After conducting an interview with Tom Rigas, Producer on Socom 4, we found some amazing new details for the highly anticipated shooter. A game whose name is respected among the best shooters in the industry has set the bar high for it’s second release on the PS3. Zipper has answered many of the prayers from the Socom faithful. With Socom 4 the shooting genre will receive a welcomed evolution and Zipper has kept the game closed to it’s roots while still evolving it beyond all the originals.

 “we realize Socom has always been about Tatics, about Team based gameplay, and authinticy, all that’s here”say’s Producer  Tom Rigas.

Socom 4 host a number of major changes, the most welcome is undoubtedly the games new 5 player co-op, a request gamers have had for many years has finally come. The team working on the game knew that adding co-op to Socom would be no easy task; apparently they had to virtually rebuild Socom’s engine to accommodate the feature.  

Though Socom’s a game based in realism, Zipper has taken many steps to balance out the rigorous and sometimes unforgiving difficulty loyal fans have come to love. They're doing this by adding a few tweaks designed to add depth to the games strategy while increasing the overall fun factor. These new additions don’t signal an end to the games one shot kill mode  but it has brought a new feel to Socom over all.

The new and improved Socom includes, quicker smoother animations, new weapon types and loadouts. The most excited addition is the games 5 player co-op which takes Socom in a whole new direction.  When ask about Socom’s roots in realistic gameplay, and how the story will work, given Socom Confrontations online only design , this is what Tom Rigas had to say.

“We always lean towards realism but there is that balance to making realism fun. The story is a definitely art, your embedded in the environment and we don’t let you go. The Campaign is a 6 day story that unfolds in real time, we don’t break it with mission briefings or title screens, we want the player to connect with what’s happening”

These are all features that were created to make Socom a complete Next Gen Shooter experience.  One of the games most impressive new features is the new AI. A game base on tactics and having 5 player co-op requires a very rich Artificial Intelligence system, if it wants to keep up with players looking for loop holes or exploits. Zipper is committed to preserving Socom’s tactical roots and doesn’t want to just overwhelm gamers with loads of enemies to shoot at(not that there’s anything wrong with that). They have likely created one of the most advance AI systems in any game to date; here’s what they did.

Both the friendly AI and the enemy AI have been beefed up, as you play through Socom 4 the enemy AI will track your tactics and make tactical changes in real time to counter act what you do in battle. The AI in Socom 4 is so advanced it’s almost as if it’s learning as you attack. If you like to set up and attack from a flanking position, the AI will noticed that and make its own tactical changes, or use the same maneuvers against you. The enemy AI will also use suppressing fire, flanking, bounding maneuvers, along with firing from cover, to name a few.  Here’s what Tom Rigas Had to say about Socom’s AI

“” Our AI is not on a rail and it’s not scripted, you can tell your team to flank left, right or go down the middle, you’re in control. Depending on what strategy you take the enemy will adapt to you,  if you try the same strategy a second time it may not work,  you may be able to stop the enemy if you try something different “

 The only other game to feature such a rich AI happens to be another Playstation exclusive by the name of Killzone 2. As Sony opens the doors on Socom 4’s new features we will bring them to you, stay tuned.