Experience what it's like to be an Ops Commander as you lead a five-person squad in a special mission to discover what's behind the annihilation of NATO Special Forces in Southeast Asia. Continuing to raise the bar for tactical gaming, SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs introduces new ways for players to engage in combat. For the first time in franchise history, players will be able to utilize both the PlayStation Move and DualShock controllers to enable precise, tactical control over their A.I. teammates.

Control meets chaos when a SEAL team confronts a no-win situation. Thrown into an international catastrophe, the Ops Commander, Cullen Gray, attacks with expertise and tenacity. With only six days, the OpsCom must lead his team to capture a militant revolutionary aimed at destroying the world's most vital waterway and disrupting the global economy.

In select missions during the solo campaign, players take control of female South Korean 707th covert operations expert “45.” Acting as the team’s primary form of reconnaissance, 45 slinks into various locales under the cover of night to capture valuable intel and sabotage enemy operations. Armed with silenced weapons and a handy stealth meter that lets players know how visible they are to hostile forces, 45 is a sneaky badass that adds a lot to the already-intense SOCOM 4 experience.

Competitive multiplayer has always been the core of the SOCOM franchise, and SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs takes it further than ever before with modes and options that both new recruits and veterans alike will enjoy. We’ve previously covered three of our four competitive modes — Suppression, Last Defense and Uplink — and Zipper Interactive unveiled the fourth mode, Bomb Squad.

In Bomb Squad, Insurgents have planted a number of bombs around the map and the Spec Ops team must defuse them all before time runs out. What makes Bomb Squad special is that it features the unique Bomb Technician character, played by one member of the Spec Ops team, who is charged with defusing the explosives. He carries both an automatic shotgun and a mobile grenade launcher and is very heavily armored, making him a deadly force on his own; that said, the technician is still an open target any time he turns his back to defuse Insurgent bombs. Succeeding in Bomb Squad requires tactics, teamwork, patience and confidence to get the job done, all pillars of the overall SOCOM experience.

When can you get your hands on Bomb Squad, you ask? Well, you’ll be able to try out all four of the modes on two maps in our upcoming beta! The SOCOM 4 Multiplayer Beta will include each of the game’s competitive multiplayer modes — Suppression, Last Defense, Uplink and Bomb Squad — all playable on the maps “Port Authority” and “Assault & Battery”. And of course, you’ll be able to play each of our modes in either of their Standard or Classic variants.

The SOCOM 4 Multiplayer Beta will roll out in four separate phases. It’ll begin with a small, private group and then expand weekly from there until it’s freely available to everyone! Here’s the schedule for each of the beta’s rollout phases:

• On March 15th, a private beta goes live. We’ll be contacting eligible players soon.
• Beginning March 22nd, PlayStation Plus members will gain access to the beta.
• On March 29th, anyone with a beta code included with Killzone 3 gains entry.
• Starting April 5th, the beta will be freely downloadable to anyone via PlayStation Network.

The beta is scheduled to run until April 13th, at which point the servers will be taken down in preparation of SOCOM 4's retail release on April 19th!

Key Features:

• Rich cinematic experience supported by a strong contemporary narrative.
• Full PlayStation Move integration makes shooting intuitive and precise. Players can utilize weapon scope control to enable ultra-precise shots.
• Fight through 14 robust single-player missions over the course of a desperate six-day battle on the ground in Southeast Asia. 
• Dynamic enemy AI exhibit advanced squad tactics that adjust to the team's every move, ensuring that encounters are unique each time through the combat zone.
• New command system allows for quick contextual commands, enabling precise tactical control over the AI teammates. Players can additionally create their own custom maneuvers.
• Utilize real-time access to supporting air assets ranging from UAV surveillance drones to devastating aerial bombardments.
• New cover mode enables players to take defendable firing positions and allows cover barriers to be destroyed with heavy weapon fire and explosions.
• International Forces — The nationality of your character and teammates changes depending on your region.
• Active Armory — Scavenge enemy weapons to build your arsenal.
• Industry leading competitive multiplayer.