SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs

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SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs
Developer(s) Zipper Interactive
Publisher(s) Sony Computer Entertainment
Release date(s) Canada United States October 11, 2005 (Original); August 4, 2006 (Greatest Hits)
South Korea August 31, 2006 (Original and Deluxe Versions)
European Union April 21, 2005 (Original and Deluxe Versions)
Genre(s) Third-person shooter
Mode(s) Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s) ESRB: Mature 17+
Platform(s) PlayStation 2
Media DVD
System requirements Network adaptor for PS2 (for online play)
Input DualShock 2; optional PlayStation 2 Headset and keyboard

SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs, is a third person tactical shooter video game for PlayStation 2 and the sequel for previous games SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs and SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs. The game was developed by Zipper Interactive in collaboration with the Naval Special Warfare Command and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. SOCOM 3 was released on October 11, 2005 and added to the list of Sony Greatest Hits games on August 4, 2006.

Contents

[edit] General gameplay

SOCOM III is a third person tactical shooter that combines the elements of strategy, stealth, reflex and hand-eye coordination. There are 14 different single-player missions: 6 in North Africa, 3 in South Asia, and 5 in Poland. There are 5 different ranks that you can play the game in. From easiest to hardest, they are: Ensign, Lieutenant, Commander, Captain, and Admiral (to unlock Captain and Admiral, one must at least complete commander). One of the main focuses for multiplayer is unlocking new character models, weapons, and weapon attachments for the online multiplayer mode. As with previous SOCOM titles, every mission has Primary Objectives, Secondary Objectives, Bonus Objectives, and now Crosstalk Objectives, which is compatible with Sony PSP's title called SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo. At the end of every mission, the player receives a grade (A-F) evaluating their performance on the aspects of stealth, accuracy, teamwork, and mission completion. This page refers to the NTSC version of SOCOM 3 unless specified otherwise.

[edit] New and changed features

  • SOCOM 3's online and single player modes have new interfaces.
  • Accessories, including scopes, grenade launchers and rifle lasers, can be added to weapons.
  • Players can swim and operate vehicles, including trucks, M1025s (as suggested on the game's cover art), ALSVs, technicals,tanks and boats.
  • Its single player mode is much larger than those of the previous SOCOM games.
  • Online multiplayer games now support up to 32 players (16 for each of the two competing teams, the SEALs and the Terrorists) in one game. (This allows scenarios with full 16-SEAL "platoons" for the first time in SOCOM series history.)
  • Hit detection has been greatly updated.
  • Many character movement features have been added.
  • Maps no longer have set game modes; the various modes (demolition, extraction, suppression, etc.) can now be played on any map.
  • Clan roster size increased from 16 players to a total of 32.
  • In order to hold the increased amount of players, the map sizes have increased significantly.
  • In order to use the more pernicious weapons for multiplayer, such as the Steyr AUG or L-85, you must first complete the single player on Admiral. (Other useful unlockables, such as ghillie suits, can be obtained using the same method.

[edit] Single player campaign

[edit] Fireteam structure and movement

[edit] Able Element

Specter (the player) and Jester are the Able Element.

[edit] Bravo Element

The SEALs in Bravo operate closely together and execute Specter's orders as a pair. Bravo can be almost anywhere on the "op area" of the map, giving you flexibility in suppression of enemy forces, ambushes and extraction of the personnel.

Like in SOCOM II, the Bravo Element is occupied by different operatives, changing for each Area of Operation.

[edit] North Africa

[edit] South Asia
  • CHOPPER — Joby Hunt hails from London's East End, and specializes in Underwater Demolitions and High Altitude, Low Opening insertions.
  • FLASH — From London's Kensington borough, Osborne Winters excels in Explosive Ordnance Disposal and has extensive Heavy Weapons training.

[edit] Poland
  • DEADPAN — From the small town of Barlinek, Poland. Marek Kowalczyk has an Expert Marksmanship rating and specializes in Night Fighting.

[edit] Mission success and failure

Several factors determine success of your mission. Perfection for any factor is 100% for completing all objectives. The player is graded from A to F.

[edit] Mission success

Stealth - Each time the player's team is discovered and the enemy communicates your presence to others, you lose points for stealth.

Accuracy - Hitting targets increases player's accuracy ratings, while missed shots lower it. The accuracy of your teammates are also counted.

Teamwork - The player must use his team for cooperative engagements. The more the player uses his teammates during the course of a mission, the higher player's Teamwork rating.

