It's about time Sony revived SOCOM

Digitally Downloaded writes:

"It seems like only yesterday that we were plugging an Ethernet attachment onto the backside of our PS2 consoles to head into the unique tactical online shooter warfare that is, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs.

The original trilogy is by far considered to be the pinnacle titles for the franchise, with the top game usually being a tossup between the second and third titles. Sadly, the series has fallen to the wayside with numerous under-achieving offshoot iterations on the PSP and two average attempts to bring the series into the HD era on the PS3 with SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation and the final numbered entry into the series, SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs. Given that it's been so long since this series has had the opportunity to shine, what better way to give the Vita a boost than remake the original trilogy in HD?"

[SynGamer]

There are 3 things Sony could do at this point:

1) SOCOM 1 & 2 HD Collection (or just 2) for PS3 & PS Vita
2) SOCOM HD Online for PS3 & PS Vita - essentially the best maps from 1, 2, and possibly 3 and 4. Key here is it's online-only (with offline bots). No campaign of any sort.
3) SOCOM 5 for PS4.

Personally I like option 2 the best, especially if there is cross-platform play between PS3 and PS Vita users. Another possible option is SOCOM HD Online for PS4 & PS Vita, but regardless, I would pay good money to play SOCOM 2 in HD on my PS3/4/Vita.

[Slapshot82]

I would as well SynGamer. I would thoroughly enjoy seeing Sony put a lot of money behind the series, developing a new SOCOM title for the PS4 that utilizes a high-end game engine and developed by one of Sony's top developers (e.g. Naughty Dog, Guerilla Games). I can only image what the Gaikai technology could do for clan wars... it seems that amazing things could indeed be possible for a future SOCOM title on the PS4 - if Sony takes the risk.

But like you, I think that the Vita a fantastic proving grounds to get this series back on track. I too would enjoy nothing more than to relive those amazing online battles of SOCOM 2 in HD.

[zeee]

Guys, I never played a SOCOM game before. Was it any good? Better than or at least equal to the quality of Battlefield 3?

[andibandit]

@zeee

I wouldn't even compare the 2, they are so different. BF3 is alot more Run'n'gun + chaos, where as Socom has a slower pace, and very tactical.

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, has some resemblance to it, altho i find Socom is the better of the two.

[Pope_Kaz_Hirai_II]

Socom 2 HD ... I will start prayer services at the Vatican for this game.

[_FantasmA_]

Keep praying. It won't do anything. Praying, bad. Kickstarter, good.

[sinncross]

I would say option 2, if you get it out on PS3/ PS4 and PSV cross play.

Give the PS4 the option for 4 player split-screen offline as an added incentive (since the extra power should make that easy).

If the PS3 can get split-screen then do that as well.

[SoapShoes]

Socom 2 would need a lot of work to be remastered. Just a higher resolution wouldn't do as it would still look like crap. They need to update character models, improve geometry, redo textures, and anti-aliasing at the very least. They might as well redo it on the Socom 4 engine(if it's a PS3 game) with the same old gameplay.

But Socom fans will complain no matter what. It doesn't matter if it's a perfect remake of S2, they'll whine just like they always do. Socom never did great in reviews and they'll point it out with the remake as if Socom 2 got tons of 9s and 10s(which it didn't).

[LackTrue4K]

i dont see the issue/hate of the last Socom.
in my eyes, it was a good game.
the game it's self replace Ghost Recon on my list of games.
(in a good way)

[Omegasyde]

Try Spec Ops, you might like it. Personally I though Ghost Recon has too many gadgets like the ability to cloak...

[Knushwood Butt]

Yeah, I enjoyed Socom 4 a lot too. The single play was solid, and online co-op was a blast. Didn't play competitive much. Move implementation was good too.

Confrontation was way harder to get into, and a totally different kind of game to Socom 4, yet the same crowd seemed to complain about both. I never really understood why.

