"SOCOM in da hood!"

Personally, I hate rap, I hate the whole ghetto-gangsta' thing, and I hate random games that are about senseless violence with nothing else to offer. So when I told my pals that I'd been playing this game, they were pretty shocked. It's one of those games that aren't meant for everyone, so I'll try to be as neutral as I can.

Story- 5
The story has some interesting aspects, but the majority kinda sucks, and seems to have borrowed old ideas at every turn.

Basically, a life-long member of a street gang decides he wants out for the sake of his family. But the leader of the gang doesn't like this, so he sets him up and frames him for murder, kidnaps his family, and demands a ransom for their return. Now this doesn't make much sense to me because he's already a killer, and after being framed, he basically spends the rest of the game killing folk. Anyway, the interesting aspect of this game is that you don't play a single character out for revenge, but you also take control of the leader of this street gang, and a ex-marine-turned-cop ala Steven Seagal! It's a little bit interesting, but with very few cut scenes...BAD cut scenes at that, and very little story being told throughout the levels themselves, you kinda don't really give a damn about what's going on.

Gameplay- 8
"Solid Action for fans of SOCOM" is how the game is described on the back of the case, and that's basically what it is. There are many elements in this game that should have been given more attention, but overall, once you get into it, it won't really matter to you.

The idea in this game is to fight your way through various enemies from one point to the next, through very linear, very short missions. The thing is that, unlike other linear games like Rainbow Six 3, I never really noticed how linear the levels really were. They're interesting enough to keep you going, and loaded with sub-objectives to complete, all of which will unlock content for the Online mode, which is definitely the best aspects of this game, but I'll get into that later. Anyway, the gameplay is almost the same as in SOCOM. You run around shooting, but in a much less serious and tactical way, which allows you have much more fun. There are a few places here and there where you can jump over fences and stuff, but you'll mostly spend your time running and gunning, with a HUGE amount of weapons available to you, though you are limited to what you can carry: Pistol and Primary weapons including dual combinations, a melee weapon, and grenades, none of which have a huge supply of ammo, so you'll probably swapping your weapons frequently. Sadly, there isn't really a lot of location-based damage, which will be especially noticeable when you shoot someone in the head and find that they usually still live, but you'll overlook that fact due to the amount of fun it is to blast away folk that are constantly bashing you with hateful jargon. Overall, the single player game is fun, especially if you just want a run-n'-gun that's a little less serious and all about the fun.

Now the online...this is where the game shines for me. It's basically the same as in single player, but you get to create your own characters and load them up with weapons and gear that you've unlocked in single player. The idea here is similar to SOCOM's multiplayer: One side is Law Enforcement, and the other is Criminals. The Cops get all sorts of SWAT gear, while the gang members get the usual ghetto stuff, and then battle each other in one of four modes: War, which is basically Team Deathmatch, Raid, in which Cops try to steal an item from the gang and return it to their start point, Robbery, which is the same as Raid but instead the Gang must rob the Cops, and Tag, in which each team battles for control of territory; very similar to a King of the Hill-type game. A few cool features include the ability for Cops to arrest Gang members, making your own custom tag that you place almost anywhere on the map, and the fact that while carrying the items I spoke of, that character slows down, as they have a giant duffel bag over their shoulder. Lots of neat ideas there that I haven't seen to much of. The majority of the multiplayer maps are variations on the single player maps, which I said before were pretty cool, and they're pretty balanced out, with many different routes to take to your objective. The only big concern I have about the game is that the guns seem very inconsistent in regards to their performance. They're all very inaccurate, and it gets extremely frustrating when you unload an entire cip into a guy's back, and then have him turn around and fire a single, lethal shot at you.

Controls- 8
The controls are easy to learn, easy to handle, and very customizable. What else can I say?

Sound- 7
The sound is pretty good. Not great, but good. Everything sounds decent, with smaller weapons having a weaker "POP" sound when fired to the loud "BANG" of the AK-47 being discharged. Good environmental sounds too, but not fantastic, probably due to the fact that the developers intended players to listen to the music much more than the sounds.

That's where I differ though, as I don't like rap, and all of the music in this game is licenced rap from various artists like 2Pac, Xzibit, Public Enemy, DMX and more. Aside from that, there is no original music in the game, but based on the content, the music fits perfectly...I just turn it right off in the options menu as I'd prefer not to listen to it. But if you like these artists and this type of content, you'll probably enjoy this game.

Replay- 4
Upon completing the game, you unlock a bonus mission that's pretty fun, and if you haven't unlocked everything for multiplayer, you'll definitely want to do so, but that's probably that. There are four difficulty levels, but there is nothing unique to unlock for any setting, and once you play through the game, you'll probably not see any real reason to bother with it again. If you have PS2Online, you'll get a lot more replay out of this game, but if not, I'd just give it a rent...you can finish it in a few hours, so the fun doesn't last for too long. Overall, it's fun, it's fast, and if you like the whole gangsta' ghetto-thing, you'll probably like this one. Personally, I bought it for the multiplayer!

Story- 5
Gameplay- 8
Controls- 8
Sound- 7
Replay- 4
Overall- 7
Overall, it's fun, it's fast, and if you like the whole gangsta' ghetto-thing, you'll probably like this one. But it has its shortcomings, the storyline is kinda lame, it's way too short, and you may not like it if you aren't into the ghetto street gang stuff, or you just don't like rap. Personally, I bought it for the multiplayer!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/24/06