14 DAY TRIAL // The still unrated SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo 3 received a release date, namely November 24. How exactly this works remains to be seen, the ESRB verdict being capable of influencing many things, but it could also be seen as a red-tape delay. Squeezed to fit the holiday-sale hype, Fireteam Bravo 3 seems to be playing second fiddle to the American spirit. Set to be launched two days before Thanksgiving, it relies heavily on “all is fair in love and war,” without the grounds to support it. But the gamers and the sales figure will decide that.
Not only that it will, as it should, lack on the love part, but it seems that war will be a loosely used concept as well. The PSP release gears up the player for infiltration, charging them to uncover the underground world in which the ex spec-ops soldiers brew destruction. Turned to mercenary work, these ronins will be tracked down and subdued by the proud and noble U.S. Navy Seals.
To complete the cliché, the main objective will be to locate a former KGB agent. The red comrade appears to be in possession of information regarding an upcoming terrorist WMD attack. Alas, the free world is in danger again.
The third installment of the game receives an all-around makeover. The graphics have been improved, the controls tweaked and the gameplay modified as a new cover system and the newly imposed modern-day game standard of health regeneration. Slant Six seems determined to at least reach, if not surpass, the older releases of the series and the four-player co-op of the single-player campaign seems to have sold plenty of fans already.
But the hefty, multiplayer dose promised might turn out to be a bit of a blank round, the unlimited health regeneration raising many voices of discontent. Immortals might work well in single player, but they might prove a buzz killer in multiplayer mode.