Socom 4 Controversial Features

I just want to comment on some of the features that have the community buzzing.

PTT: Is in Classic Mode.  Right now it is UP on the D-pad.  That is terrible because you must remove your thumb from the left analog stick, so effectively you cant move and talk at the same time.  It needs to be remapped to Circle, since circle is not used in classic mode.  This seems like an easy fix and I hope zipper listens to this because it will destroy communication otherwise.

Dual Primaries:  It wasnt a problem when we played because most people used the assault rifles.  The only time I see it being a problem is when snipers have an assault rifle as a secondary.  It sucks when you sneak up on a sniper only to have them switch to an assault rifle and kill you.  I will say that I tried to snipe about 6 rounds and I didnt get a kill with it, so I dont see a lot of people choosing to be snipers.  Also the assault rifles with scopes are very deadly, so a sniper would only be effective on a very large map.  I dont remember there being any scope wobble though.

No UCRR:  There will be User Suggested rooms that zipper will add.  This is fine with me.  I like playing the game with all the weapons and maps the way they are meant to be.  But with these we will be able to add some rooms, like "no boom" or maybe a certain list of maps.  But I like that there is a standard game that everyone will play instead of every room being different. I wont miss UCRR.


No Lobby System:  I would like there to be lobbies for unranked rooms.  I dont need them for ranked rooms because the match making works well and you can join a friends rooms, or invite them to your room.  But if you create an unranked room the only people who can join are people on your friends list.  There is no other way to find it.  But again I dont see myself ever playing an unranked game.  I like the standard setup, and dont want to modify a game much, if at all.


Enemy Tags at 2 mintues:  First off let me say that there was 5 or 6 minutes before the 2 minute warning, and all but one round we played was over before the two minutes.  I preferred the gun hot, but I wouldn't mind this feature if instead of showing the enemy name the entire time, I would like it to just show for 2 seconds every 10 seconds.  Another possibility (maybe the best and easiest) is if a red dot just showed up on the radar showing the enemy position. That way once you get to them and you are in a fire fight, you wont know exactly where they are unless you overt your eyes to the radar, which I know I would never do if I was in a fire fight.

Grenade Arc:  It seems as though they could put it in, but chose not to.  I would like to see it, at least in classic mode.  You could still get grenade kills, I had plenty.  But you had to throw the nade at the ground next to the enemy or at a wall behind the enemy.  It was extremely difficult to toss a nade over an object accurately or through a window.  I had far more team kills than I usually do, and suicides.

Camera:  This is the number one concern for me.  Its not unplayable, but it takes some of the enjoyment out of the game.  The camera is far too tight up against the character.  It feels claustrophobic and you loose where you are sometimes.  I am not looking for it to be pulled back to "classic view," but if they made it like Confrontation I would be EXTREMELY happy.  Also the ability to switch shoulders in OTS zoomed view would be a nice addition. 

Demo/Classic Modes:  Suppression IS NOT the staple of Socom.  Demolition is.  And I really hope it returns, at least in DLC.  Other classic modes would be cool too, but demo is a must and a priority.

Teamate Names:  Your teammate's names/diamonds, need to be closer to their head and always showing.  Sometimes is seemed like their names would not pop up until they were closer to the center of your view. This resulted in me shooting a few bullets into a lot of my teammates.  Also since they were so high above the heads it was sometimes hard to tell if it was over your teammate's or the enemies head.  Also I want to suggest that the clan tags do not show up over the heads, only the PSN name, just to reduce clutter.


Most Urgent Fixes in Order of Priority:
1.) Move back camera
2.) PTT remapped to Circle in Classic Mode
3.) Enemy Tag at 2 Minutes changed to red dot on Radar or Flash every 10 seconds.
4.) Teammate's names closer to head and always showing.
5.) Demolition returns to Socom
6.) Grenade Arc
7.) Lobby system for Unranked games.
8.) Pistols replace dual primaries in Classic mode.
9.) UCRR added with lobby system (not a priority for me)



Now on a positive note, here are some of my favorite things about Socom 4, mainly Classic Mode:

1.) Weapon Accuracy:  The guns are deadly accurate up to a three round burst, but become very inaccurate when you hold down the trigger.  At first I admit it was very frusterating because I was use to laying down on the trigger in Con even at mid range.  But if you go fully auto and are not withing 25 feet of the enemy you have a slim chance of hitting them.  By the end of the day I absolutely loved this.  It required skill to kill (that is a staple of Socom).  You need to control your fire at mid to long range. I felt this was more realistic and now realize how messed up Con was in this respect.

2.) The grenades worked: They may have been a little bit overpowered, but they worked.  I never saw anyone run through a nade and survive.

3.) Abandoned was absolutely amazing and the overall graphics were awesome: I also really like the map Collision.

4.)You could vote in the Lobby (and in game).

5.) They listened to us and made classic mode with: No blood splatter, No snap to cover, No health Regen, No respawn, No ranged explosives (i dont believe), Push To Talk (needs to be Circle though).


6.) Classic mode got my heart pumping like Socom use to.

7.) The number of hits to kill an enemy was Perfect:  A few less than Con I think.


8.) Clan matching system: You can create a clan party and then find another clan ready to battle with the same number of members as you.  I might just play in this all the time instead of random rooms.  I think this is brilliant because it keeps clans from taking over a room, because they can just always play wars.  At least in theory. I still dont know all the details on this, but I am very excited for it.


I know this is long but I want to talk about a couple other things that I thought I would hate but dont really mind that much:


-Weapon Upgrades using XP:  The basic weapons are still extremely effective, it does not seem like any attachments would make it much better. Also it wont take very long to get the upgrades (assuming its the same as we tested).  But I was able to get three out of the five upgrades on one gun and I didnt even use that gun the whole time.  So baiscally in one day you could easily fully upgrade a gun or three, so it is like they are all already unlocked. But it still gives you a little something to play for.

-No character customization: I wanted character customization, but I do like the characters they created, and I like the classic feel they bring to the game.  Some of the insurgent characters were actually kind intimidating. I would still support character customization.

-Snap to Cover:  If you play the respawn, which I dont think I will much, but if you are a person that enjoys respawn, the snap to cover was very well done.  I never felt stuck to the cover.  Hitting circle will unsnap you, but if you simply run away from the cover it will automatically unsnap you, so you are not really stuck to it. Since we kept jumping back and forth between respawn and round based games I found myself hitting the circle button trying to snap to cover in classic mode.  There were certain situations where I felt like snap to cover would benefit me, but it was rare.  I never felt like the opponent had an advantage when they were snapped to cover.

-Knifing: The knifing was a little easier than Con but not as easy as COD.  I liked it.


Overall I am quite excited for Socom 4.  I hope they tweak some of these things before the release.  It is a good game now and really has the potential to be a great game if they would just make some little adjustments.  I will be getting this game, and want to play it so bad right now.