Mood:  sharp

Well, I said I'd update about weapons, so here goes.


The weapons are actually a bit toned down from the sheer number of weapons from 2, but that's a good thing, trust me. Most weapons can be heavily modified, with scopes, silencers, lasers, all sorts of goodies.

Seals
The seals have all the usual goodies, M4, M16, M87, etc. New weapons of importance are the M8(which is that new rifle on the cover of Ghost Recon 2) and The HK35, kinda like the old HK models. The best thing about the M8 (and i think the M4 can equip this as well) is the Airbust grenades. Airbust grenades work like an M203 attatchment, except you hold down R1 to lock in the distance (which is displayed to the right of the reticle). Then hit R1 again to fire, the grenade will blow up at that distance. So, if there's a guy hiding behind a wall or hill, lock on to the wall, aim just above it, and blam-o, he's dead. Because of the large maps, M203's don't seem terribly overpowered, and it feels like their range and accuracy have been brought way down.

Terrorists

Terrorists really cleaned house. No more AK74 (There's an AKT74, which is more like an m60 than an AK), No more standard MGL's. They now have a new gun, i forget the name, but it looks and feels like the AK-105. The 552 finally feels exactly like the M4, there's no more disputing this. RPG's (and AT4's) can now be equipped while you move, which is a big deal because you can now sneak up over a hill, fire it, and retreat. You move extremely slowly while carrying RPG's though.
The Terrorist arsenal feels more balanced; I think zipper finally has the balancing issues of the weapons down pretty well.

Combined Weapons

Both sides Have Shotguns, nothing really notable except they have both pump and auto shotguns. The nice thing about them is that they can be equipped with a front handle grip which allows for less kick.
The M16 is available again for both sides, and in the beta it really dominates. It can be equipped with high powered scopes (Thermal and 10x), AND silencers, and is good at long range. Both sides also have the standard Machine guns, like the M60. I always hated those, but like the shotguns, they can be equipped to at least control some of the kick now.

Add-ons

Ahh, the best part. About 75% of the weapons can be equipped with Scopes and Silencers. The other, more heavy duty ones, can at least attatch handle grips.
Heres a full run down on the add-ons, as best as i can remember:

Scopes - Small, Medium, Large, Thermal. Thermal is a must for night maps, and combined with night vision (which you have by default, and is turned on with R2 now), really makes for an awesome night time set up.


Other Scopes - 4x scope (like what was on the M4 in socom 2). Red dot scope, which gives you like 2x and a red dot in the middle (kinda useless).

Laser Beam - The description for this says it adds accuracy, but I think it also creates that red reticle effect when you highlight and enemy from a bit further away.

Front Handle Grip - Greatly improves accuracy, even while running. If you never use scopes, equipping this and a silencer is quite nice.

Silencers - Small and Large. The small one allows for more power but less accuracy at range, the large one allows for more accuracy but less power at range. If a gun can equip one silencer, it can equip the other as well.

MGL's - There are 2 types of MGL, and an Airbust attatchment. Standard stuff, except aiming it seems a bit more difficult this time around.

All weapons can have just 2 attatchments, and pistols can have 1 (I dont seem to use pistols nearly as much now). My Favorites so far have been a silencer and a handle grip for combat, and a silencer and scope for ranged/night combat.

Next update will be about The map, and I'll probably do one more about the community features.
Post questions about weapons in the comment section below, i will answer within the comment section.

Mood:  on fire

Wow. So, After reading this, if you all have any questions, you can post comments and I will try to answer them. I'm not going to go into details about weapons or game modes just yet, this first update is mainly in regard to just how everything seems at first. Keep in mind that this is a beta, and when i point out a glitch I'll let you know whether i think its a beta glitch or something more. First up, the interface. Much smoother. Theres like 5 tabs, one for servers, one for clan, one for stats, one for community, and one for options. The options and servers are pretty self explanatory. Stats is as comprehensive as ever, and now by the way its easy to tell whether you are in a ranked room, because it says so in the room info section. The clan interface allows you to check and join clan mates directly from this menu, a very nice feature. It also allows you to post messages, which is nice as well. The biggest, and by far the best, new feature is the community tab. This tab has forums, feedback, and other features unlike anything I've ever seen in an online game. Theres general discussions, clan forums, game issues, and a special forum (which may just be for the beta) that is designed to send feedback or report bugs to zipper. This is all done from within the game, which really has to be played with to be truly appriciated.

Gameplay

Imagine....Socom 1 hit detetion, Socom 2 design, and a host of whole new features thrown in to boot. I was worried that 32 people would make things difficult, but some basic rule changes have helped to make 32 players more fair. For example, at the end of a suppression round, whichever team has more members alive wins the round, no draw unless each team has the same number of people. Vehicles are also not that big of a deal, the turrets ARE nasty, and will tear people up, but foot soldiers can easily find cover, or move in (thats right MOVE) with an RPG and take out the vehicle. You move slowly while carrying an RPG, but you dont reset to your gun anymore either. Hit detection, even in the beta (Socom 2's beta hit detection was worse that the final copy, fyi) is spot on. You shoot, they die. Headshots kill people. Speaking of headshots, heres a quick little weapon note: Certain sniper rifles can be equipped with huge scopes AND silencers, a great thing for snipers.
I also got to play a round in the dark. At first, it seems like shadow falls, but the night vision is amazing, and you can now seamlessly go into a scoped thermal vision (If you equip it, and like 75% of the guns do support the thermal scope), and hit R2 to change into night vision. Its very cool. Driving vehicles is somewhat similar to halo, all control is done with the analog sticks, which i suck at. Also, if you arent driving you can hold down square and hit up or down to change positions, so if you're riding shotgun and begawk gets killed while on the turret, you can take his position.
Be sure to check back in a couple of days for info on Guns, the beta map, the new gameplay modes, and anything else i can think of!