SOCOM has been a mainstay heavyweight for Sony since its inception in 2002. Considered by many to be the finest semi-realistic third-person shooter series available – largely due to its solid team-based multiplayer. When Slant Six took over the SOCOM franchise, being successors to Zipper Interactive, their debut effort was fated to be heavily scrutinized. In the eyes of long-time franchise fans, Slant Six chose an almost blasphemous route by taking the tried-and-true formula and turning it on its head: in place of a third-person shooter was a tactical squad management simulator,
controlled entirely like a strategy game. However, the resulting SOCOM Tactical Strike is a triumph in design and presentation, and while the majority of SOCOM fans snubbed the title, it deserves a place in discerning gaming libraries simply for being a powerhouse title in many respects.
It bears worth to mention the spiritual forerunner to SOCOM Tactical Strike. Pandemic’s Full Spectrum Warrior was a landmark for the industry and became a sleeper hit, spawning a sequel – Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers. While the majority of gamers still find themselves gravitating towards the traditional tenets of the action genre, Full Spectrum Warrior showcased a “cerebralisation” of what could have been just another military shooter, ala Delta Force, Spec Ops. Originally a contract development for the US Military for urban infantry manoeuvre training, Full Spectrum Warrior eschewed first/third-person control in exchange for an intuitive system of ordering a marine fireteam through various urban encounters. It had a strangely relevant sense of timing in geo-political terms, as its setting in a fictional middle eastern hotspot mirrored the unfolding of the infamous War On Terror in Afghanistan and Iraq. The fact that Full Spectrum Warrior was unrelentingly realistic in its approach only added to its effect. This sense of heightened realism within an action setting is carried on through SOCOM Tactical Strike, and taken much further than in its spiritual predecessor.
SOCOM Tactical Strike leap-frogged into the territory of the already established juggernaut SOCOM Fireteam Bravo portable titles, and while they all belong in the same family of gameplay leaning towards realism rather than arcade, these siblings are very different. Fireteam Bravo pursued a pure third-person military combat avenue; utilising a two-man squad within single-player to tackle objectives over vast terrain. Tactical Strike offers the same vast, if not larger, terrain to traverse, but with the task of managing a customisable four-man squad of spec-ops soldiers for the duration of the mission. The clincher is that the player must engage as though they were playing a strategy title, rather than a shooter.
Tactical Strike promotes a movement-and-fire approach to control. To move the player’s troops around, upon pressing circle, a ground-level reticule – known as a “skimmer” appears. This is then directed to a position on the map, either in visual range or it can be gauged by the minimap in the upper right hand corner of the screen. As Tactical Strike stresses a more realistic approach to gameplay, this is not a cursor that has unlimited range – in keeping with the fact that movement and engagement is primarily based on the squad’s field of 
vision and peripheral awareness. Depending on where the cursor rests before confirmation for the squad to move to the position, a “ghost formation” appears – transparent models of the squad – which automatically adjusts the prospective positions of the squad to tactically-sound positions. For example, planning a transit across a street to nearby a car will find the cursor offering a position against the car body. This gives the player a chance to evaluate effective movement, advantageous for planning as well as moving on the fly.
An extension of the movement command is the ability to provide cover-fire between the two halves of the squad. Alpha and Bravo can provide effective fire-support and cover to their counterparts in order to safely move around in missions. This makes for exciting plays under fire. It also provides the most practical way to keep the player’s squad alive.
As the player traverses the massive levels within Tactical Strike, interaction with everything occurs via a contextual bracket overlaid across the player’s screen. This is used to assign targets, register targets, breach doors, assign grenade target areas, hack computers, heal fallen comrades, amongst other things. These commands are
spread across the face buttons, and while the basic commands are a simple tap away, if the player holds in a particular button, more options appear in a drop-down menu. It is an elegant and intuitive method of creating a far deeper strategic experience than is initially assumed. For example, splitting the squad into two targets and placing them on either sides of a street being patrolled by a group of two targets provides a situation where the strategic side of Tactical Strike comes alive. Each team can be assigned a target, but with the addition that they wait for the player’s signal to open fire. As the targets walk into an effective firing zone for the squad, simply holding X and selecting the appropriate order gives the two teams the go-ahead to create a withering crossfire. Using the full range of options within Tactical Strike allows for some very creative and complex action to be planned and executed – moreover, the in-depth tutorial and marginal amount of time spent within the main campaign is all that is needed to become accustomed to the well-planned and implemented control scheme.
