad who work together like a swat team. You control your wingman Lonestar through a series of console commands that allow you control his 'behaviors' as well as actions. For example you can tell him to 'Fire at will' and he will engage any enemy that comes into his field of view, OR you can tell him to 'hold fire', 'Hold Position' and 'get down' making your job of sneaking around more manageable. My only real complaint about Lonestar is if you get too far ahead he often will forget his instructions and close the gap. This can be darned annoying when you're trying to crawl up behind a guard for a knife kill, only to see Lonestar walk up beside you! He can be very handy when entering doors. You can tell him to 'Frag then breach' and he will open the door and toss in a grenade, leaving you back to cover his entry and watch his back. Even with his imperfections, Lonestar is an intergral part of this game and will save your tuna from the fire when you least expect it.
The online play is where Socom really redefines the way you see your PSP. The most astounding and useful feature is the voice over IP. There's nothing like working with a team to clear a train yard, using the voice ability to keep in constant contact with your teammates and their locations. It will redefine the way you see the possibilities of the PSP and make you wonder why it hasn't been implemented in every game! The voice quality and implementation of the mic input is great! People can't 'talk over' each other as you must wait your turn to talk. Once you're dead you can still talk with other teammates, but only if they too are dead. Which is a smart way to reduce unwanted chatter. You can even talk with the other team during the wait period between games in the lobby.
While in the lobby you can reconfigure your 'load out' weapons, allowing you to carry any of a number of primary and secondary weapons. You can carry extra ammo or just a load of grenades with which you can lay back and frag an entrance or exit to an area. With the ability to play a variety of game types with up to 16 players per map, the power of the PSP is apparent.
I've read a number of reviews that say the graphics aren't up to snuff. Maybe it's because I started gaming with a paddle and ball (Pong) but in my mind the graphics are great. Yes, I understand that they aren't up to par with the 359.5 or the PSIII but from weather effects to explosions everything looks fantastic for a handheld. The death animations are really gripping! Watching blood spew from the head of a sniper wound from 300 yards through a sniper rifle is really satisfying and the variety of death throws is really amazing! The games textures are more along the quality of the PS1 yet the cut scenes are more along the quality of Halo cut scenes! I don't find the graphics to remotely detract from the game and if I have any complaint its the lack of decals for bullet shots, and shadows.
Holy crap, the sounds in this game are unreal! Full stereo sound allows you to 'hear' whether someone is behind or in front of you and if good enough, you can judge distance with a little experience. You'll find yourself avoiding going through cabins on one level, JUST to avoid the clacking of your boots on the wooden floors. The music is fantastic and does a great job of setting the mood for each load out.
Aiming is done buy holding the right trigger to 'lock on' to an enemy. While this might seem like cheating, once you've played a little while, you realize that it's by no means a sure kill. Your range from target, speed and height from the ground all play into your aiming. As does the weapon you're using. You'll quickly learn that on larger maps, short range weapons will find you taking fire from unseen opponents with better ranged weapons. While on smaller maps, weapons like the saw allow a quick kill at close range. If sniping, you enter 'free look' as soon as you zoom your rifle and can choose your targets carefully (can you say HEADSHOT!?). There's only one negative thing about aiming, sometimes you can see your target through your scope, while you're actually behind a wall or ridge. More than once I gave away my position by firing a shot only to hit the wall in front of me, instead of the head at which I was aiming! You quickly learn to make allowances for that!
The load times are very minimal. The longest load time is when you first start the game, which is very acceptable.
As I said at the beginning. This game redefines the way I see my PSP and is now the ruler by which all other games will be measured! Should you buy this game? If there was one game I would take with me to a desert island it would be Socom. (Assuming the island has a wireless router!)