One of many titles in Wednesday's Festival du Gaming, we are of the opinion that SOCOM: Navy SEALS is pretty good. It also comes with a USB headset for your PS2, which your teammates often use to expound on philosophical topics. Let me summarize every review you're likely to see: Fun game, bad single player A.I. That's really about it. Gabriel will be here to discuss the game in much greater detail, as he is the one that actually owns it and plays it all the time, but I will say that one can have very good time with it. It's true enough that as PC gamers we've seen all of this before. This genre has been refined through years of iteration - however, SOCOM takes advantage of that groundwork. I cannot conceive of a universe where SOCOM would compare favorably with Halo 2 on Xbox Live, but one is out and the other isn't, you know?

Here's the other stuff I'm playing.

Dead To Rights: Well, after playing it, I can see why it might be difficult to deliver a definitive appraisal of this game. It's a bundle of contradictions that almost perfectly negate each other. Bullet-time may have been done better in Max Payne, but Max Payne has no hand to hand combat. Hand to hand combat in Dead to Rights has many interesting options, but is unwieldy at times and monotonous at others. There are many environments in the game, but it doesn't look like an Xbox title should. The camera is really very miserable by and large, but the lock-on feature largely mediates it. Some of the frequent mini-games are interesting diversions, some are completely inane and overstay their welcome. You can order your dog to completely devour a man's trachea, but... No, I guess that's pretty good. I really could do this all day. It's a good enough game if you can put up with it.

Onimusha 2: Gabe was tiring of the samurai sequel after only a couple hours, right about the time I was just starting to get into it. It helps that I have a very high tolerance for movies of this type, Yojimbo, Seven Samurai, so things that some people might think are silly (like reaffirming one's desire to destroy the antagonist every five minutes) is, for me, pretty much what the whole thing is about. The cadre of specialized warriors that makes up your "group" is a really nice addition, camaraderie and whatnot, and the ability to give and trade gifts with these party members (though the results are often completely mystifying) is an interesting mechanic that I can dig, man. Other than that, yeah - better swordfights, truly delicious character designs, and longer playtime all seem to recommend it. I did like the ability to have Japanese voice acting with English subtitles in the first Onimusha, for the same reason I don't watch dubbed anime - because English voice acting is complete garbage ninety-nine percent of the time. I don't know what's so fucking hard about getting someone who is not a complete moron to do voice acting for games or animation. It's like they take everyone who happened to be in the room at the time and just turned the mikes on. For all I know, Japanese voice acting is just as bad, but at least they seem to mean it.

Last thing: My friend Webjester, he's whipping up one hell of a vehicle combat game with Garage Games' Torque Engine. I've got the demo he's made of it so far, everything drivable, physics in there, independently articulated shocks for each wheel - but as a coder, there's only so much he can do without more models. He says the models in question don't even need to be very good - he simply needs things in there to progress. You want in? Drop him a line if it sounds like something you might be intrigued by.

I lied to you, that's wasn't the last thing. When big fancy companies look into advertising with us, they invariably want to know what type of person reads the site. "Nice people," I say. As it turns out, they are looking for more detailed information. We're going to run a twelve question survey next week, it's all the basic crap you'd see in anything like this - age, sex, income - but there's also a couple I'm personally curious about, like which consoles you play or if anybody actually reads gaming mags anymore. We aren't collecting email addresses, and we're not going to be mad if you don't do it - it would just really help us out if you did. There's even a treat for completing it! It's not too big a deal, I just like to keep you up to speed. Have a good Labor Day, as it is called!

(CW)TB out.

the bigger the camera, the bigger the tear

I gots to get it off my chess.

Animatrix: Holy shit.

Violent Media Case Thrown Out: And of course, our gaming legal advisor is performing a little dance. He also interviewed Henry Jenkins (who was Ambushed On Donahue) about his traumatic experience, as well as the state of our medium - look for that next week.

The Webplayer: It turns websites into music. It's probably not the only thing that does that, but this one has the distinction of being the one I'm showing you now.

Achewood: This comic is marvelous. I have no idea why.

(CW)TB

So I played a bunch of SOCOM yesterday and I think it's pretty damn good. I played the multiplayer first, just because that is what I was most curious about. People have been asking me how easy it was to set up the broadband adaptor and I guess it's pretty easy. I say I guess because I turned around to take the wrapping off the game and by the time I had finished struggling with that little sticker thing on the top of the case Tycho had already set up the BBA and was waiting for me. He said he just had to hit "X" like 5 times and it was done. I logged in and was able to jump right into a game with no problems. The lobby interface is simple and easy to navigate. Once I was in a game I was able to select my weapons load out and then I was dropped in as an observer while I waited for the next round to begin. It took a while to get used to the controls but once I started to feel comfortable aiming and strafing with the analog sticks I was having a blast. The voice chat via the included headset was clear and easy to use. Holding down "O" allows you to speak to your teammates CB style. While most of the conversations centered on the sucking of things or the romantic escapades of my mother, occasionally I found myself on a team that actually used the voice chat to work as a unit.

