''SOCOM 3 U.S. Navy SEALs'' is a 2005

tactical shooter A tactical shooter is a video game genre, subgenre of shooter games that cover both the first-person shooter and third-person shooter genres. These games aim to simulate realistic combat through slower-paced and punishing gameplay. This makes t ...

video game developed by

Zipper Interactive Zipper Interactive was an American video game developer based in Redmond, Washington and part of SCE Worldwide Studios. It was founded in June 1995 by Jim Bosler and Brian Soderberg. It created many different games, including the ''SOCOM U.S. Na ...

and published by

Sony Computer Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...

for

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

. It is the sequel to ''

SOCOM II U.S. Navy SEALs ''SOCOM II U.S. Navy SEALs'' is a tactical shooter video game developed by Zipper Interactive and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for PlayStation 2. It is the sequel to ''SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs (video game), SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs' ...

''. The online servers for this game, along with other PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable ''SOCOM'' titles, were shut down on August 31, 2012.

Gameplay

''SOCOM 3 U.S. Navy SEALs'' is a third-person tactical shooter. There are 14 different single-player missions. ''SOCOM 3 U.S. Navy SEALs'' is playable on five difficulty levels. At the start, the player can only choose from three of these. If the player completes the game on Commander, they can unlock the

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

difficulty level (which unlocks the

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

difficulty level upon successful completion). Every mission has primary, secondary, bonus, and crosstalk objectives - which are compatible with the Sony PSP game '' SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs: Fireteam Bravo''.

Plot

In the North African campaign, the player's (Specter) fireteam consists "Jester" as well as SEALs "Killjoy" and "Simple". Specter's

SEAL Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...

team battles the North African Patriotic Front (NAPF), the renamed Algerian Patriotic Front from

, led by the megalomaniac General Heydar Mahmood and Colonel Sarwat, his second-in-command. Mahmood had gained control of

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

via a coup d'etat during the previous game, and now the NAPF has just launched an offensive into a neighboring unnamed country, while the SEAL team is enlisted to support local forces trying to repel the NAPF. In the South Asian missions "Killjoy" and "Simple" are replaced by British

Special Boat Service The Special Boat Service (SBS) is the special forces unit of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The SBS can trace its origins back to the Second World War when the Army Special Boat Section was formed in 1940. After the Second World War, the Roya ...

operatives "Flash" and "Chopper". In these missions the player battles a

piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

organization called "The Fist and Fire". The last missions take place in Poland where the SEALs battle a well funded,

ultra-nationalist Ultranationalism or extreme nationalism is an extreme form of nationalism in which a country asserts or maintains detrimental hegemony, supremacy, or other forms of control over other nations (usually through violent coercion) to pursue its sp ...

terrorist organization A number of national governments and two international organizations have created lists of organizations that they designate as terrorist. The following list of designated terrorist groups lists groups designated as terrorist by current and fo ...

called the New Slavic Order (NSO). In these missions "Flash" and "Chopper" are replaced by

GROM Grom may refer to: Military * JW GROM, a Polish special forces unit * ORP ''Grom'', several ships of the Polish Navy * Grom (missile), a Polish anti-aircraft missile * A Yugoslav/Serbian version of the Kh-23 (AS-9 'Kyle') air-to-surface missi ...

operatives "Deadpan" and "Coldkill".

Development

decided to require ''SOCOM 3 U.S. Navy SEALs'' players to verify their identities by using a credit card, debit cards, or

VISA Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

gift cards. If the players do not verify themselves, they will not be granted ranks, allowed to join friends' lists, ranked games or

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...

s. The PAL version of ''SOCOM 3 U.S. Navy SEALs'' did not need to be verified for online play. The ''SOCOM'' blog, set up by the Sony PlayStation team to give players a look at the making of the game, stated that this was meant to keep ''SOCOM'' cheaters away from the game. The game is situated in Poland, South Asia and North Africa. The South Asia area of operation was originally specified as Bangladesh, but was changed after a complaint from the Bangladeshi government. The first Map Pack was released for a free two-week trial on June 27, 2006. After the two-week trial, players had the opportunity to purchase the map pack through the ''SOCOM'' Store in the ''SOCOM'' community section. Two more map packs were released containing maps from ''SOCOM'' and ''SOCOM 2''.

Reception

''SOCOM 3 U.S. Navy SEALs'' received "generally positive" reviews, according to

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

References

External links

* {{Zipper Interactive 2005 video games Microphone-controlled computer games Multiplayer and single-player video games PlayStation 2 games PlayStation 2-only games SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs Video games about the United States Navy SEALs Video games developed in the United States Video games scored by James Dooley (composer) Video games set in Africa Video games set in Algeria Video games set in Asia Video games set in Bangladesh Video games set in Poland Zipper Interactive games