Mission Completion - Primary objectives are the most important Mission Objectives and have the largest impact on mission success. Although the player can fail secondary objectives and still pass the mission, primary objectives require 100% completion.

[edit] Mission failure

Player's mission is considered a failure under the following conditions:

  • The player character (SPECTER) is incapacitated.
  • A mission critical character, such as a hostage or escortee, is killed.
  • A mission critical target escapes.
  • The player aborts a mission.
  • All three of player's SEAL teammates are incapacitated.
  • Leaving the mission area (going out of bounds).
  • The players kills one of your teammates.

There are also some special mission-select failure conditions, such as being detected (two of the Polish missions), engaging the enemy (bonus in one of the Polish missions), and failing to defend an object (one of the North African and one of the Polish missions).

[edit] Player reaction

Despite well-received reception from gamers alike, SOCOM 3 is at best the combination of 1 and 2, in both a good and bad way. On the positive side, the customizations and new gameplay elements were well-received. Among the various flaws is the dumbed-down A.I. for squadmates (which is considered as equally bad as the first game), which has at times forced players to do everything themselves, the ease of difficulty, very limited weapon customization, and short campaigns. Another complaint was the inability to see teamates names from afar, which has led to unintentional team-killing, however around the time of Socom: Us Navy Seals Combined Assault an update was introduced that put a small green marker in the place of a teammate's name when they get farther away.

[edit] Online gameplay

Like other SOCOM games in the past, online play is a huge contributor to the game's success. In SOCOM 3, players can team up with others from around the world and compete as a SEAL unit or Terrorist force.

[edit] Cheating Online

There is no way to cheat on any online game. Those who appear to cheat are using Illusion glitches. A very difficult glitch to master that produces a cheat like result. Although on some Socom 3 games, you will find people that use mod-discs, to cheat

Mod-Discs are discs that bypass the DNAS Authentication, so players could use Gameshark or CodeBreaker or Modchips themselves, or any other cheatdevice

This is also a very common thing on Socom Combined Assault, although on both games the mod-disc users and/or the illusion glitchers are usually voted out, and banned

Lag-switches are also common on online gaming.

[edit] Online mission types

  • Breach: SEALs attempt to destroy Terrorist strongholds. Terrorists use their fortifications to prevent the SEAL incursion, as SEALs break through barriers and destroy key targets. A team may also win by eliminating the opposition.
  • Demolition: Find the bomb and blow up the opposition headquarters. The bomb, or satchel, is placed on a neutral point in the map, easily accessible from both oppositions. Each team prevents the opposing team's demolition of their base. For example, if the terrorists have the bomb, the SEALs are on the defensive, and must ensure their stronghold remains safe. A team may also win by eliminating the opposition.
  • Suppression: Fight to the death. This 5 minute round deathmatch ends when one team loses all of their players, or when time expires. The team with the most living players wins at the end of the round.
  • Escort: SEALs Move key personnel to a secure location SEALs must get at least two out of the three VIPs to the extraction zone, while the terrorist must kill at least two VIPs. A team may also win by eliminating the opposition.
  • Extraction: SEALs Rescue and extract the Terrorists' hostages SEALs win by escorting at least two hostiages into the extraction zone, and Terrorists win by eliminating all the SEALs. If Seals kill a hostage, a minute is deducted from the mission timer. If the Terrorists kill a hostage, the SEALs are credited as if they rescued the hostage. A team may also win by eliminating the opposition.
  • Control: Place beacons at all control points Each team must attempt to be the first to plant a beacon at each of the control points across the op area. Once a beacon is planted, the enemy can't take it away, but they can plant a beacon at that control point. The team who has all of the control points covered first, wins. A team may also win by eliminating the opposition. Control points consist of Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, and Juilet.
  • Convoy: Terrorists guide a convoy to a loading zone and guide it back to a drop zone The Terrorist team must successfully breach a series of blockades to reach a cargo loading zone. They will have to pick up cargo and continue through another set of blockades to a drop zone. The SEAL's objective is to stop the convoy. If both cargo trucks are destroyed, the SEAL team wins. If at least one loaded cargo truck makes it to a drop zone, the terrorists win. A team may also win by eliminating the opposition.

[edit] Online account verification

Zipper Interactive decided to require SOCOM 3 players to verify their identities by using a credit card. If the players do not verify themselves, they will neither be granted ranks, nor allowed to join friends' lists, ranked games or even clans. It was a controversial decision; many players have responded with ire on the game's official message boards, and several have formed online petitions to protest the change. The PAL version of SOCOM 3 did not need to be verified for online play.