[1OddWorld]

My two cents

One of its biggest short comings and PS3 for that matter was lack of communication. By trying to force everyone to play together around the world and not servers for different regions you would be placed with people you couldn't communicate with making it extremely hard to find people with mics and who also spoke your language. Also Socom was about close quarter combat you could literally frag people from the start of the round "which was great for eliminating noobs". You would think this would be its downfall but it made for high intensity white knuckle action. If only they could have stuck with the Socom 2 setup people would be like WTF is C.O.D.

Crossroads - Desert Glory, Forever...

[Omegasyde]

I thought a mix of small maps and big maps were key. 32 players was abit too much.

The Perfect Socom game would be
-Have Server lobbies ala PS2 Socoms, so people could text outside matches
-Old and news maps that were BALANCED
-Unlocked Attachments for guns, but be able to unlock new guns
-Ghuilie suit
-Demolition and Breach
-Weight System based on load out
-Pressure Sensitive movement. NO RUN Button
-Grenade-throwing arcs
-Dancing on Bodies and Voice Taunts
-8-player Party System
-Clan Pages
-PMN mines and claymores
-"Gun hot" when in close proximity to enemy
-Smoke and Flashbangs
-11 round matches
-Players can swim and dive
-International Spec Ops
-Online Leader Boards
-Ability to Host private games
-NON REGENERATING HEALTH
-Focus more on 1-life per round

[1OddWorld]

I agree with everything except..

-No large maps. Medium and small only keep this a game about close combat.
-No need for a ghillie suit when the maps aren't big enough to camp.
-You need to be able to run.
-I don't see players needing to swim or dive in a close combat game.

Socom was originally a close combat game. With only one life you had to act quick to stay alive. Your accomplishment came in the lobby between rounds when you would receive praise and get the chance to here the screams from your victims.

I also agree with you that 32 players was way to much. (10 vs 10) or (12 vs 12)I think is more than enough to kill in a round. Reducing the head count helps in the way of allowing a team to be a team. The more people the more chaos.

{Off Topic}
I need more bubbles. So that I can respond when I agree with a post or even more so when I disagree so that the individual isn't wondering why.

[Eyeco]

I lol'd when when I read "-dancing on bodies" because Socom is supposed to be a serious tactical shooter, the thought of someone doing the river dance, in the middle of a warzone is hilarious

[JoySticksFTW]

@YosemiteSam

"I need more bubbles. So that I can respond when I agree with a post or even more so when I disagree so that the individual isn't wondering why."

Done. I sent you a bubble for a good post

[DOMination-]

I am not convinced that enough people would buy an HD remaster for an online game to prosper, especially if it was vita only.

[SynGamer]

No one ever said Vita-only I believe. The suggestions so far is the game would be on PS3/4 AND Vita.

[MariaHelFutura]

Socom 2 for the PS4.

[strigoi814]

For me i think this should rest..coz the last few just didnt made justice

[TheFirstClassic]

Would love a socom hd collection, never got to play the games in their prime.

[AkatsukiPain]

Wish sony would remake socom 2 or try an follow its footsteps with a new socom for the ps4. Would also love to see a new syphon filter & legend of dragoons game for the ps4. With easier developing tools and the talented 1st party studios sony has, this should be easy to do. I hope they can do this since it could save them time & money with having to always rely on new ip's.

I mean keep doing what sony has done best with new innovative & creative ip's but it would never hurt to bring back old franchise hits thats already proven & bring them to life with the ps4 hardware.

[Indo]

Socom needs to be revived bad. Either release a new Socom or at least give Socom 2 a HD make over. But release a good Socom game,not the same thing we seen on the PS3.

[T2]

Sadly I was introduced to the series with confrontation which ive been told was much worse than s2 ... Confrontation was indeed not a very polished game , suffered from horrible tech issues

[LOL_WUT]

Interesting new console new way to start off fresh. :)

[SolidDuck]

The prob is who would make it now. I thought maybe Sony bend. Cause although potable games the did a good job with the resistance and uncharted franchises, and they were rumored to be working on console game now. Everyone kinda thought it was syphon filter, but maybe it could be socom.

