SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs

This is, in my opinion, the most fun game of the lot. To play, you must lead a team of U.S. Navy SEALs through various operations around the world. In single player mode, you assume tactical control of a team of SEALs, much like in Rainbow Six or Ghost Recon, and lead them through their missions. The most exciting feature of the game is its compatibility with the new PlayStation network adapter, a piece of hardware that allows PS/2 players to go online and game with players from around the world.

The game is pretty realistic. It was kinda creepy to be hiding behind a shipping container and watch tracer bullets go whizzing by, and it was definitely creepy to watch another online player walk up to a dying character and shoot him in the head.

The realism was enhanced by the fact that Sony has introduced a new headset, especially for SOCOM, that lets you talk to other members of your SEAL team. Wearing the headset made me feel like an extra in a bad spy movie. The idea of a bunch of gamers, sitting in their living rooms (or parents’ basements) and co-ordinating a plan to stalk my wounded fighter through the jungle is either cool, or scary, depending on your mindset.

NHL FaceOff 2003

NHL FaceOff 2003 seeks to make the console game look like watching a hockey game on TV. They have all sorts of Hockey Night in Canada features, like camera zoom-ins and cutaways, and they motion-captured many real hockey players as basis for the game models. To further the TV style, Darren Pang from ESPN and Mike Emrick from the New Jersey Devils do all the announcing. (Sorry, no Don Cherry at intermission.)

I was impressed with the attempts to make this game as true as possible to a real hockey game on TV. Sadly, I did notice some things missing. If they just had the odd streaker jump the boards and fall on the ice, it would have been a lot better.

NFL GameDay 2003

I don’t really know much about football, but this game was pretty detailed. The graphics were very nice, and the player models were quite thorough. NFL GameDay will also support the network adapter card, allowing for online play. It used the same TV-style game play as NHL FaceOff 2003. The TV-style coverage of both games was all detailed, and the resemblance to real life made me wonder if the players all went to a virtual Gold Room after and got involved in professional athlete scandals.