EPTWe sometimes talk about the game we played when we were youngs and the one that we particularly remember. I've played hundreds of games on all the existing platform but this one is hold a special place in my gamer heart : SOCOM 2 : US Navy Seals
It was one of the first console game to have a multiplayer (you had to buy the PS2 network adapter) with VoiP support (the game came with a microphone). The multiplayer interface was plain great; user stats, clan functions, leaderboards, private games, rankings icons, chat, VoiP, balanced maps etc...
The gameplay
The gameplay was very special, SOCOM is a 3rd person shooter and it lead the very in-depth strategy. For example, you could put a mine behind yourself and camp a corner and there was no way that anyone could kill you. It was camper friendly but there were always objective so one team had to push. Alot of moves were availaible that were new at that time, you could prone, crouch, lean, dolphin dive, etc. They were flashbangs, smokes, infrared, RPG, silencers, specials radio air strikes etc...
Also, there were no respawn and rounds could last for like 10 minutes on some breach maps so if you'd die to a nade in the first 20 seconds, you'd observe the best players for a long time and it was good. It led to very tense situation like 1v4 were you'd have to defend the hostages and they had to come to you. If you'd win you were a hero and everybody saw what you did and how you did it.
Pro tip in spoiler+ Show Spoiler +
When you were dead, you would obs the good ppl on your team and vote kick them if you'd see an enemy on his back cause you could turn the camera 360. It led to some real kick and frustration ensued, lol I might say.
Another great element is that when you reloaded your gun, you were losing one clip and wasting the remaining bullets. No modern FPS work like that, I like it more when you lose the clip, it lead to more "pro" moves.
Me and my clan
What made the game so special to me is that alot of french canadians like me were playing. We pretty much controlled the Canada East channel and all the clans had a game (lobby) running with the same password so the community was pretty tight and competitive. At that time, I was 14-15 and was pretty kickass. In fact, I was one of the best. I remember joining almost every clans and just leave because I was better than them. Someday me and 4-5 of the best, non-loyal to their clan, players decided to join make a clan. I was the leader and I remember we were kicking ppl ass left and right, we never lost a game before joining a "gamebattle like" website which I don't remember the name. I remember that clans would be afraid to clan match us cause we were too good.
End words
SOCOM 2 is one of the best games I've played. It had a few flaw but not many that I could remember. The strategy that 3rd person involved in mix with all FPS games aspect was just mind blowing, I still remember some good shots I did and some strategy that my clan use to run. I think after I played SOCOM, I barely played any single player games/campaigns again. I tasted the competitive gaming (even if it's pubstomping) and never looked back.
Thanks for reading !