[porkChop]

I remember not too long ago that Sony Bend said they were going to be developing exclusively for the Vita from now on. I'd like for them to do a Socom for the Vita, could be awesome. But they need proper multiplayer, I'm sick of all the 4v4 crap on Vita.

[Garrison]

I for one think that socom is a classic example of be careful what you wish for. For years upon years upon freaking years the only god forsaken thing that socom fans have wanted is to play a Socom game that plays like Socom. Socom 1 and 2 are amazing games.
In the eyes of the Socom comunity they never wanted anything different in the first place.
The socom franchise is a perfect example of a developer who was completely out of touch with it's fanbase.
The problem with some companies is that they always think they know best no matter what. Say what you wanna say about call of duty but activision knows exactly what Call of Duty heads want, which is just more call of duty. Plain and simple.
I always marvel at haters always wanting for a particular game to change yet they never just go ahead and buy a game that has what they want. A thousand online shooters out there with every freaking play style available yet they want call of duty to change. For f***s sake just get battlefield 3 or other shooters they are great games too!

This article is just making crazy assumptions, implying that you gotta support devs buy buying games you don't want so they can make the games you do. WTF do they think money grows on trees?

It sure is great when creativity revives an old and tired franchise but I don't get why is it needed to change what is already good. No one's asking for devs to stop being creative, sure MAG was a great game but its of course a no-brainer why socom fans didn't pick it up. It wasn't Socom.

Mcdonalds doesn't go on ahead and change the big mac every time they wanna make a new burger do they? They just make new burgers and that's it man, they would lose a lot of business if they did. Same thing.

[Slapshot82]

Hi Garrison,

Thanks for taking the time to read my article.

One thing I want tell you upfront, in that this is written from more of a business oriented mindset and not from a typical gamer's. I wanted to explore how this series could come back to life in a profitable way for Sony.

As for supporting developers, what I said isn't a "crazy assumption" at all. I never stated that anyone should buy games that they dislike or are not interested in. I didn't get into too much detail here in the article - again, I was writing from a business perspective and not a gamer's - but if you enjoy a certain franchise, like SOCOM, and the developer creates a new IP that you think you 'might' be interested in, you should give it a try if you can afford to do so. Why do I say this? Because in the current market, one failure can put a developer under and the series that you enjoy could go down with it.

Is it the fans' fault if a developer goes under? No. There are a lot of variables at play in any game's developmental cycle, but as it now stands, if you enjoy a developer's games and want to continue getting its games - you should consider supporting them with your wallet.

[Garrison]

Thanks for the response there, I am all for it when It comes to supporting amazing developers and amazing games. Sadly, this is one developer in particular lost a lot of support from it's fans.

I'll tell you something thou,a lot of us know that one single failure can put a game developer under. That is kind of the reason as to why it's so frustrating for fans to align their support($) with the offbeat vision(Game) that devs partake in at times.

Fans worry about their favorite franchises, that's why it's frustrating at times seeing how devs play the lotto basically with unproven franchises instead of just doing the smart thing and "locking in" what they already got in their hand already first and then take some risks.

A lot of us would love to see great new franchises from all devs, but this gen was like game of thrones. Either you win, or you die. Some didn't play their moves right I guess.

Even after the MAG failure Zipper still had a chance and along came socom 4. What more can I say? Possibly sony's fault too for pushing them to compete with COD, but then again, how much could zipper really put their foot down against it when they just came off a failure?

[AutoCad]

sony forcing developers to compete with cod fucked this series in the butt... this game has been dead since socom 3.

[oof46]

Well, it depends on which SOCOM they revive. If they take it back to the PS2 era SOCOM, then yes. If they try to mold it into a CoD, Ghost Recon copy, then no.

[1OddWorld]

Agree completely. There is no need for every shooter to have vehicles and absurdly large maps. I want to feel like I am in the battle not on the outside looking for a vehicle to spawn.

And OMG I hate respawn games. How are you ever going to learn from your mistakes if you don't have time to reflect on them. Respawn = non-tactical waves of brainless impatient morons.

[ab5olut10n]

The respawning keeps people from camping for entire matches, at least to some small degree.

