Summary
Controversy or not, SOF is one kickass action game.
The Good
Soldier of Fortune's most famoust achievement comes courtesy of the reworkings Raven did to the Quake 2 engine by adding it the Ghoul hit-detection thingie, as a result of it you don't just kill enemies by just blasting in their general direction, but you can hit them in any of their 20 isolated areas to trigger a realistic response and get a realistically modeled graphic effect. Previous shooters had us used to making the heads a more sensitive hit-area, but that's as far as it went, now with SOF you can remove someone's legs and leave him crawling around, shoot an enemy in their funny bone and see how they get pissed off, or just blow a hole (and yes, I do mean a hole) through their skull or stomach so you see some guts (and I do mean guts, like intestines and stuff) fly around.... These hit areas provide some interesting strategic oportunities, but in the end the feature's there mainly for the adrenalin rush and ego-satisfaction factor of just really, really, REALLY messing up someone's anatomy with firearms. Thank god for technology, eh?
However all fears are put aside once one realises SOF thankfully never merges the bloody and gory gimmicks with it's action-oriented Robotron-like gameplay. Wisely (at least for me) Raven went with the Old school FPS concept, and while there's a plot an scripted sequences just like in everything after Half-Life, this is an action-fest with little to no brains in it. Like the previous reviewer mentioned, this is a very "Chuck Norris" game, you know, captain steroid saves the world, restores democracy and kicks serious ass for no apparent reason... the whole thing is terribly B-movie, with action sequences that rapidly devolve into stupid stunts (like jumping on top of moving trains, etc.), cheese-filled conversations and characters (the comic-booky neonazi villain or the big bad black buddy that your character always has around), etc. etc. And all this is actually very good because it grouds everything into a non-realistic "entertainment-only" enviroment despite the settings, and just like Mortal Kombat, SOF ends up being a funny hyper-violent experience instead of a sick and twisted bloodbath with no redeeming features to it (though unfortunately nobody morphs into dragons here...).
The level design is super-solid as on everything done by Raven, and the final package is very well produced with good (if dated) graphics, good sounds, a nice interface and a good selection of difficulty options which allow you to set up the number of savegames, enemy skill, etc. There's also the option to tone down the violence for the squeamish, so there's no excuse not to play this game if you consider yourself an action gamer.
The Bad
The "stealth" sound-recognition thing is totally useless. I don't think I ever used it once in the entire game and it just seems like a waste of space to me, and the level design while good relies on too many "shooting gallery" moments. Really, there are lots of doors, containers and other things that are there just so they can fly open whenever you come close and let some screaming terrorist jump in front of you guns-blazing! What the hell is this? Virtua Cop?
Multiplayer is good but I could have used better maps and game modes...
Oh, and how come everyone in this game seems to have some sort of hokey mustache? What's with that? Seriously, Chuck Norris-analogy or not, this game feels like an amateur porn convention at times!!a
The Bottom Line
Funny action-romp that entertaints without being truly revolutionary and comes packed with lots of blood and enough guts to hold things toghether. Understand that this game is played more for the sheer fun and humor of it that it's "realistic" elements and you'll be okay. Just be sure that you are the kind of person that apreciates the humor found in shooting a polygonal person's knees off, otherwise steer clear of it since you are just going to start yelling about how this is "too violent" and "sick" and "my mommy doesn't approve of these games" or whatever... 'kay?
