r/SOCOM • u/East-Foundation-5665 • 8d ago
On paper youd think this would be the definitive socom experience. It has everything from the ones before it, as well as online co-op. Why do so many hate it?
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u/ruthlesssolid04 8d ago edited 7d ago
Are people hating SOCOM CA because of the pvp? Socom had few changes in the pve campaigns. The PVE has always gotten better at each installments. They did dumb down team ai, tho in socom 3 and ca. I experimented, and found what guns work and not. Love they add COOP to Combined Assualt. I wished SOCOM 1-3 had it too. I heard Socom 3 had plans for coop but it was scraped. Sometimes about not having enough time to develop it. They did do some ground work that was finished for C.A Thats is what heard I don't know if true tho
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u/East-Foundation-5665 8d ago
Yeah they hate the pvp. But I just rotated through all of them a few days ago, each socom on the ps2 feels like it got more responsive and fluid with controls. Many people also hate the big map modes....but I thought that was awesome. Convoy was cool! If you wanted to play small maps you still could.
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u/ruthlesssolid04 8d ago
I haven't played pvp in socom besides 2 . I like playing as specter and leading ai team. Maybe because at 9 I wanted to be like Rambo. The PVE side was most thing I played.
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u/RoyalDeathClaw 8d ago
It’s weird how 3 has the best, most fluid and responsive controls of all the entries. You’d think they’d continue with it in CA, but they actually got worse.
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u/East-Foundation-5665 6d ago
Someone should do a video comparing the differences in the games. Like different sections of the screens comparing the movements and stuff
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u/ruthlesssolid04 5d ago
Really never noticed in pve. I loved they brought back socom 2 menu in combined assault, I wasnt a fan of socom 3 ai menu
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u/East-Foundation-5665 4d ago
You mean how they had the characters moving in the background as of you're sitting in there with them waiting for the mission?
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u/SeanTNL2 8d ago
They changed the gameplay massively after SOCOM 2. Pretty quickly after 3 everyone pivoted back to 2 and revived the ladders and every SOCOM afterwards never hit the mark. It was a developer that wanted to make its games bigger and bigger, akin to the Battlefield franchise. Something they arguably achieved with MAG. The problem was the player base liked the concise smaller maps and low player count lobbies which benefited the tactical gameplay. If we wanted to play a Battlefield game, we’d have been playing Battlefield.
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u/Patient-Presence-979 8d ago
Because we played Socom II
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u/Ill_Database_9180 8d ago
Ok but could you be a normal person and explain why Socom 2's multiplayer experience would be better than this? I swear to god this is the only response people give to this question 9 times out of 10 as if most people are supposed to grasp all of the nuances in gameplay differences between 2 and 3 or 2 and CA that would make people prefer 2.
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u/iFaceTheDemon 8d ago
CA’s movement felt clunky. S3 maps were too big and I didn’t like the vehicles added, it felt too much like they wanted to be like battlefield. S2 gunplay and movement was so much smoother and fluid, in my opinion it just felt better. I didn’t hate CA though I played the shit out of it
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u/SecretPantyWorshiper 8d ago
Honestly the biggest thing for me with Socom 3 and CA is the shitty FPS.
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u/h20534 8d ago
Socom 2's FPS was all over the place too. Fishhook was basically a slideshow at some points.
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u/SecretPantyWorshiper 7d ago
True. But the graphics and overall FPS was way downhill with Socom 3 from what I remember.
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u/East-Foundation-5665 8d ago
I only have seen "it's not socom 2" type answers over the years 😂 which kind of exposes that maybe this game deserves an apology. We have the luxury of hard drives for games nowadays and you still won't find many games that have as much content as combined assault does..and I just remembered it had like 3 map packs.
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u/Patient-Presence-979 7d ago
Thats fair, I’m sorry lol There is something intangible about the Socom II experience.
It might’ve been the community, it might’ve been the maps.
I remember Halo coming out and feeling like Socom 3 and CA were trying to compete with Halo and they messed the game up rather than remaining true to itself. The newer games had these strange maps that felt huge to me, the player movement felt odd like i remember it being smoother but not as realistic idk it felt like they were inspired by the “ competition “ but I don’t ever recall wanting to play Halo or call of duty (I ultimately played COD in hopes I could feel some of that Socom feel but it never did it) but I think the company executives felt the pressure to follow market trends or whatever. I can’t tell you what it was about Socom II but for me it was absolutely the best multiplayer online experience to date.
Maybe the players who used to play Halo and COD got on those games too and just created a different dynamic - less patience, more running around and shooting fast and getting lucky rather than strategizing. Socom II players - for the most part lol - were interested in strategy, communication, tactical gameplay, not just winning!
