SOCOM: Tactical Strike - in the trenches

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Squad-based combat gets a strategic makeover - hands-on impressions and fake-gun silliness reveal how it works

That said, careful planning to ensure that your SEALs always have an unfair advantage can mean the difference between success and repeated failure, so we went with a more stealthy approach when we played. As an added bonus, keeping quiet lets you do all kinds of cool stuff - at the beginning of one Panama City mission, for example, we were faced with a road blockade on a hill, so we sent two of our guys (Bravo) to take cover at the base of the hill and then had the other two (Alpha) creep up a walled walkway that rose above the road. Our squad leader silently took out a guy who was watching the blockade (with a patently ridiculous stabbing animation), and Alpha took up a flanking position above the roadblock. We had them take aim at the guards and ordered them to hold fire until we gave the signal.

That said, careful planning to ensure that your SEALs always have an unfair advantage can mean the difference between success and repeated failure, so we went with a more stealthy approach when we played. As an added bonus, keeping quiet lets you do all kinds of cool stuff - at the beginning of one Panama City mission, for example, we were faced with a road blockade on a hill, so we sent two of our guys (Bravo) to take cover at the base of the hill and then had the other two (Alpha) creep up a walled walkway that rose above the road. Our squad leader silently took out a guy who was watching the blockade (with a patently ridiculous stabbing animation), and Alpha took up a flanking position above the roadblock. We had them take aim at the guards and ordered them to hold fire until we gave the signal.

Then, we cut back to Bravo and made them open fire from behind their cover. The guards at the roadblock panicked and took cover behind a truck - which put them directly into Alpha's line of fire. The assault was over quickly and it had taken a while to set up, but when everything came together, it was a thing of beauty.

We wish we could say the same thing about our own untrained, Airsoft-toting assault in the warehouse. Guided by a constant stream of guidance from our team leader, we did a smooth job of clearing makeshift buildings (by running in and peppering the poor Airsoft saps with fully automatic, close-range pellet fire). But then a jeep with a machinegun turret (yes, an actual jeep) rolled across our path, and then all hell broke loose. Soldiers started screaming and firing at us from windows, and in the confusion we struggled to stay behind cover and keep our elements together.

Then, we cut back to Bravo and made them open fire from behind their cover. The guards at the roadblock panicked and took cover behind a truck - which put them directly into Alpha's line of fire. The assault was over quickly and it had taken a while to set up, but when everything came together, it was a thing of beauty.

We wish we could say the same thing about our own untrained, Airsoft-toting assault in the warehouse. Guided by a constant stream of guidance from our team leader, we did a smooth job of clearing makeshift buildings (by running in and peppering the poor Airsoft saps with fully automatic, close-range pellet fire). But then a jeep with a machinegun turret (yes, an actual jeep) rolled across our path, and then all hell broke loose. Soldiers started screaming and firing at us from windows, and in the confusion we struggled to stay behind cover and keep our elements together.

Mikel Reparaz
Mikel Reparaz
After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.