Fireteam Bravo 2 puts you in control of Sandman, the same character you played in the original title. The single player campaign has you engaging in 14 different missions, and upon completing these missions they'll branch off into new ones, which you can choose to do in any order. Just like Combined Assault, you still have to complete all the missions to finish the game, and the storyline is pretty light so it won't matter too much which order you choose to take. Each mission has a few main objectives to complete, and a few secondary optional tasks. If you choose to complete these, you can gain points in the form of equity points and local influence. You can use equity points in a few different ways, such as air strikes on a location of your choosing, and local influence will allow you to purchase weapons and items from civilians. Both of these end up being pretty useful throughout the entire game, and it's a great addition to the main campaign.

Multiplayer is once again the highlight of this title, especially on the PSP, which doesn't see nearly enough online shooter love. A lot of things remain the same, but a few new modes have been added. These all resemble typical multiplayer modes found in most console titles, such as Intel Grab (Capture the Flag), Tug of War (Control more locations on the map than your opponent), and Target (Find the Target, hold on to it for as long as you can). None of these modes are particularly new to shooter fans, but they're nice additions to the already solid multiplayer. You have 12 maps to pick from, and 7 modes to play (the three new ones plus the existing others). The game also supports up to 16 players online, and I had little to nearly no trouble finding a match and maintaining it without any lag or dropped games.

Fireteam Bravo 2 supports connectivity between the PS2's Combined Assault, much in the same way that SOCOM 3 and the first Fireteam Bravo could share data. There have been improvements made here too. Both storylines connect with each other pretty well, and certain levels are nearly identical. Because of this, if certain things you do in one title can have an effect on the other, possibly changing the content of that level. It'd be a bit nice to see some kind of notice when this occurs, so maybe you could play thru both titles at roughly the same time, but its still an improvement over the last attempt.

Graphically the game looks pretty identical to the original. The character models are pretty well designed but sparse, and the environments are varied and mix the indoor and outdoor locations pretty well. Map layout is pretty good, but linear. Sometimes you'll come across a bit of backtracking, but nothing that comes off as game breaking. The maps are a bit too big to have no checkpoints, but supplies are pretty spaced out and you shouldn't end up dying and having to restart too much. The game definitely rewards you more for taking your time and not rushing thru a level, so it's a good idea to take things slowly. Sound is pretty much as it should be, realistic gun noise, decent voice over work, and the occasional bit of forgettable music.

The only big difference in gameplay, and combat in particular, is that certain weapons have a particular range. Now you have to be much, much closer to an enemy to even target them with, say, a shotgun than you would with a rifle. I'm not sure for the reasoning behind this really, other than trying to force some kind of realism into the game. From a gameplay point of view it doesn't make much sense, as most close range weapons are already hampered on power when it comes to long range firing, but whatever. You can still cheaply target people in multiplayer that you really shouldn't be able to see, and I hope they get around to fixing that problem in the next installment.

Other than those minor quibbles, and the limitations of the hardware itself, this new PSP SOCOM shines as the version to get if you're trying to decide between this and the new console title. A few fresh additions go a long way here, and the lack of any real good shooters on the system help make this title stand out a bit more. Multiplayer gives it legs well beyond the single player campaign, and this should entertain you for quite a while.