Well, it's back. After less than a year from the release of SOCOM: US Navy Seals in June 2003, the flagship game for Sony's Online gaming service, those crazy, trigger-happy SEALS return once again for the latest instalment of all-American terrorist bashing.

Now, people may pass this off as some cheap update, like EA so love to release every year, simply tweaking the graphics a bit, ironing out last year's bugs and glitches, and making a few new ones. If you were on the gaming planet last year, and in were possession of a PS2 and a broadband connection, chances were that you'd have come across SOCOM at one point or another. It offered what console games had, until recently, not been able to give-online player interaction, including streaming dialogue between them, and despite problems towards the end of the game's lifespan, provided many, many hours of gaming, extending the lifespan of what would otherwise have been regarded as another samey third person team-based shooter.

   

So, what's new for this one, I hear you say? Well, let's start with the online mode, as I know that's what most of you will end up mainly playing (as I have). Most of the problems of SOCOM have been ironed out, from simple things like not having to wait at the loading screen for one bloke to come back from the loo, to the creation of a new login system, which requires you to log in using your central station name. This means that Sony can trace any cheaters, or glitchers back to their ID, and promptly ban them. The old maps from SOCOM have been carried over, with a few changes made to them, to go with a new set of maps that have been created to show off the new set of game modes that they've thought up. These include escort missions, as well as breach modes, where the seals have to blow up an enemy stronghold, gaining access by exploiting several handy breach points. The grenade launcher joins the armoury, to go with anti-personnel mines, and a silenced weapon for the terrorists.

   

The graphics have also had a tweak, with the SEALS moving more convincingly, the addition of a lot more fancy shrubbery to hide in, and an improvement with the fogging, which was a problem with the original maps. In terms of the online mode, it seems to be more of the same, with added extras to keep people interested, but as the old saying goes, "if it 'aint broke…"

   

When it comes to the offline mode, Zipper have tried to make an effort to get people to play this, rather than just the online mode. This comes in the form of an extra character skin for both the terrorists and the SEALS, which become unlocked when you complete the single player missions. There are more missions than last time, with some true choice moments - do you run in guns blazing, pummelling anyone that gets in your way, like a true American, or do you whack out the silencer and sneak your way in? The improved graphics are put to much better use in the single player missions, but still leave a little to be desired, with fairly basic enemy characters, and quite flat-looking 2D scenery at times. Even with the added novelty of being able to order your people around using the fancy new headset (complete with useless mute button and cool blue light), more missions and unlockable skins, it still isn't enough to keep me playing, as after the first few missions, it all became a bit samey. But then again, that's not why most people will buy the game, so not to worry!

In short, SOCOM 2 is essentially more of the same, but with more than 3000 people playing online on the first day of release, that can't really be a bad thing.