That Was A Close One...

Being the optimist that I am, I thought I would give SOCOM: Confrontation another try today with my friend Rem. And earlier today, I thought I might have to revise the scathing post I wrote about it earlier in the week. Whew! Saved by the ... servers? Needs some work. Anyway...

Rem and I played a bunch of games. I only got booted out of the game once! Sarcasm is hard to write. The game play itself is great. Really fun when it is working. I am a decent, middle of the leaderboard sniper and I got to get a little of that in today. The maps are huge and sniping on them is really challenging and fun. Lots of places to hide and pop off shots at unsuspecting "run and gunners." The bullet damage/accuracy is still a little off, but I can tell they have done some work to improve it. The game is getting better and I hope it will be awesome and forget that this week ever happened. Honest. No, serious.

Bunch of stuff still doesn't work and should according to the box. 1) Leaderboards: stats haven't worked since the release of the game and as of today, still didn't work. 2) Invite In Game: Total joke. 9/10 times a simple message won't get to your friend and game invites are even worse. 3) Playstation Home: SOCOM: Confrontation was supposed to be released with Playstation Home, which according to SCEA (Sony) is still in beta testing and does not have a solid release date. But there it is on the box. Hmm. Wishful thinking? and finally 4) Trophies: According to the developer, Slant 6, Trophies will be integrated into the game at a later day with an online update. All this is right there on the box for the game. So you know what I did? No? I'll tell you.

I filed a complaint against SCEA (Sony Computer Entertainment America) with the FTC (http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/cmplanding.shtm) That's the Federal Trade Commission. Why? Because I feel ripped off, that's why. I don't care about trophies, I don't care about Playstation Home and I don't really care about Leaderboards, but they are nice to have around. What I do care about is getting what I paid for. And because of the anti-piracy laws in America, I cannot return the game for a refund because I opened the game and tried to play it. So, basically, I'm stuck with it. It doesn't matter that they will probably fix it all. The point is it is advertised on the box as being an Online Multiplayer game with the mentioned features included, and it isn't. It isn't any of those things. Not even Online/Multiplayer because tonight, as I write this, the servers are down and the game is unplayable. Good job Sony. Good job Slant 6. Another satisfied customer.

So SOCOM Game Designer Walks Into A Bar...

And is immediately punched in the face. Everyone laughed. The end.

SOCOM: CONFRONTATION was a little better today. Seems they put up some more servers to handle the load of THE BIGGEST GAME OF THE YEAR?! Fucking morons, I swear to all holy, that I would punch someone in the neck if they told me they were one of the people responsible for the SOCOM release. I know they will fix it and all that kiss their ass bullshit. But the fact is, they released a broken product to the public and the only difference between releasing a broken video game and say, baby toys with led paint, is nobody is going to die from it.

Anyway, messaging still doesn't work. Game invites still don't work. Following your friends to a game wasn't even in the beta, so don't know if it will ever exist in this iteration. Bullet damage is random (retarded to the extreme). You still cannot retrieve invites remotely. The models in the game throw grenades like affected boys in grade school. Grenades don't really go where the stupid arc says they will go...On and on.

I still feel like I got taken and that still pisses me off. I know I can sell it and get something else, but in the end I know it will get fixed and I will have to buy it again. Just pisses me off. I stand firm on what I said about Slant 6 though, I will never buy a game made by that company again. Ever. No matter what game it is or how good it might be. Never. Slant 6 will never get another cent from my wallet.

Disappointment On So Many Levels...

I pre-ordered this game months ago and waited with anticipation for it to be released just two days ago. I played the beta version. I made constructive comments on the SOCOM U.S. Navy Seals CONFRONTATION website and hoped for the best. And yesterday I went to GameStop and plopped down $60 for what is essentially, a drink coaster. What I got feels like what I imagine getting shit on my face feels like. And I swear on whatever you hold sacred, I will NEVER buy another game made by Slant 6 Games. On a positive note, I did get a snazzy PS3 Bluetooth headset, and that is the only thing that made this deal worth it.

Slant 6 has been working on this game for years. You wouldn't know it from the game play. Graphics YES, Gameplay NO. That is, if you can play. Slant 6 released a beta version to the pre-order public about a month ago to get all the bugs worked out before the big release. What appears to have happened, is Slant 6 released the beta, then took a month long vacation and released a game that plays worse than the beta version. You cannot send a message to your friend because that part of the game isn't working yet. You can send a message/invite to someone, but there is a very good chance they won't get it. You cannot check your messages remotely and have to leave a game you are in if you get a message, scroll back through 4 pages to get to the home screen to then check for a message that probably isn't there. A cool feature from past SOCOM games was the "Follow" feature. Where you could just click on your friends name, and join them in a game. That isn't here. But there is a message from Slant 6 when you start the game, that they have been working on for years, that says there are problems and they are working on it. Essentially I just bought an unfinished game, that shouldn't have been released. If you read this, and you were thinking of buying SOCOM: Confrontation, I will tell you to save your money, or go out and buy a really nice set of coasters. The coasters will soak up sweat from your cold drinks better than the disk from this "game." I am skimming over everything that is wrong with this release, because, frankly, I need to move on.

As far as game play goes, unimpressive cannot begin to describe how unimpressive it is. Stepping out of a polished game like Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and into SOCOM: CONFRONTATION was like switching from hand made Italian loafers, to orange Crocs. Sure, both might be comfortable, but one makes you look good and feel good, while the other makes you look and feel like a fucking moron. Thank you Sony and Slant 6 for making me feel like a fucking moron. Moving on. The game play is "glitchy", the action stopping and starting at random. The sound is great. The weapons are awesome, if you can hit anything. See, Slant 6 thought it would be fun to make all the weapons have a "random" bullet pattern, "just like the real thing!" For an assault rifle or machine gun, that's fine. But Slant 6 thought it should be for sniper and other normally accurate rifles as well. So, even if you have the cross hairs dead on your target, there is a good chance you will NOT hit it. That's all well and good, but when you are a sniper, you are stealth and when you fire you make noise that your target can hear and, follow me here, because the bullet doesn't go where you aimed it, your target doesn't die. You see where I'm going? Dead Sniper. And again, just the tip of the iceberg of what is wrong with the game.


The PS3 Bluetooth headset is awesome. The noise cancelling is great and it's comfortable. Comes with a super short USB 2 cable (One foot??? Seriously Sony?) and charging station. Syncs right up with your PS3 and even has an onscreen icon box to let you know what your charge level, sound level and mute status are. Sexy. Has a nice mute feature which is great if you are in a game with "open" mic, like Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Wish everyone who played that game had the mute feature! Right now you can only get it with the SOCOM: CONFRONTATION bundle, but should be in stores soon as a stand alone purchase. The headset, cable and charging station will sell for $50. So if you aren't in need of a new drink coaster, save that extra $20 and don't buy the game. Go pick up a copy of COD 4, and have some fun killin' stuff! WooHoo!