The squad itself is a versatile unit; primarily because of a customisable pre-level weapon load-out and a fairly utilitarian skill upgrade roster. There is a large selection of weapons to equip the player’s squad with; from primary weapons such as sniper rifles, assault rifles and SAW heavy machine guns, to secondary weapons, such as automatic pistols, sub-machine guns and shotguns. Each weapon can then be outfitted with a range of scopes, laser beads, tripods and silencers. Outside of actual small arms are numerous grenades, laser designators for airstrikes, medical packs, extra ammunition and side-arms. Utilising a customised load-out means that a player’s style of engaging the enemy can vary depending on the offensive range and power of the squad. This is where the skill upgrading can affect a squad’s combat ability, such as acquiring a target during a snipe or the effectiveness of a soldier with heavy weapons, and the rate at which contextual orders are carried out; for example, hacking a computer or picking a lock. The player must also take into account both combat in the outdoors and within the confines of a building, as the squad switches to secondary weapons once they breach the inside of an installation – effective weapon management is imperative. However, using the contextual bracket, troops can be ordered to scavenge weapons from downed enemies, so there is never a shortage to finding and trying out the best weapon for the area.
The levels themselves are massive, sprawling affairs. Ranging from lush jungles to coastal towns, from five-star hotels to the locks on the Panamanian canal. They are some of the strongest visuals on the PSP for sheer scale. While not holding to the sharpness of newer titles such as Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII or God of War: Chains of Olympus, Tactical Strike is an impressive feast for the eyes, primarily for being incredibly vast. Missions can sometimes run to an hour long – which does raise the inevitable question of whether this really is a truly portable game – but the action and strategy is consistently engrossing to the point that it never feels like the game wears out its welcome. While the levels are vast, they contain some spectacular set
pieces. One level near the end of the game has the player fight it out within the aforementioned hotel against a horde of Russian mercenaries – and the design of the building itself ensures the gunfights are spectacular. Five stories up, exchanging fire across a massive courtyard at enemies entrenched on the other high-rise wing of the hotel, is a stunning experience. Windows shattering, explosions detonating, bullets zipping and zinging into the masonry; the game puts on an impressive show.
Tactical Strike hosts a subtle score, an engaging collection of difficult-to-pin tunes. Needless to say, it fits aptly and only adds to the experience as the squad moves slowly through the streets of a number of Panamanian locales. The sound effects themselves are a treat, possibly the star of the show. Every weapon sounds different; the syncopated rhythm of heavy weaponry is discernable to the hissing stutter of lighter firearms. 
Watching a squad take cover behind a car, only to set the enemy’s channels of fire into the bodywork of the vehicle and see AND hear windshields shattering, metal being dinted and penetrated, alongside the singing of bullets whizzing past, is without a doubt an exciting situation to have – especially on a portable machine.
The multiplayer aspect of Tactical Strike is some of the harrowingly intense combat on the system. Squad-versus-squad, with up to four squads per match, is a withering – often brief – affair. There are a number of modes to play in, but the simple Team Deathmatch is a thrilling experience. However, there are a few issues. The real enjoyment comes from acting tactically, however some players online play Tactical Strike like a conventional shooter in terms of movement. Equipping some unbalanced weapons and, rather than using a cover- fire movement technique – running the squad around with the “fire at will” command switched on, seems to ruin the enjoyment of a strategic engagement. It is more a lament that 
a complaint. Lag is also an issue. If every player has a good connection to the server, then the game is a brilliant piece of online multiplayer. However, even if one person is suffering a poor connection, the entire game is reduced to a stuttering mess for every player – rendering the match unplayable. A final complaint is that when one player quits mid-match, the game ends. This is sadly a commonplace event – the tactics of the game can be harrowing, and defeat just might have more sting in Tactical Strike than in other titles.
The game is undoubtedly an underdog. Largely forgotten by the gaming community, it fills a niche – a game that can provide a playground to test out an endless variety of tactics and movement within a quite challenging environment. It features instant action missions for those looking for a quick burst of squad-based gameplay, as well as the longer missions – with an option, once completed, to retry the level from a different insertion point – to satisfy those in the mood for a much larger project. It is a game that provides untold levels of replay value simply due to the canvas of
options available to the player. Tactical Strike is not a shooter, but it provides just as much ballistic trading as one – if not more – and with a lot more in the way of intelligent approach to a firefight. Slant Six did take a hit in producing something out of the ordinary in terms of the SOCOM franchise, but in taking a hit, they also produced one.
– AC.
Platform: PSP
Developer: Slant Six
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Released: 2007
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