A series known for its highly competitive and visceral multiplayer combat, the SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs lineup had a co-op campaign tucked away in obscurity. This week in co-op, we revisit a historic moment from the Playstation 2 era.
"SOCOM had co-op?"
Yeah, I know. The new Playstation 3 version, the PSP versions, and the first three Playstation 2 iterations were renowned for their competitive multiplayer and voice-command tactics, but despite having three AI team members per human player, co-op was nowhere to be found...except tucked away in SOCOM: Combined Assault.
Combined Assault was an expansion of sorts to SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs, and was the first title in the series to be completely developed on the previous title's engine. I personally had always felt that the original SOCOM (the third Playstation 2 game with online support, and the first with voice chat) had the best gameplay; however, four titles in, we were finally getting co-op. I had been clamoring on the Sony forums for a couple of years, along with the bulk of the community...in early 2006, Zipper Interactive answered.
Along with a select few new weapons and 10 new multiplayer maps came a brand-new single player campaign that was also playable in co-op. Four players could meet up in a lobby of choice, and were granted open-mic voice chat, something new to the series (SOCOM veterans will remember the habit-forming mic button). Each was given access to the same armory options as in multiplayer modes, and once weapons and equipment were confirmed, the team was deployed to a mission that the host chose.
For those of us who had played 2,000+ hours cumulatively of the previous three Navy SEAL shooter games -- but were tired of the standard multiplayer complications, the least of which was a nasty mixture of malicious children and friendly fire -- the co-op campaign was a boon. The missions were well-designed, the online access was free, the new stats website was live (and was grabbing stats from the campaign, also), and you could help your friends work through the pre-PS3 trophy system to unlock characters and weapons for the multiplayer modes.
SOCOM: Combined Assault was not the end-all of co-op games, although it was a personal favorite. The controls were solid, but there was a framerate lag that had plagued the series since SOCOM II; hitting a terrorist with a shotgun blast would render a laughable animation that looked like someone under a strobe light. Also, thanks to the launch of the stats site, most online players overlooked the co-op feature in favor of another GameBattles match, something I've always been bitter about. After a few short weeks, SOCOM co-op became nearly obsolete to all but the few hardcore. It was a gritty experience, before Cross-COM and before cover systems. Players had to option to mark one enemy at a time on the team's HUD, and that was as fancy as it got. Most of your time was spent staging and executing enemy takedowns, both from afar and in close-quarters situations. It was great.
The series has since changed hands, and is now with Slant Six, a capable but fledgling group. Zipper has moved on to Massive Action Game (MAG), an ambitious title that has no co-op leads whatsoever. Combined Assault seemed to be a last-ditch effort for one more round of game sale, and unfortunately co-op died with the Playstation 2 generation of SOCOM games. I have many times contemplated selling or trading my Playstation 2, and thanks to the glory days of SOCOM, I have not been able to do so in good conscience. Sure enough, this past week I was able to visit some fond memories, finding the servers to be scarce but usable.
Maybe this summer I can rekindle old flames and get a four-player LAN co-op night going. Maybe Fortune will shine on me and grant a few online buddies to co-op with. If not, the memories alone will suffice. SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs: Combined Assault co-op...I will always love you.