I played SOCOM 4 both with and without Move and enjoyed it very much. Zipper uses both the Move and its “nunchuk” controller to fully replace the standard controller. The Move is how you aim, including zoom functionality. You can adjust the sensitivity of it, and if you hold the Move button while turning, you can avoid spinning the screen around whenever you reach the edge of the current screen with your reticule. That all worked rather well, and it did make aiming intuitive. I never got the feeling I was playing a lightgun game even though I was aiming just as I would with a lightgun game, and that’s a good thing.
About the only thing I didn’t like with playing SOCOM 4 with Move was the way it felt when I had to take my thumb off of the “nunchuk” analog stick to reach the d-pad so that I could give my Gold and Blue teams orders. Other than that, the Move with SOCOM 4 seemed natural and could completely change the way some people play the game.
As for the game in general, SOCOM 4 is looking great from both a presentation and gameplay perspective. They weren’t allowed to talk about multiplayer, but the single player campaign will once again have you leading a team of Navy SEALS behind enemy lines. Players can control the actions of up to two squads, the Gold and Blue teams. One team is focused on stealth and long range kills while the other is more up close and personal.
I played through an urban downtown environment which was war torn and full of hostiles. The action and pacing were great, and the AI did very well for themselves. A variety of licensed firearms are included in the game, including FN’s awesome SCAR which is currently in use in Afghanistan. Players are rewarded for sticking with the same firearm through a progression system.
SOCOM 4 is due out later this year and is looking to be a must have title for the PS3 — we hope to get a Q&A setup with Zipper well before launch.
The Fight: Lights Out was available to play at E3 and I thought it was pretty damn fun. I was impressed that the Move was able to capture the difference in speed at which I threw my punches. That was something I noticed right away. The quicker you strike, the faster the action is on screen. You can also throw elbows, backfists, and grapple the enemy into a headlock with simple commands. To backfist, just backfist — to throw an elbow instead of a fist, hold down the trigger, or T button as some devs were calling it, which is on the back side of the Move. You can even do an elbow uppercut, Van Damme Lionheart style.
Blocking is done as easily by just moving your hand in the way you want to block. It’s worth pointing out that I was asked to keep my feet planted as I played, because if I moved my feet around while playing the calibration would be thrown off.
Bottomline, I was just impressed that The Fight controlled as well as it did — it was a hoot. Of the Move launch titles, this is one I definitely plan on picking up.
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