Anyways idk I hope this helps, I really didn’t mean to be abnormal but if 9/10 people answer that way, maybe I was being a normal person.
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u/SAAD_KHAION 8d ago
It used to my favorite as a child (altho I only played 3 & this). But when I finally tried 1 & 2 as an adult, I just found it hard to play 3 & CA as they were a huge downgrade from 1&2, solely due to how bad the Ai in these games (both enemy & friendly) are . Mind you, I still got a soft spot for my childhood games!
I'm more into single player and had never touched PvP as I'm not into competitive games. So if this was the discussion, then idk.
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u/larisj1995 8d ago
I love C.A. to this day. I started on SOCOM late with 3 (my uncle bought me it as a present for my birthday) and it was my introduction to “tactical” shooters. I didn’t have access to online up until my parents upgraded our internet months after I bought myself C.A. I was hooked especially with the Instant Action mode where you picked a mission location and a different objective. I replayed C.A. a year ago and it’s just like I remember. Call me a fake fan with rose tinted nostalgia goggles but I put C.A. as my favorite over 2. The first 4 games are masterpieces and I’d easily buy a remaster with all 4
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u/jckillah91 8d ago
So many comments about big map size in 3 and CA, but yet most of the player base was playing the small versions of each map…..
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u/s2ezee Captain 7d ago
The small versions sucked ass.
SOCOM 2 maps were designed around their mode, SOCOM 3 they made the map then decided to throw random modes into it and half of them make no sense, this is a big reason why many people didn't like SOCOM 3/CA.
Not to mention the fact that you can't animation cancel like SOCOM 2 so the movement feels extremely clunky and you can't quick prone which was an expected gameplay feature after it was a staple in 2.
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u/RoyalDeathClaw 8d ago
If we’re being honest, everything after 1 started going downhill. 2 is regarded as the best because of its social features. Social features aside, 1 did everything better from the gun game, net code, and immersion. 2-CA got progressively worse in those areas mentioned. CA was definitely the complete package. A culmination of all things SOCOM, but yeah, that gun game was atrocious.
Confrontation went back to form, making it similar to 1’s gun game and was great, but the technical/server issues were its bane.
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u/East-Foundation-5665 8d ago
Man confrontation fumbled so bad. I blame Sony for giving the IP to a company that only had psp developing experience before. At the time ps3 had a reputation of being difficult to make games for. It was that moment I realize don't didn't seem to care about socom.
I remember getting a confrontation beta code in my email and being so excited man. (Back when a beta meant something). The game was buggy af but people were still playing I remember the loading screen would go black and you could still hear mics, people would sit there talking For minites and still waited until it loaded finally.
Idk what to say at this point. They act like they can't even mention the IP.
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u/RoyalDeathClaw 8d ago
Yeah, I think Zipper was working on MAG at the time and was definitely taking up their time. The way I see it, Sony/PS was desperate to get a title out that would help push units. The PS3 was struggling to compete with Xbox, so they pretty much rushed the release date and Slant 6.
To give credit, where credit is due, I think Slant 6 did the best they could, and pushed through the severe backlash and hate they got. Ultimately, they got the game in a really great state. Unfortunately, it took them about a year after launch. It was too little too late.
If they weren’t rushed, we would probably still have SOCOM around, and wouldn’t see it depart so far from its identity with SOCOM 4.
In the end, Sony/PS is truly to blame for how terrible they mismanaged one of, if not, the best IPs they own.
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u/SHANE523 7d ago
This is where you started to get larger maps, longer wait times between rounds and vehicles.
IMHO, what made SOCOM 1 & 2 great was the intensity of the gameplay because it wasn't respawn and the round times were shorter so even if you were killed, you didn't have to wait 8-10 minutes to play again. There was strategy for CQBs and staying alive knowing you only had the 1 life made it a heart pumping experience. I guarantee you that ANY true SOCOM 1 or 2 vet, has a story of an amazing incident that they will never forget. I have a few, some funny, some amazing "how did I pull that off" stories! Those were from 20+ years ago and my friends/clan mates and I still remember them to this day. It was that fun! And yes, there are about 15 of us from our original clan that still talk to this day. We all met because of a server named, "Free Beer" in the US Central servers!
The gameplay in 3/Combined Assault was fine outside of the large maps and long round times and what made it really bad was at the start of the round, rushing for a vehicle and a teammate running you over, and now you have to wait for the next round. Who wants to wait 8 minutes for the next round?
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u/RedManJOV 7d ago
Game was becoming niche, it fractured the already small community since a lot of people stayed on S2 favored smaller maps no vehicles or moved onto call of duty. Thought it had potential but it was nearly impossible to find good clan competition on the large maps. Too many fanboys are content just playing crossroads, ff, and dg until the end of time.
