Sony announces SOCOM 4

By Robert Purchese Published 5 March, 2010

Zipper "re-envisioning" series on PS3.

This week's "surprise Sony sequel" reveal has turned out to be SOCOM 4.

Zipper, developer of MAG and all other SOCOM games, will create - shifting the focus to South East Asia.

"Your mission is to step into the well-worn boots of the Ops Com, a NATO Operations Commander of an elite, five-man squad. You must venture deep into inhospitable jungles, city streets and crumbling urban ruins to engage an army of rebel fighters and discover their plans," read the story description on the European PlayStation blog.

"Although you’re vastly outnumbered, you’re armed with the latest weaponry and your men are second to none – but do you possess the stealth, speed and tactical thinking to lead them to victory? Time is not on your side: you have just six days to complete your mission. To emerge victorious, you must lead from the front, maintain control of the situation and fight with sheer intensity."

The post adds, "You've never played a SOCOM game like this."

Key features are "authenticity", "teamwork" and "innovative online play". Which elements of MAG Zipper decides to re-use will be interesting to see.

Head over to our SOCOM 4 gallery for the first batch of shots.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (26) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • wizlon #1 2 years ago

    Oh.... not my bag really but I'm sure a few people will be happy with that.

  • bad09 #2 2 years ago

    I knew not to get my hopes up.

  • NewbieZilla #3 2 years ago

    bad09

    Course you did. Its Sony.

  • bad09 #4 2 years ago

    @ NewbieZilla

    'ain't that the truth! :)

  • NewbieZilla #5 2 years ago

    Maybe they can make another 6/10 whopper.

  • monkeylite #6 2 years ago

    Brilliant news for the series to finally return to Zipper. No offense to Slant 6, but Confrontation was an awful mess.

  • HermitArcader #7 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:17:39 22-12-2011

  • NewbieZilla #8 2 years ago

    Vertical Stand

    You should be wanting game annoucments like them on the basis of them being quality titles, rather than a first/third party divide. As in, you are unlikely to want a shoddy title.

  • HermitArcader #9 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:17:39 22-12-2011

  • BritishBlue1 #10 2 years ago

    OH MY GOD YES! I still play Socom: Confrontation even though it's implementation sucks arse, there's no other shooter out there quite like it.

  • mcbi4kh2 #11 2 years ago

    YES! Another online FPS shooter, don't think one of them has been released for a good 5 minutes.

    /Just bitter because I wanted Starhawk

  • infoxicated #12 2 years ago

    I skipped Confrontation because it wasn't a true SOCOM sequel, but the hours I whiled away on SOCOM 2, 3, and Combined Assault - not to mention the two Fireteam Bravo titles - have come flooding back with my recent MAG addiction.

    Would really love to see not only a return of the voice recognition team orders system for single player, but the ability to play as a fireteam in multiplayer co-op. That would be sweet.

  • betahoven #13 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:36:16 17-12-2011

  • Tyranix #14 2 years ago

    Awesome, Socom 2 is still my all time favourite online experience. Giving Socom back to Zipper to develop is a great move.

  • Lee_Morris #15 2 years ago

    Hopefully they have a seperate team to keep MAG updated.

  • pickles4uk #16 2 years ago

    *sarcasm* brilliant another american military game where you shoot terrorists.

  • Beano #17 2 years ago

    MAG looked quite dull and I didn't plan on getting it - until my friend gave me a demo and I orderes it a few days later. Brilliant game! Incredible well structured with 64-256 players via squads and platoons, and runs smooth with no lag - impressive stuff!
    Just a shame allmost all online shoters these days are based in a "realistic" war setting which is dull IMO... give me more online scfi shooters in a Halo-like setting but with more players and dedicated servers+internet lines.

  • Davinnicus #18 2 years ago

    Thrilling :(

    Was hoping for Syphon Filter, especially after how they left the story on the psp versions.

  • SavageEvil #19 2 years ago

    @mcbi4h2 Socom has always been 3rd person from my experience. Damn good games to boot, except that one on PS3, horrible to play in and of itself. Glad to see zipper at the helm once again, now lets not get it too big and boisterous and keep it secret ops and low key. Memories on PS2, they are flooding back as I speak, well er....write.

  • M_of_the_sys #20 2 years ago

    But will it have jetpacks?

  • Beano #21 2 years ago

    "But will it have jetpacks? "

    No, but there are rumors about pogo sticks and nuclear powered beanie hats.

  • Murton #22 2 years ago

    Kinda hard to get excited about this, I'm sure it's going to be a great game and all but what does this mean for MAG? The recent balance patch has helped the game out no end but there's still a lot of work to do to get it perfect.

    I for one am still not happy with the piss-poor design decisions that lead to players only having one character slot and people without mics being eligible for officer's roles. If MAG is to be left at roadside as it were then at least fix those two issues first.

  • jefranklin18 #23 2 years ago

    @Vertical Stand: Zipperwith its track record could easily find third party funding for a new SOCOM game.

    Zipper are a Sony Studio so it would make sense for them (Sony) to be publishing their own material that they have paid for the development of. (http://www.zipperin t.com/company/ bottom 3rd of the page, Sony acquired them in 2006)

    I am actually looking forward to this - the first SOCOM impressed me with the subtle elements such as the "ringing" in your ears via the headset when you stood too close to a grenade going off.

  • freakzilla #24 2 years ago

    As some people on the interwebs say "HATERS GONNA HATE". SOCOM is one of the best shooters ever made, its just not a mega huge seller; most COD fans don't have the patience for a game like this.

    ALSO ZIIIIIPER.

    EDIT: SOCOM IS A TPS.
    Edited by 1 at 05/03/10 @ 15:10

  • saintedd #25 2 years ago

    @mcbi4kh2 Socom has never been a FPS.

    Really glad that zipper are back on board.Slant six made a major balls up of the last one

  • infoxicated #26 2 years ago

    You could play SOCOM as either a TPS or FPS - from TPS view you pressed the UP key to go to FPS view and again to look through your scope.