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One of the best online games gets even better. While SOCOM U.S. Navy Seals has a strong debut, the franchise has gotten better with each new game in the franchise. Combined Assault focuses on creating a more cohesive singleplayer package and retains the same great multiplayer component of its predecessor.
Combined Assault’s singleplayer campaign has you completing 18 missions in the fictional country of Adjikistan, which you can you play in variety of orders since the game lets you choose two or three missions to pick from at any given time. The missions all have primary objectives to complete, as well as secondary and bonus objectives. Completing the objectives unlocks new weapons and bragging rights via badges. The actual objectives haven’t changed much over the years. You’ll be taking on enemies, destroying certain structures, capturing officers and the typical stuff. While the mission designs aren’t particularly wild, they do keep things more interesting than simply going around neutralizing everyone.
If you’ve played a SOCOM game before, the gameplay in Combined Assault won’t be a surprise. The game gives you a number of weapons to choose from your missions including grenades, pistols, rifles and machine guns. The actual mission structure still focuses on covert gameplay so don’t expect to go crazy in the game. You’re assisted by three fellow SEALs in each mission. You can still issue commands to them and the game even has a context-sensitive button that usually handles the decisions for you. You can usually handle things yourself even though the A.I. is good enough to not be an annoyance. This is good news since you lose a mission if all of your team members die. It’s possible to go in guns blazing but almost always you’ll get killed along the way. The game does have medkits that regenerate half of your health but you’re given a limited number of these per mission.
Combined Assault has cooperative support. You can play through any of the 18 missions with up to three other friends. The game even lets you add new objectives to the missions which keeps things fresh. You can play the co-op mode either offline or online which is a nice touch. You’ll also find a full-fledged competitive multiplayer mode. Interestingly, the game includes all of the maps and online modes of the previous game and you can even play against those players thereby increasing the user base of the game substantially. The online content is substantial. The game has 22 maps, 7 game modes, and support for up to 32 players.
Combined Assault rewards you for playing Fireteam Brabo 2 on the PSP. For instance, there are missions that take place in the same location in both games. A mission in the PSP version may have you neutrailizing some enemies. If you sync up the game, once you encounter the counterpart mission in Combined Assault, these enemies will no longer be there, making it easier for you to get through. It isn’t a make or break feature, but one rewards players for own both games.
The graphics in Combined Assault are a lot like last year’s PS2 SOCOM game, which is to say pretty good but also dated. The series hasn’t drastically changed its engine in four years and it is starting to show. The character models are pretty good but the animation is stiffer than we’re used to from current PS2 games. The environments are very large but the actual architecture and textures could use some improvement. Thankfully, the framerate is super smooth throughout the entire game, even during the most hectic parts of the game.
The audio in the game is also good. The background music is quite epic and makes the firefights seem more larger than life. The sound effects in the game sound fine, although they’re quite similar to the previous games. There is a lot of voice in the game, none of it is amazing but all of it is more than serviceable.
The SOCOM series has always shown that the PlayStation 2 is capable of delivering a full-fledged online experience. Combined Assault takes the already great multiplayer and adds a solid single-player component to the game. It’s a no-brainer purchase for anyone looking for a tactical shooter or online experience on the PS2. -- Adam Nunez, PGNx Media
---- Nov 18, 2006
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