EDITED: SOCOM 4 works as a standard shooter, but ignoring the fanbase that made SOCOM famous is a problem.
EDIT: The online suffers quite a bit from forgetting how SOCOM was supposed to play. I jumped the gun a bit in my review and reacted under a very short period of time of testing. SOCOM 4 is still serviceable, but the complete and utter lack of attention to past SOCOM requirements (lean, for example) and the ramrodding of "classic" online play pains me. This multiplayer outing hurts, quite a bit. There is a lot missing from SOCOM 4, particularly, recoil OUTSIDE of zoomed in shooting. In my original review, I did not notice the lack of recoil because I was almost always scoped, where there is substantial recoil. OTS camera gunfire has no recoil.
Furthermore, much of what was essential to SOCOM is completely missing from the multiplayer game. Most of the entire multiplayer experience has been removed for the sake of respawn. "Classic" mode is a shell of what it should be. That said, implementations to attempt to bring it back to its former glory have already been set in place or are in progress.
Sadly, Confrontation had better online play than this because it tried to stay true to the old games. SOCOM 4 is a generic shooter that was a fart in the face to SOCOM fans. My excitement guided my original review, which sadly was a mistake on my part, most of which was spent in the Single player campaign (and the fact that there WAS a campaign), which was entertaining, but not fully representative of what this game offered. As such, my review has taken a substantial drop in score. Online play of the SOCOM series gave it staying power, Zipper kicked any of the possibility for staying power it had in the balls, and Sony taking a dump on the PSN servers sealed the deal. No pun intended.
The game is still an alright shooter, and it's still fun, but the online just doesn't feel like SOCOM, and the more I play it, the more it reminds me that...
---Original Review----
I really don't understand half of the negatives that gamespot was commenting on during the review. For as much as they raved about a lot of the things that SOCOM had going, they seemed very critical on things they have been very loose on grading other similar shooters on (Black Ops, anyone?)
First things first, if you're a SOCOM vet, this game will put you right back in the feel you know and love. The gunplay is right where it needs to be. Recoil acts in all directions (not just up and down) so that firing will "jumble" your reticle, making burst fire very important. You can drop an enemy in a couple shots, and bullets actually seem to have stopping power.
So many modern shooters forget that it doesn't take a magazine to put someone down, and SOCOM remembers that its a tactical shooter and that bullets hurt. Your character has the same "sit back and heal" gameplay, but a few bullets can put him down, especially on harder difficulties. If you think you can turn a corner and charge three enemies, you're going to find out just how wrong you truly are.
Adding cover to the game is an interesting addition, but I like that they have given an option to turn it off online. Part of the greatness of gunfights in SOCOM was "making your own cover." Snap-to cover based systems are... alright.
The storyline is your generic military jumble that serves to get you from gunfight to gunfight, and the stealth sections are a refreshing change of pace. They are really fun and gamespot hits it on the head with Forty-Five's character being amazing. The graphics are pretty damn impressive, and characters getting shot and falling over actually look realistic and quality. Animations are sound. Visually the game is pretty damn good.
That's not to say there aren't problems with the game, as with any online game at launch, there are some hiccups, but nothing too major, and the story is a little derivative for my tastes. Voice acting is good, but the characters aren't developed hardly at all, and it makes them a little boring. The camera has been changed, and it tends to hug the back of a character's head, then slowly zoom back out. But, it serves its purpose much better than in previous outings, and entering first person to aim works as it should. I still wish it had an option for "classic camera" but it's about as close to classic camera as you can get.
All in all, SOCOM 4 is the SOCOM the PS3 needed. If you have played any SOCOM before and liked it, you need this game. If you're looking for your typical drool dispensing arcadey shooter, however, this is not for you.
This is not a 8 year old's short attention span shooter. Tactical gunplay, smart firing, and wise decisions are required to get by, and it makes it for a much deeper shooter that is the closest thing you're going to get on the consoles to a simulator.