For many fans of the original SOCOM series you'll be glad to hear that we know have some information about the upcoming title Zipper Interactive SOCOM 4. This time it looks like they plan to take the single player campaign a step up from the first three games and make it much more enjoyable this time around. Apparently a militant revolutionary has taken control of a South Asian country and it's up to you and your squad of five elite soldiers to stop them. The single-player experience will take place you through many different environments including jungle and urban environments.
The new main character’s name hasn’t been given yet but they seem to call him Ops Commander, with his team Schweitzer, Wells, Chung and Forty-five (her real name still a mystery). The story expands over six days where this NATO squad will be fighting for their lives against the military group named Naga. Zipper Interactive is trying to amp up the enemy AI in this new installment, so then how will you be able to handle enemies who flank you, you suppression fire and actually work together? Simple, you have to work with your teammate as well. Which is why, they’re introducing a new way to give commands by using the analog stick. All you have to do is push a button and move the analog stick in a certain direction and just gave your team an order, it’s as easy as that. So none of that, going through tons of menus to issue one command, which takes you out of the action, or trying to use an unresponsive voice command.
With the new emphasis on the campaign this time around I’m curious see how well it holds up to other games such as the Call of Duty series or the new Battlefield Bad Company game that just came out not to long ago. Delivering a good story and intense moments can be a hard thing to accomplish, the player should always leave satisfied but wanting more. That's how you know you made a great experience when the player doesn't want to take his hand away from the controller, but people who played SOCOM before know that they aren't playing this game to play alone.
No they want an epic multiplayer experience, something SOCOM is known for. Surprisingly though, they haven’t given really any detail other than it will support 32 players online and will be a new experience. What that means for the multiplayer is something we don’t know but fans of the SOCOM series shouldn’t be worried all this means is that their trying to grab a broader audience this time around. People who played SOCOM before know what they want and what to expect from this game and Zipper Interactive knows that. They’re just trying to make people see that the single-player campaign is worth playing this time around.
SOCOM 4 is headed to shelves sometime in Q3 of 2010 for the PS3 so it won’t be too long before your back in the action. Make sure to check back here at Player Affinity for more information about SOCOM 4 as we get it.
