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The sequel to one of the best tactical games on the PSP does not disappoint. Fireteam Bravo delivered an experience comparable to the console games on the PSP. Fireteam Bravo 2 does this as well but it’s more expected this time around. Nonetheless, it’s hard to deny that this is one of the best of its kind on any platform, and certainly on the PSP.
Fireteam Bravo 2’s singleplayer campaign has you completing 14 missions in the fictional country of Adjikistan. The missions all have primary objectives to complete, as well as secondary and bonus objectives. Completing the secondary and bonus objectives in the game gives you command equity points which you can use to call for favors like air strikes or a delivery of medkits. You’ll also gain local influence points by doing this like escorting locals to safety, which you can use to buy weapons and gain additional information. 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 Fireteam Bravo 2 won’t be a surprise. The actual mission structure still focuses on covert gameplay so don’t expect to go crazy in the game. You’re assisted by another SEAL in each mission. You can still issue commands to him alike hold, fire at will and follow. 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 your teammate dies. 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.
Fireteam Bravo 2 includes find a full-fledged competitive multiplayer mode. The game has 12 maps, 7 game modes, and support for up to 16 players. Some of the more interesting mores include intel grab (the game’s equivalent of capture the flag) and free-for-all (where you try to hold a target for as long as possible). Despite the ambitious online plans, we experienced very little lag and no disconnects when playing online. The game supports leaderboards, clan support, friends lists, and real time voice chat (via the PSP headset), as well. The multiplayer mode is also available offline.
Fireteam Bravo 2 rewards you for playing Combined Assault on PS2. For instance, there are missions that take place in the same location in both games. A mission in Fireteam Bravo 2 may have you neutrailizing some enemies. If you sync up the game, once you encounter the counterpart mission in the PS2 game, 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 Fireteam Bravo 2 are a lot like last year’s game, which is to say pretty good but also somewhat dated. The graphics engine powering the game is nearly identical to the one powering the consoles and it produces very impressive results on the handheld. The character models are pretty good but the animation is sort of stiff. The environments are very large with decently modeled architecture and pretty good texture work. The graphics do tax the handheld and there are times when the framerate drops considerably.
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.
Fireteam Bravo showed that the PSP was able of delivering a full-fledged online experience. Fireteam Bravo 2 doesn’t have the same novelty but it does deliver a really strong multiplayer component and a great singleplayer game. If you’re a fan of the genre, this should definitely be on your holiday buy list. -- Adam Nunez, PGNx Media
---- Nov 20, 2006
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