[Iltapalanyymi]

mag 2 would not be too bad. just saying.

[WalterWJR]

People still play online with xlink-kai

I had it set up a few months ago.

[PS3gamer4life]

I just want socom 3 hd

[monkeyfox]

I know socom has many fans and was great in its time etc but reviving this series would be a bad move for sony in current climate..

[mrmancs]

dont you remember the revive on the ps3 that was.. Shhh..

[Neko_Mega]

Theirs one problem, Zipper studios close down. So Sony has to finally a new studio to make it, but I would love to see MAG 2 on PS4.

I went back got MAG, guys at GameStop said theirs no way that anyone would be online playing that and its online is more likely shut down. They were wrong, theirs people that keep on playing it and its just awesome to see a good game like it hasn't die.

[Knushwood Butt]

There's a bod on my Friend list that plays literally nothing but MAG, and is on it often.

[Typical-Guy]

I'd rather have a new entry than an HD collection. It would be awesome if they develop a new SOCOM for PS4.

[BattleAxe]

If they can make the series with the exact same kind of gameplay as the PS2 versions, then I would be on board on day one. Socom on the Vita would cement my intent to purchase this device.

[Slapshot82]

"Socom on the Vita would cement my intent to purchase this device."

And that is exactly why I wrote this piece in the way that I did. Sony would all but guarantee Vita sales if they put the HD Collection on the Vita exclusively, even it was only a timed exclusive.

[nevin1]

I thought the PSP games were fun. Granted I only went through the 1st one but enjoyed the demos of Fireteam Bravo 2 and 3.

Same thing with PS2. I only have the original but enjoyed it and the demos of the sequels.

[Tei777]

NO! Complete waste of their resources.

[Grindlefly]

Really? Revive *insert generic shooter here* If they could do something fresh then maybe, but the genre is so stale don't really see the point. Am really intrigued by the next thief though, that hopefully will breath new life into the genre

[Eyeco]

If you playesd Socom 2 you'll know it's anything but generic

[Evil_Ryu]

if medal of honor can't hang with the big boys anymore this game has no chance in hell

[boldscot]

It can't hang with the big shooters anymore because the developers are to busy trying to copy them.
Medal of Honor is just another casualty that got caught up in chasing casual market money and in turn lost it's identity.
So many great series have been destroyed this Gen.

[_FantasmA_]

Sure, you're asking for SOCOM, but would you really buy it? I mean you need to start a petition and get your friend to do it and actually buy the game and play it if ever comes out. As long as they don't add perks and killstreaks, I'm okay with SOCOM like the old ones.

[Omegasyde]

Socom 1- combined assault was awesome.
I preferred combined assault since it maps were a bit bigger than 2.

Socom Confrontation was horrible its first year and took forever for DLC, but it was awesome. It took too long for a party system as well.

Socom 4 sucked because:
a)killstreak (air raids wtf)
b)Maps sucked
c)Snap-Cover System instead of lean
d)No DEMO in initial launch (came out almost a year later as dlc wtf).
e)More emphasis on run and gun/spawns (Call of duty-ish)

Seth Lousi ruined it (socom 4)and it lost its originality. Even the Single player was boring. The game evolved too much, and alot of the core gameplay was so tweaked, you could barely tell it was Socom.

It was also a bad move to remove the most played mode Demolition and pack it as dlc. Too little, too late.

Sadly Zipper closed, however Unit-13 was pretty cool.

[Knushwood Butt]

Unit 13 was fun.

[o-Sunny-o]

In the right hands DO IT!!

[PS3gamer4life]

U skip s3

[RowSand]

socom is not more i Guess?? who knows? but right know im playing arma and pretend like socom on pc With ps3 controlleer.. sad story:/

[TheHardware]

I say a super remake for the ps4, all 3 socom campaigns remastered, and all online maps separated per game and one best of online featuring all the best maps from the three games.

[LUKENBACHER]

As a longtime SOCOM fan, I just completely disagree with most of what this author wrote. My opinions.... http://therealsocom.com/for...