I remember Beta testing Xbox Live, playing countless hours of MechAssault, with that little PS2 modem and playing lots and lots of SOCOM. Those were the early days when online console gaming was still a twinkle in everyone’s eye and not everyone was out to spoil the experience.

The funny thing about memories is they’re hard to live up to—as our expectations are often higher than what can possibly be delivered. SOCOM Confrontation is sort of like that and your general view of the series will play a factor in your enjoyment of this latest installment.

Confrontation is an online only game, which is fine because the online community dedicated to it is huge and after the first game the online portion was the only thing that kept the series fresh. The retail package includes the official SOCOM Bluetooth headset and charger which is pretty darn slick. You can also download the game off of PSN for a cheaper price which is another nice touch. However, online games need to work and play generally lag free. SOCOM failed, at least initially, to meet that demand.

My first week I could barely get on a server and when I did get online lag was terrible. The game was also ripe with bugs; imagine playing a sniper and not being able to hit what was in your crosshairs. Several weeks later and a few hefty patches and we’re up and running much better, but with no single player to fall back on it’s pretty inexcusable.

The game comes with seven maps, three are reworked from past versions and four are brand new. The maps are very well done and one of the things I’ve always loved about the series is that the maps are really tuned to create nice areas for firefights while giving snipers and stealth players ways to slink into the background.