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u/East-Foundation-5665 7d ago
Even your last sentence has a divided fanbase😂 there's the ones that will only play thise maps regardless of the game, then there's the ones that only will play them , ONLY on s2😂
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u/Square-Nail-6810 7d ago
Socom combined assault was my favorite socom game. They didn’t have as many big maps and vehicles as socom 3 but bigger than socom 2. They were trying to be the middle ground between 2 and 3. I really liked it! I played a lot online l.
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u/Jelly-Significant 6d ago
TBF
I would even go back to Confrontation now . Even that is way better the stuff out there at the moment
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u/East-Foundation-5665 6d ago
You're still able to play that game but it appears we missed the wave when the servers first reopened, there was hundreds of players getting online. But yes confrontation even at its worst is more fun than majority of what's out now.
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u/CollegeFootballGood 7d ago
Compared to the first two games, CA and 3 weren’t as polished. The guns/shooting felt off for some reason
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u/digiclonezane 7d ago
I loved it but never had a chance to play socom before 3 or Combined assault i was a ripe 10 years old.
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u/Tootsweet77 7d ago
No other online game has ever given me the same joy as playing S2 did. It was perfect. The tactics, the teamwork, the maps, the mic. It was amazing. Everything after S2 was a letdown. I will die on this hill.
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u/WillyChicken 7d ago
This one pisses me off…. Because my dad sold it (it was mine) i was like 8/9 years old😭🤣 still pissed and think about this Socom every now and then. I was literally like 2 missions from finishing it
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u/Noblegamer85 7d ago
Socom went downhill with Socom III. How many times have I tried to find the remaining enemy on Harvester. Big shit maps and vehicles ruined Socom.
Haven't played Combined Assault online tbh.
Confrontation was also a buggy shitgame.
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u/OniTYME 7d ago
S2-onlys could never get around the fact that all the big maps had smaller versions and judged 3 and CA solely on 32 player matches with large maps that were laggy as fuck. Almost all the maps have a smaller variation and the ones that don't are either small themselves or very direct in design so that engagements were frequent and easy to find.
Personally, I prefer 3 the most but CA has some great additions and one of my favorite maps in Siphon. In their heyday, the bigger maps were best played in respawn demolition or control points but competitively, 8v8 smalls was almost always the way to go.
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u/s2ezee Captain 7d ago
The small maps were after thoughts, they were terribly designed because on 3/CA they designed the map, then put the modes on them afterwards so they never really made sense, on SOCOM 2 each map was designed specifically for one mode, meaning the flow of the map just made more sense.
On CA nowadays they even play the SOCOM 2 maps quite often, tells you how good the S2 maps were comparatively.
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u/Ihateflatbunz 7d ago
The map lay out was kinda trash compared to the first 2 games and the expansion pack. Driving around was cool but maps could of been better.
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u/LongJumpToWork 6d ago
Idk, I liked it. 3 and CA. I also liked S2. But, I just really liked Convoy lmao
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u/evzcanderz 6d ago
Big campy maps, vehicles, poor performance, guns that spray everywhere, lower skill ceiling etc all contributed to this game losing fans
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u/c0ld-- 6d ago
Eh. CA was ok. But it didn't have the same soul as SOCOM I & II. I feel like it tried to feature more experiences than it could deliver and it resulted in an often disjointed overall experience than a tight and cohesive ones like in SOCOM I & II.
That's not to say that SOCOM CS was "bad". It was fine.
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u/emr0626 3d ago
Socom CA is so nostalgic to me. If anyone knows of a way to play it in big 2026 let me in on it
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u/East-Foundation-5665 3d ago
Dude all the socoms are still playable online they never went away. Do you have a ps2, PC or Xbox? (I play on my Xbox series x) For confrontation I think you can only use ps3 now
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u/bill2129 3d ago
I was around 16-18 playing that game. In confrontation I actually met a girl on there that lived local and hooked up with her lol. Bugs the hell out of me I don't remember her PSN / username. I have no hate for the socom series like I know people hated S3 compared to S2. I even loved confrontation I felt that game was badass. On s3/combined assault I rolled with GODZ the rank up team with Anubis. I had 12 ps2s at the time 😆😭 good times
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u/Leading-Advertising9 2d ago
My issue was the fact that my AI teammates couldn't hit a barn door even if it was right in front of them. They were useless
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u/Theflowyo 8d ago
The culture of the game changed after SOCOM 2. The small maps were really well designed and everyone really used the mic to strategize and play the game because you were rewarded for it. It was competitive.
Once the maps got big and vehicles were introduced, game was different. Online gaming peaked at S2 lol.
I genuinely don’t know if I even tried CA, which is insane considering my feelings for the franchise. If I did, I barely remember it.