The SOCOM series continues to soldier on, with the fourth PS2 game, SOCOM: US Navy SEALs Combined Assault, slated to hit stores November 7. We've got fresh details on what to expect from its multiplayer action, as publisher SCEA has unveiled 10 new 32-player stages exclusive to the new game.
While each of the stages are limited to certain game types and times of day, they all sound impressively huge. Especially the Echelon stage, which lets players tackle Suppression, Demolition, Extraction, Control or Breach games in a crumbling stadium (with a camp at its center) connected to a parking garage and an old factory. Or Aftershock, a city block filled with alleys and sewage tunnels for sneaking up on your opponents in Suppression, Demolition, Control or Extraction games.
Above: Assuming you can enter all those houses, the Retaliation stage should offer plenty of hiding places for the terrorist side.
Other levels include Summit, a snowy village near a huge cave complex; Threshold, an island chain dotted with buildings and an underground chemical-weapons storage facility; Copperhead, an old logging camp near a lake and a forest; Siphon, a snowy oil refinery with plenty of catwalks between buildings; Anchorage, a dockyard filled with warehouses and an abandoned cargo ship; Retaliation, a small village divided by a river, with two bridges and a nearby airstrip; Boot Camp, a fortified base (complete with guard towers) in a mountainous, forested area; and Prowler, a mountain ghost town with a frozen lake.
Again, all 10 of the stages support up to 32 players, although smaller, 16-player versions are available for Retaliation, Anchorage, Echelon, Copperhead, Summit and Threshold.
October 4, 2006
