As some of you might know, Gears of War 3 is my most anticipated game this year. Of course, Gears has always been Xbox exclusive and will continue to be. PS3 – while definitely not lacking in exclusives – doesn’t really have an equivalent. The Uncharted series comes to mind for a lot of people, but it doesn’t carry that heavy emphasis on multiplayer that Gears has always had. For me, Gears 2 was one of the most entertaining multiplayer games I had ever played, because it was so unique. While most shooters encourage run-and-gun tactics, here was a game that stood up for itself and remained tactical, which is encouraged when you can’t respawn after dying in a round. Respawns in other games seem like they keep people from being too careful, since it creates a “I’ll be back” mindset where death is hardly an issue. However, things like Gears’ powerful shotgun and the chainsaw bayonet also encouraged aggressive tactics. The game ended up being a mixed bag of cautious and also aggressive gameplay. This is why it was so great. If you downed some one, you felt accomplished. You wouldn’t have to worry about running into them for the rest of the round. I’m actually hoping Epic doesn’t include too many respawn-based gametypes in Gears 3 because I want more of the same with better servers and smoother gameplay.

But enough about Gears. Here’s SOCOM 4. It’s got the same style of play behind it – quick deaths mean you’ll have to rely on cover as well as your teammates to be successful. That’s the way I like to think of it, at least. A strategic military shooter.

Playing the beta though, I’m not feeling the strategy play out. Right now, because of the large amount of players on the map, and some physical similarities, SOCOM 4 feels more like 3rd-person MAG than anything, which isn’t good. The controls, visuals, icons – even the voice actors – feel so much like MAG that it’s almost awkward.

For the current beta, I was only able to play Supression and Capture, which are big team gametypes. I’m hoping later on that the 4 v 4 gametypes will be available to play, because it really does feel like 3rd-Person MAG. Not completely, but the similarities heavily outweigh the differences.

The game is fun, though. The guns are fun to shoot, and the maps are excellent – big, good looking, and like giant playgrounds. It seems like players die a little too quickly, however, especially at long range for some reason. I was able to take people out with cross-map head shots way too easily because there is almost no bullet drop. I’m hoping Zipper fine tunes this stuff, because it takes so many shots up close and so little at long range, which shouldn’t be the case. The cover system works well, although it’s a little wonky at times.

I have hope for this game. Zipper should definitely work on trying to distance it from MAG, however. When I think SOCOM, I think tactical, focused action, and that’s not what SOCOM 4 feels like.

-rav4ge