A sniper rifle, a half dozen grenades, SOCOM 4, and you

The really surprising thing about SOCOM 4 is that although it looks bog standard, it manages to find its own niche. It’s no Mag, and it’s no Killzone 3, and it’s no Brink, and it’s no Call of Duty. Here’s the single player review and here’s the multiplayer review. Overall, I’d give it a thumbs up.

(As a side note that doesn’t really have anything to do with the quality of the game, I’ve heard some of the most vile online conversations while playing SOCOM 4. I don’t pretend to have any insight into the game’s player community as a whole, and it’s entirely possible my experience wasn’t typical. But on separate occasions, the conversations I heard about military matters, politics, race and religion went well beyond the usual trash talk. Stuff about Obama, and what we should do in Afghanistan, and how Muslims are. Does the SOCOM series appeal to a certain type of player, or have I just not been playing military shooters online enough to hear these types of conversations? It’s enough to make me long for the days before anyone on the Playstation Network had a Bluetooth headset.)