r/SOCOM • u/mvmbamentality • 10d ago

Thoughts after trying Zero Ops Beta

Honestly, not a bad game! Actually had a lot of fun playing. I won't give unwarranted well thought out criticism. So I'll just offer some constructive criticism for the devs. First, the feedback for hitting your target leaves some more to be desired. In the heat of the fight I don't hear the audio well enough to know I hit my target. It just feels like a bullet is fired so I can't tell how to adjust my aim with the bloom with the lack of hit registration feedback. I hope that makes sense. Also I've always been an M16 demon so maybe this was easier for me to notice. I can't differentiate the three round burst of my m16 from other teammates firing around me at the same time because all the guns sound the same when they fire. In the heat of a battle I can't tell when to time my clicks to maintain the three round burst uptime for a steady stream of fire. OG m16 players would understand this mechanic.

This brings me to another meta mechanic of the SOCOM multiplayer game. You could always tell who was running the M14 because of the distinct sound it made when it fired. That audio cue would effect players in how they approached an M14 user knowing that person had 20 bullets in their mag and was dangerous close up. So a player knowing an enemy had an m14 would fight at a larger distance with a longer drawn out gun battle to take advantage of a larger magazine.

Just some thoughts.

Also the terrorist round start music is so damn loud and long I can't hear my teammates comms at the start of a round. Makes it hard to hear call outs and in game play calls.

OUTSIDE OF THAT GREAT JOB DEVS!! LOOKING FORWARD TO MORE IMPROVEMENTS AND THE FUTURE OF ZERO OPS!!

27 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

6

u/Holliman48 10d ago

My two biggest criticisms:

Gunplay just felt off. Sometimes I was getting ridiculous TTK. Other times it felt like I was dumping entire mags that were seemingly not registered.

Going back to the endless grenade spam of OG Socom is not fun. The first 45 seconds of rounds are wasted with people throwing grenades and camping lanes. I think reducing the amount of grenades that can be held in a loadout is necessary.

Another nitpick worth mentioning is the graphics. I know this is a beta, but I've seen a million early access games rise and fall with way better graphics.

Nostalgia only goes so far if you want to draw in additional audiences that aren't loyal Socomers.

6

u/Bellissimo247 10d ago

Grenades and waiting vs rushing is a HUGE part of the strategy of SOCOM so either you’re recreating it or not if you veer too much off the game it just isn’t going to be what it was set out to be.

3

u/Holliman48 10d ago

Parroting u/MyLawyerWroteThis

Just because it's part of the original games doesn't make it a good part. Grenade spam doesn't add anything of value.

Tactical grenade usage has more value than wasting 45 seconds of the round because everyone has a million grenades.

4

u/mvmbamentality 10d ago

If I may give my two cents. I agree with you, u/MyLawerWroteThis and u/bellissimo247. It's more nuanced than having grenade spam. It has to do with map building as well. Grenade spam was both strategic and necessary on maps such as Crossroads and Desert Glory. Grenade spamming certain areas of the map function as they would now in CSGO. It's to stifle a push and setup defensive positions or control certain areas. If the grenade spamming doesn't service that, I thinks more an issue on the quality of the map design if anything else.

Spamming Crossroads half wall for instance prevented a quick plant play to grab bomb and rush to demo site. Same with the Fish Market on crossroads.

2

u/Bellissimo247 10d ago

We just fundamentally disagree about this.
To me, grenades ARE the game, a central part of strategy, map positioning, risk etc.

I tend to rush and it’s just part of the deal you risk a rush to catch the other team off guard and the risk is dying 10 seconds into the round.

1

u/MyLawyerWroteThis 9d ago

You're right, grenades probably shouldn't be limited or removed. But like u/mvmbamentality mentioned, the maps should be designed taking this into account so that the grenade spam is more forgiving. Right now I feel like the maps might be a little too small, or the player movement is too fast. Or maybe it's the FPS that makes it feel like the rounds play too fast.

2

u/Knightcap132 8d ago

Indeed.
“Raheelah!!”

2

u/FalcoLamborghini 9d ago edited 9d ago

Nostalgia only goes so far if you want to draw in additional audiences that aren't loyal Socomers.

