SOCOM: Special Forces reviewed on PlayStation 3 by Allan Walsh. Game supplied for review by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Third person tactical shooters; love them or hate them, they have been around for quite some time and will be here long after our bullet-ridden corpses have been zipped up in black plastic and shipped off home to the family. Although I doubt the soldiers of SOCOM:SF have any loved ones given their less than cheery outlook on their fellow human beings; their motto seems to be if it moves, shoot it, then kick it a bit just to make sure.

This is a very explosive game that starts as it means to go on. Lots of gunfire and, um, explosions. All wrapped up in Hollywood style music to stir the trained killer in us all.

The story sees you sent into a country in the middle of a coup. It needs to be stopped of course because if not then something bad (and suitably dramatic) will happen and people will suffer. Oh the humanity! Okay, so the story isn't going to win any awards (it's actually not bad), but that's not why we buy shooters. We buy them to shoot things. Lots of things. With big guns. SOCOM:SF has lots of guns and even more people to shoot them with.

Shooting the enemy is easy but killing them seems a bit more difficult when they absorb bullets like a certain brand of kitchen towel sucks up spillages whilst you, on the other hand, haemorrhage from someone shouting "bang". Your team mates suffer just as much though so you don't feel quite so weak and ineffectual. This game is brutally difficult in places, on a par with Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (the PC version) when you find yourself peeking around corners and losing your much loved cranium.

That's what I like about it though. If you make a mistake it's entirely possible and altogether probable that it will be your last, creating a constant state of unease and forcing you into checking your six on a regular basis. Gunfights can start off to plan with well thought out tactics applied to perfection, your squad placed just so, to create a murderous crossfire, but often things go pear shaped and an all out mayhem-filled fight to the death ensues. The AI, whilst simplistic when coming at you en mass, use all of their weapons with great skill and deadly accuracy using superior numbers and firepower to overrun your position or cause you to make a strategic withdrawal, so remembering safe points to fall back to needs to become second nature.

It's not all run and gun gameplay though. Stealth sections change the pace throughout and take a steady nerve and quick trigger finger for those one shot silent takedowns needed to prevent hoards of incensed soldiers rushing to the location of your failed assassination attempt. Creeping around in the dark, listening to the inane chatter of your oblivious next victim is always a treat when it works out, but as with the main body of the game, the stealth mechanics can be unforgiving and a little frustrating. This is mainly due to the sometimes unwieldy camera system leaving you facing the wrong direction at times, but doesn't in any way ruin things overall. It just takes a bit of getting used to.

The graphics are mostly top notch, with a nice variety of scenery, from jungle, shipyards and World War II style bunkers to war torn cities and fishing villages. It all looks suitably polished and the constant changes both in graphical content and game style keep things fresh.

The music is loud and atmospheric, matching the gunplay and screaming hoards perfectly. Enemy soldiers call out to one another for help or taunt you with comments about your fighting prowess whilst the gunfire and explosions cut through the singing birds and chirping insects, sending chunks of stone and other shrapnel bouncing around the immediate area. The game characters are also voiced realistically instead of the usual gung-ho types associated with this genre which is a nice change. They really do seem human on occasion and even though they swear quite a bit it seems to be at the times where it suits the events of the moment.

The game is also Move compatible but apart from trying it out for the sake of curiosity, most people will stick with the trusty six-axis controller.

Multiplayer is a simple enough affair, co-op with maps from the single player game where the whole squad is made up from other players, to team deathmatch: a blast a second - literally. The former was by far my favourite, especially when the host of the map sets it up to have the maximum number of enemy on the hardest setting. It really stretches the players' ability to work as a team and consists of using your headset (should you have one) to shout the immortal line "someone heal me, I'm down, again" since if your team don't come back for you the odds against them surviving are lengthened by a fair margin.

SOCOM: Special Forces has turned out to be a thrilling, tense ride with a single player experience just long enough to stop you feeling cheated and a solid, adrenaline fuelled, well designed multiplayer experience that will keep you online for quite some time. It's not perfect but it's a shot in the right direction.