SOCOM 4 Unveiled! Your Questions Answered

The real reason we’re here is to talk about SOCOM 4 multiplayer. SOCOM 4 features both 5-player cooperative as well as 32-player competitive mode. Today we’re primarially focusing on the competitive mode.

Going back to those core values of SOCOM. SOCOM is the most team-focued online shooter out there. In many ways it can be looked at like a team sport, where every individual is filling a role, only in this case the weapons and the gear you bring to the battle dictate that role.

Here’s some actual gameplay footage of the multiplayer game

All the objectives feature competitive and co-op center around that team-based play. Getting someone to watch your back while you go for the mission objective is really key to this mode of online play.

That all boils down to memorible moments, and I think this is the key element of SOCOM 4 multiplayer. Running around out in the open shooting guys can be fun but it’s that team collaboration, working with friends and that ad-hoc strategy that really creates those adrenaline-filled moments that you’ll be talking about days later. In particular, close-calls, sacrifice, or the perfect tactic. SOCOM 4 lets you create your own war stories that you can share with your friends. Some of the developers still talk about some of the best battles they’ve ever played from months ago, and that team play is what makes it possible.

Last Defense multplay mode

One of the new modes is called “Last Defense”. In this particular game mode, each team controls key points in the middle of the map marked as A, B, and C, which are represented visually in the level as small satellite dishes. If a team is able to capture all three of those points, it will triangulate the location of the enemy base and give your team a 2-minute time chance to conduct an air-strike on the base and destroy it.

The attacking team is going to group together to go in and find those beacons. As a defending team you’re going to hear guys yelling on the radio to fall back, and you have a desperate last stand at the objective point to try and hold them back during that 2-minute window. If the defending team is able to hold them back, then all three control points will reset.

Authenticity

SOCOM has always been known as one of the more authentic console shooters out there. We’re definitely continuing that with SOCOM 4. Starting with the fact that we reward tactical play. Guys that run out in the open all willy-nilly are going to get gunned down pretty quick. In SOCOM we really encourage you to levereage the environment, just like a real soldier would, using the cover system, vegetitation, time and shadows to try and get that competitive edge.

Soldiers in real life are adaptive. We have introduced environmental destruction, which means that the cover you have now may not exist in a few minutes. An enemy RPG or grenade could come in and literally blow your cover. This also brings the immersive qualities of the game up a notch.

Great attention to detail has always been key to SOCOM. This is particularly true with weapons and making sure they look realistic, but also making sure the environments look as realistic as possible.

Innovation

Zipper has always been on the cutting edge of new technology, particularly when you talk about the SOCOM franchise. SOCOM 4 supports the Playstation Move and the new SharpShooter game peripheral. Ever since we got our hands on Playstation Move we were very excited because we think SOCOM is a great example of how a serious shooter can work with motion control.

People who have tried this new way of playing are all asking “When can I hold it like a gun?”. We took that feedback and worked with Gorilla Games to co-develop this SharpShooter Gun peripheral and it’s designed specifically for games like SOCOM and Killzone. During the design phase we made sure it had a reload button, fire mode switch and all the other things we know SOCOM players will really appreciate.

SOCOM 4 also features next-generation implementation of 3d. This means that the game can be displayed at full resolution at full performance. When you combine 3d along with the Playstation Move and SharpShooter gun accessory then you are getting as close to the combat as possible in any sort of game.

Replayability

Users suggested custom playlists in multiplayer games. We have a lot of custom options that players can switch and define their own private multplayer games. We can then take feedback from the community and host our own ranked matches. You can play “shotguns only” “faster movement”, “additional damage” and “no respawn” just to name a few examples. That way we can really keep the online play fresh and really engaging the online community.

To summarize competitive multiplayer: 32-player online combat. We have 14 focused game modes, including suppression (basically the SOCOM version of “Team Deathmatch”). We have an Uplink mode in which each team takes turns trying to infiltrate the enemy base to obtain valuable data and return it to their own base, like “Capture the Flag”. I walked you through “Last Defense”, and we still have one more game mode that’s still classified and will be unveiled at a later date.

SOCOM 4 features 9 all-new maps which were designed from the ground up specifically for SOCOM 4 multiplayer plus we have one additional classic map, called “Abandoned” which is available if you pre-order the game through GameStop.

On the next page we get our questions answered by the Lead Designer…