OK well I'm going to try and do it justice best I can
I've played a couple of the previous socoms but never multiplayer, only single player so I am not one of the SOCOM vets who are apparently very offended by this new version of the game.
It's pretty clear they are trying to appeal to a broader audience with this opus, all the while trying to maintain as much as they can from the original concept to please the old guard.
They have accomplished both goals with mixed results I find.
The following link will explain what game modes are available: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/03/ ... 329-to-44/
I will give you my thoughts in order of appreciation:
-Bomb Squad: My favourite by far, one team member is (randomly?) assigned as the bomb technician and has to disarm 3 bombs across the map, his team must ensure that he makes it alive through all 3. This game mode is AWESOME when teamwork is involved. The complete opposite is also true if teamwork is not.
-Uplink: Think of this one as a capture the flag but with two different spots on the map to get the flag from, a team has to acquire three data blocks to win the round, the only thing i don't enjoy about this one is that the data locations get very old after a while, it would be nice if they did not wind up in the same spot all the time.
-Scrum (Custom): This one is nice since there is no sniper action, its a good way to test out team tactics.
-Last Defense: This one needs work because the "last defense" situation is always in the exact same spot, meaning that some people will camp those zones until the last two minutes of the round and will plant charges almost immediately, meaning that the defending team often will not make it back to base in time
-Last Defense Run ‘n Gun (Custom): Same as the other one
-Sniper Alley (Custom): This one is pretty bad since more often than not EVERYONE uses shotguns, rendering the name of the game format rather silly. They should call it boomstick paradise or something.
-Suppression: Your standard deathmatch which is nothing new compared to every other shooter out there.
Being in beta, the game is still suffering from bugs that make it hard to have a final opinion about it, stuff like the online server interpreting some game actions differently than what the client does, which makes for some interesting results, like grenades bouncing back in your face.
Add to that the vitriole coming from the long time socom players who seem to be on a crusade to make this game fail miserably since it isn't catering to their every whim, and it's hard to want to pick up this game on launch day.
I would give it a couple of weeks until it drops in price and they patch things a little so that the online experience turns out to be better.
On a side note this game uses the new Sharpshooter rifle for the Move... it is pretty sweet, I'm still getting used to it but the feel is very realistic and honestly it doesn't feel too much like a gimmick.
Hope that was helpful
EDIT : as a side note I am planning to get the game at some point since it looks like it will be very cool single player and it will have 5 player coop, thats never been done before
Oh and the graphics are very nice.
, still missing the last expantion for it too 
PC is in my house, I'm in Kent.