The SOCOM blog, set up by the Sony PlayStation team to give players a look at the making of the game[1], stated that this was meant to keep SOCOM cheaters away from the game[2], but it has not stopped cheaters. The cheaters can also use credit cards to log on and freely exploit game glitches, since no one monitors matches. Zipper, however, does encourage using the in-game exploit forums to report cheaters. Zipper announced that it is too late to change credit card verification and they will not have it in the coming SOCOM: Combined Assault.

[edit] Ranking system

The SOCOM 3 ranking system uses many more naval ranks than the previous versions, including most of the enlisted and officer naval ranks. The requirements for attaining higher rank when you start as an enlisted Seaman is different from the system used by the officers. Advancement in the enlisted ranks is attained by playing in full games, regardless of the outcome.[3]

Enlisted Ranks[4]
Rank Number of games played
Seaman Recruit 0-4
Seaman Apprentice 5-14
Seaman 15-24
Petty Officer Third Class 25-39
Petty Officer Second Class 40-54
Petty Officer First Class 55-74
Chief Petty Officer 75-100

After completing 100 games and having 50 wins, the player is moved to the officer rankings, where rank is determined by the player's place in the game ladder. For example, the lowest rank of Ensign is assigned to the lowest 19%.[4]

Officer Ranks[4]
Grades Rank Distance from top of Officer Ladder
Junior Grades Ensign 81-100%
Lieutenant Junior Grade 66-80%
Lieutenant 51-65%
Mid Grades Lieutenant Commander 41-50%
Commander 31-40%
Captain 21-30%
Flag Grades Rear Admiral Lower Half 11-20%
Rear Admiral Upper Half 6-10%
Vice Admiral 2-5%
Admiral 0-1%
Fleet Admiral Top 10 players

However, the ranking system has encountered a few problems.

[edit] Bugs

The ranking system means nothing on SOCOM 3. Players known as "Rank Ups" have destroyed so that it is impossible no matter how good you are to ever acheive a high rank. Also Rank Downs use glitched rooms to lose tens of thousands of points per game to help rank ups. There is however is secret glitch that will make your stats 100% invisible in-game, unless you log onto the account via http://socom3.scea.com/

Boundary Exploitation

  • It is possible to get to certain locations outside the "edge" of the map. This may be done by drifting the vehicle towards the location you wish to get to, in addition to other means.
  • Players are able to go inside boxes, and similar objects that have no obvious entrance.
  • Through a glitch, players are able to walk in the sky above other players. These "skywalkers" are very tough to hit from the ground.
  • Players sometimes respawn in a middle of solid objects, unable to get out. This has been fixed.
Sounds
  • Single shots are played sounding like multiple shots and move as if you are firing multiple shots. (This doesn't occur when using the single-shot firemode.)
  • When a door is opened or closed the sound effect can be heard anywhere on the map.
  • When an Automatic weapon that is equipped with a suppressor, the sound would only play for a few shots, then all will be silent except of the bullet spalshes. (only happens in Full-Auto Mode.)

[edit] Official SOCOM 3 Player's Guide

Concurrent with the game's release, Piggyback Interactive published "SOCOM 3: Piggyback's Authorized Collection," the official player's guide to SOCOM 3 U.S. NAVY SEALs.

The guide covers all multiplayer and single-player aspects of this game. This includes maps, complete mission-based walkthroughs, secrets including unlockables, hidden Bonus and Crosstalk objectives, battle tactics, weapons, stealth, sniping, and PSP connectivity.

Piggyback's guide was developed in conjunction with Zipper Interactive and Sony Computer Entertainment America, with the multiplayer section being written by a well-known Socom gaming clan, the Sea Snipers (clan tag [SS]). The multiplayer section has renderings of all multiplayer maps, discussions of the various online modes, and suggestions about teamwork and tactics.

[edit] Trivia

  • The South Asia area of operation was originally specified as Bangladesh, but was changed after a complaint from the Bangladeshi government.[4]
  • The South Asia missions contain a running gag in the form of a series of outhouses whose occupants refer to an unseen character named Dirty Ahmed. They are located in the first village, second village, and raider garrison in "Friend or Foe," and near the outdoor cargo crate in "Heart of the Fist." When the player goes up to the door of the outhouse, the occupant will complain about eating or drinking something made by Dirty Ahmed.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Official sites
Community & Multiplayer Competition
Forums


v • d • e
SOCOM video games
SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs • II • 3 • Combined Assault • Fireteam Bravo • 2

SOCOM Online Map List • Zipper Interactive
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