"SOCOM 4" is out on April 19, the first PlayStation 3 entry in the series developed by the franchise's creator, Zipper Interactive. As is often the case with online-focused games these days, there will be a public beta in which fans will get an early taste of what is to come while Zipper stress tests the game's online play component. Today Sony revealed the details of the beta, a four-phase rollout that culminates in the April 5 wide-release for all PlayStation Network members.
The "SOCOM 4" beta's extended release launches on March 15 with a private beta, with eligible players being contacted directly by Sony. That will be followed a week later on March 22 with access for PlayStation Plus members and then the week after that, on March 29, for those who have a beta code from their "Killzone 3" purchase.
The final, wide release launches on April 5, when the beta will be made available for download via the PlayStation Network for all users. It will continue from then on until April 13, just a few days short of the final game's release. There will be two maps -- "Port Authority" and "Assault & Battery" -- available in both Standard and Classic variants, and four competitive play modes: Suppression, Last Defense, Uplink and Bomb Squad, the last of which is detailed in a new post on PlayStation Blog.
In Bomb Squad, Insurgents must defend several bombs planted around the maps while Spec Ops forces must move to defuse them before time runs out. In a twist, there is a mode-specific character class, Bomb Technician (think the armor-suited guys from "The Hurt Locker" and "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2"), which is the only one capable of disarming the bombs.
The Spec Ops team gets just one of these guys, so the Insurgents will have to focus their fire on him to ensure that the bombs remain armed. The Bomb Technician is a sort of super-class, heavily armored and armed with an automatic shotgun and a grenade launcher.