he SOCOM series is like the video game version of the band AC/DC – the basic gimmick hasn’t evolved in any serious way since its debut, and you either like it or you don’t. However, if you tell fans of either that each release has brought little new to the table, you can probably expect an enraged beatdown. Well, I’ve got to say that SOCOM 3 is once again more of the same (Ow! Stop punching me!). If you still play the previous games, then you can probably stop reading now and go buy the latest iteration. But, if those titles left you cold, then nothing in SOCOM 3 will change your mind.

To be fair, SOCOM 3 does have a more fully developed single-player mode than the previous two games. The storyline is more cohesive, and new elements like vehicles and swimming add some variety to the mission objectives. But the AI (for both your units and enemies) is painfully braindead. If real terrorists stood around during hails of bullets until they finally took one in the head, the war on terror would have been over long ago. A new quick command function (mapped to the L2 button) streamlines squad commands a bit, but the manual system is still inelegant compared to Rainbow Six’s, and the audio command option suffers from voice recognition problems. But all of these problems are mostly irrelevant, as single-player is little more than a primer for online play.

SOCOM 3 is all about online play. The maps were built around 32-player support, which means they’re so big it can be hard to find your enemy, and once you do, you can’t always tell friend from foe. Thanks to some muddy graphics, both teams look pretty similar down the barrel of your gun.

There are a bevy of game types, but lagginess dogged me during my whole online experience. Vehicles and swimming make this entry feel a little different than the previous entries, but are more like gravy than gameplay revolutions. In short, SOCOM 3’s online is basically more of the same. If you’ve spent any time with online military shooters, you’ve already had an experience just like this one. Sure, this series has some polish that others lack, but gunning down dudes in fatigues online is no longer a unique experience. SOCOM 3 is definitely a decent game, but if the franchise doesn’t evolve, it runs the risk of losing its crown as the dominant PS2 shooter. But until then, SOCOM fans will be just as happy with this franchise as they always have been.