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When somebody hands me a new multiplayer game, I look for something new. Everybody pimps their 32- or 64-player team deathmatches and capture the flags, but those are standard issue. Sure, they're fun. Are they exciting? Usually not, because something's missing.
With that in mind, Zipper Interactive unveiled the last match type shipping with SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs: Bomb Squad. It's not a great new innovation that other games will emulate for years to come (like, say, Battlefield: Bad Company 2's Rush mode), but it's smartly designed, thoughtfully executed, and entertaining as all hell. Best of all, one little thing changes how players approach the entire game.
In the rear with the gear.
Essentially, mash together a Halo-esque Juggernaut with a control-points match and assign it to 16-player teams. That's your starting point. Then, to get the magic, just add a BioShockin' Big Daddy.
One player out of the 32 takes the role of a bomb-defusal technician. It's his job to defuse three bombs placed on the map while his fifteen buddies provide fire support. Meanwhile, "the bomber" is "it," and everyone on the defending team wants to tag him…with bullets. Lots and lots of bullets.
It's easier said than done. The bomber's anti-blast suit can soak up a terrific amount of lead, and going head-to-head with him is ill-advised. He's packing a big automatic shotgun, a multi-chambered grenade launcher, gas grenades, smoke grenades, foul language…you name it. When I got one in my sights, watching him turn to zero in on me as I ripped through my clip made me feel small and puny. Respawning as the bomber feels godlike.
That's right: The bomber constantly respawns. It's actually not too tough to bag a bomber — if you work together. Once the big man's down, SOCOM reassigns the role to another recently deceased player. The team protecting those bomb sites must halt multiple bombers and the 15 trigger-happy guys surrounding him for a solid 10-minute round.
Wasn't me!
So here's what happens: Everybody goes after one guy on the map. The bomber becomes the entire focus for 31 other players.
Kevin Schmitt, the lead multiplayer designer (now the senior system designer), told me Zipper Interactive's internal clan tests tend to play out with one defender spotting the bomber and calling out a location, prompting the entire team descending like a hammer. In a room full of game journalists wearing headsets and not communicating, players still hung together as a team. When I respawned as the bomber, my entire team surrounded me the second I left the safety zone. When me and another guy respawned with a brand new bomber, we stuck to him for a Hail Mary rush while everyone else provided a big, noisy distraction.
Oh, and the player who drills the bomber earns a one-shot airstrike to celebrate their victory. Nice incentive for facing down that shotgun.
Red wire, blue wire…ah, screw it!
Sure, quite a few multiplayer modes single out one guy for destruction or protection, but few do both, fewer still add an additional task to the mix. In any case, nearly all of them end up with players running off to lone wolf it. Particularly while on offense, Bomb Squad gave us a focal point to rally around and an objective that not only required teamwork, but made working together fun.
It's interesting to think how, in a 32-player arena, only one guy truly mattered. I certainly sacrificed myself numerous times to keep him going. And when I was that guy, I knew people had my back without even asking. It made me feel like part of a single, cohesive unit in ways few other multiplayer games do…and in ways they all should.