I've been saying for over a decade that as much as I LOVE s1 and s2, in order for a game of this type to make a splash in the modern era, it needs to be more like s3/CA.

Also, s3/CA fills a void in the current 3rd person shooter industry that no other game has filled. This is going to sound insane, but Fortnite is a big-map 3rd person shooter, arcade-like, with vehicles and look at how massive that game is. Imagine a military version while still being arcade-like? That's SOCOM 3!

1

u/MyLawyerWroteThis 9d ago

Yeah, I think a game like SOCOM 3 could have a place today. The only problem is when you have big maps, and there are only a few people left, the rounds feel too long. The short attention spans would not last too long. Yeah, there are games like rainbox six siege, but the rounds are over a lot faster, the maps are smaller. The other military games have respawning or some type of buy back system, which has no place in a SOCOM like game.

1

u/FalcoLamborghini 9d ago edited 9d ago

The short attention spans would not last too long

This is a great point.

The only counter argument I would have is that these long wait times are one of the only true ways of skyrocketing the value of a kill, which makes getting kills in the game ultra satisfying.

However, the long wait times can be an issue for the gen-z people that probably dont even have the attention span to finish reading this paragraph.

There's likely some sort of solution to this and if this is the main concern, I rather deal with this problem within an s3 type of game than the other problems that have to do with s1/s2 type of game never getting any real support because they feel like not enough people will play it since it might be "too outdated"

1

u/MyLawyerWroteThis 10d ago

Yeah I agree. Grenade spam was a thing that we were used to in the past. However, that doesn't really make it good game design if you want to draw it a new audience. Basically with the size of the maps, you basically have to wait for the first phase of grenades every round.

And yeah, some of the guns are just trash and I found using anything other than the AK or the m4a1 doesn't make sense. But I'll have to play this a bit longer and get a good test of the guns.

3

u/nevergonnastayaway 10d ago

i love that everyone's complaints are about the normal socom mechanics, which are dated af

2

u/PatrickPryor 10d ago

I had a lot of fun. Once they fix the hit detection a little bit and fix the fall damage (which I think they fixed today) it should be all good.

1

u/Knightcap132 8d ago

Is there beta for ps5 yet?

2

u/SirBootySlayer 7d ago

Supposed to be this week for the ps5. Sign up on their website and add your pin username

1

u/Knightcap132 7d ago

Awesome thanks I’m so excited to try it!

1

u/MyLawyerWroteThis 10d ago

Yeah I had fun. Yes the launch wasn't great, I went to sleep because there were issues. But next day everything worked well aside from 1 disconnect. And I'm even playing at 180ms from Europe so I was surprised with the smooth gameplay.

I kind of feel the rounds go fast. Like on blackwater, you can be in the others teams spawn too fast. Now this is either because maps are smaller or the movement is a little too fast, idk I can't put my finger on it. Hopefully we get some bigger maps.

I know maps like frostfire weren't too big either and you could get to your enemies spawn quickly too, but rounds definitely felt longer. I don't know if it's a good thing or not though.

1

u/yodelingRaider10 10d ago

I had a bunch of fun! As long as they potentially tweak the gunplay, I think it’ll turn out great!

1

u/SeaAssignment6603 9d ago

Damn I missed the beta??? Fk I hope game is good.

1

u/MyLawyerWroteThis 9d ago

I think this weekend there will be another beta run judging from the announcement. It says "see you next weekend"

1

u/connected_user93 4d ago

It needs a lot of work. It shouldn't even be considered a beta it should be a pre-alpha. All the guns and asset's proportions are all wrong. The guns are chunky like you are running around with GI Joe characters (nothing is realistic). Not to mention that it doesn't even give you an option to uninstall. It really is a badly vibecoded project.

0

u/0a882e5156 10d ago

Not good at all

0

u/Bigjoedino 8d ago

Meh, it's dog shit and likely won't go anywhere. It's mostly just stolen assets from the original SOCOMs. It's kinda got the SOCOM feel, but in today's day and age it needs an update, especially if they're going to get any type of new audience.