Soldier of Fortune

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?

The Good
I like this game, because your adventure takes place in many different countries, and the story is like a B-rated movie (and I like B-movies! ;)). John Mullins is like Chuck Norris. With two friends he fights against terrorists and defends the free world against a nuclear disaster. I like the fights against the Nazis, because they are very funny. The scripted sequences are very good. When I played the game, I felt like I really was a Soldier of Fortune.

This game is truly the best using the "Quake 2" engine, and it combines it with the ghoul engine. Many PC magazines claim the game's graphics are bad, but I really liked the real light effects and the animations of reactors. I'm looking forward to play the second part :)

There's a lot of gore in this game, but you can turn it off. When you do it, you have a really good game with fantastic levels and a wonderful story.

The Bad
I don't like the gore in this game. It is too realistic. Too much blood and too much pain. I don't like the ending of this game, but it isn't so important.

The Bottom Line
If you like Chuck Norris, you are going to love "Soldiers of Fortune".

The Good
The body animations are awesome, and so realistic there is a violent and non-violent version of the game. Heck, it's more satisfying than sneaking up behind a camper in Quake 2! Other than the gratious violence, there is a fun, terrorist-killing game, and a good multiplayer. (It's VERY fun to shoot the arm off your opponents in multiplay.)

The Bad
Sometimes too mindless; not as good and suspensful Half-Life.

The Bottom Line
Kill terrorism in a first-person view with realistic blood and gore.

The Good
Some levels in the game are a nice change from most of the indoor levels that the game has e.g. the levels with the snow and the final one at the ancient European castle. The violent features in this game such as the fatal head-shots or blowing off limbs can be fun for a while, but then the novelty wears off pretty quick. Besides, this was done years ago in another shooter called Chasm the Rift, which was much more fun. The fights with the boss characters was amusing.

The Bad
Frankly, there is not much to like about this game. I'll give the reasons here. First of all the level design in this game is bland. Some underground levels like the subway and meat processing plant are monotonous and boring. The choice of color for the wall textures was poor too. The weapons which are very important for any FPS game are unremarkable and do almost the same kind of damage. So, whether you use a pistol or shotgun, you can still blow off an enemy's limb without a problem. The music and the sfx were repetitive and insignificant. The voice acting was mediocre at best. In fact, I had a hard time believing this game was released by one of my favorite developers.

The Bottom Line
It's a first person shooter that everybody has heard about because of it's so-called excessive, over the top violence. If that's the sole reason you bought this game, you will be sorely disappointed. Believe me, there are other much better games out there.