After a bunch of multiplayer I decided to check out the single player campaign. I took the headset off and set it on the floor next to me assuming I wouldn't need it. As the game started I could hear noise coming from the headset so I put it back on and realized it was radio communication between my team members. Not only will your teammates call out enemies and update you about their positions but you can also issue commands to them with it. The game uses voice recognition software that allows you to simply speak your commands like regroup or hold fire. You can also use it to issue more complex commands like meeting at rally points, providing cover fire and clearing buildings. I know it's sort of a gimmick but it was a pretty fucking cool one. The missions I've played so far have been pretty standard stuff. The terrorists are bad and you have to blow up their shit. The AI for your fellow SEALs seems pretty tight but the enemy AI on the other hand is complete crap. Fire at a terrorist off in the distance and watch him look around with a sort of lazy interest about were that bullet that just pierced his bladder might have come from. The other side of that coin though is that they are so stupid that there are plenty of opportunities to just walk right up to them and give them a rifle butt to the jaw, which is always fun. The graphics are passable but it's not going to win any awards for them. Some of the multiplayer levels look pretty muddy but the designs are very solid and they play really well.

Overall I like SOCOM quite a bit. It's true that you've been able to do this sort of thing on the PC for years but that's not really a fair comparison. Console gamers are just getting their first taste of online tactical squad based combat and lucky for them it's a pretty fucking good one. Even for someone like me who plays the Army game every night, SOCOM has enough innovative features and interesting mechanics to keep me interested. If you have a PS2 and a broad band internet connection I would recommend you try and find yourself a copy.

So Tycho called me this morning and told me how he just got his Xbox live kit. He told me all about the service and how fucking cool it was. He was downright giddy over the whole thing. I knew that eventually I would need to get an XBox for Panzer Dragoon Orta, but that is quite a ways off. Then yesterday Tycho told me that he heard through one of his contacts that a game I like very much would actually be playable via Xbox live. I am pretty sure I can't say which one, but suffice to say I am going to Comp USA today to buy an Xbox. When the game is announced I am sure you will understand my decision.

Kara and Batjew have asked me to tell everyone that there will be no more Loves and or Hates. So please don't send them anymore questions for it.

Gabe out

I said I'd give it a shot over the last couple days, and report back.

I was very intrigued by the way the game is constructed, playwise: It's like a regular RTS in many ways, sure, but individual soldiers have unique abilities. Not just abilities, even - they can be further customized with iventory items like grenades and a selection of small arms. It looks good, and it sounds good. Loading little guys into vehicles - articulated with opening or sliding doors and mounted weapons - well, it warms the heart. The game is lavished with loving details - cars start their engines when moving from stop, glowing brake lights, revolving turrets - it's crafty. Skilled infantry with the right weapons are more than a match for vehicles, as you will learn when your humvee is transformed into a ball of fire which is vaguely humvian in shape. It looks and feels more like a real-time tabletop wargame than anything I've seen to date.

It runs like complete shit on my computer, though, and that's basically the dealbreaker for me. I'm interested enough in it conceptually to try a couple different driver revisions and graphics configurations to see if that fixes it, and that's much nicer than I usually am.

(CW)TB

A few of the reviews for SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs have complained about its poor AI. My own glowing post about the game included just such a remark in fact. Well I got the opportunity to talk with Seth Luisi the producer of SOCOM and he dropped some info on me about the AI that I haven't seen mentioned anyplace else so I figured I should share it with you all.

I should have stated in my previous post that I was only on the third level of the single player campaign. From what Seth tells me the enemy AI ramps up significantly from there, with level five being the real turning point. He also had this to say:

"As you complete SOCOM multiple times the AI keeps getting more and more difficult. By the time you make the Admiral rank the AI will kill you like a dog before you get two feet unless you are a SOCOM God."

Shit damn, that sounds hot. As for why the enemies start out so easy Seth dropped this little nugget on me:

"…being a console game with what we hope has mass market appeal we had to dumb down the AI on the first 3-4 levels considerably since everyone in our difficulty tests were getting completely slaughtered by the AI. So, now the "smartness" of the enemy AI ramps up through the levels, which is really how it should be anyway. The enemies in the first level of Mario Sunshine are not exactly the brightest, are they?"

So there's the dirt on the AI straight from the man who should know. So far when I play SOCOM it tends to be multiplayer so I am not progressing through the single player levels. Now that I know what to expect I think I'll devote some time to it on Saturday. I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks Seth for the heads up on the AI.

-Gabe out