Soldier of Fortune Developer: Raven Software Publisher: Activision Category: : 3D Action System Req: PII, 96 Mb RAM, 32 Mb OpenGL 3D card Might look like: Quake 2, Half-Life, Kingpin Date posted: 11 June 2000 Written By: Jochen - This game was PIII 500, 128 Mb RAM, ATI Rage 128 32 Mb, Win 98 - We also test other games on "PlayDevil.com Game Machine" Introducing John Mullins What I have here must be one of the most anticipated games of the last few months if not years. I'm sure you've already heard about the 'haemoglobin' factor ( for normal people : the amount of blood and gore :-)) in this game, but let's start with the beginning. The story goes like this: You are John Mullins. You used to be a special forces hot-shot dude, but now you work for yourself, together with your two best friends, 'Hawk' and Sam, as a 'Soldier of Fortune', a guy who caps people for money, and other scary stuff. Most of the time you get your assignments from 'The Shop', a UN anti-terrorist group. You've just received a call that something very messy is going on in New York so you'd better pack your gear and get going. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the world of first person shooters, in which a good story goes hand in hand with excellent gameplay ! Yeah right :-) I suggest you forget about this silly background setting; just remember one thing : the real-world setting. What ?! No monsters ?!! I'm afraid not and I'm very glad about this. You see, the 'real-world' setting is what makes this game different from the others in the first place. You are a real person ( Yep, John Mullins really exists and was the consultant for this game ), visiting real-world locations, meeting real people and killing them with real weapons ( okay, they have a different name, but they look real enough to me). I think we are all tired of shooting pigs in uniforms and other non-earthly creatures and Soldier of Fortune offers a completely different game experience. The people at Raven who thought the game up have opted for a different playing style : they call it an 'action-movie' setting. This basically means getting rid of the puzzles and concentrating on creating a 'continuous' experience, in which you travel from map to map killing everybody and everything in your way. Of course, this is very interesting for people who get easily frustrated at situation puzzles like the ones found in Half-Life, but there' one major downside, but more on that later.    This is how SoF works : you are John Mullins, accepting different missions from 'The Shop' and earning money in the process. By the way, I don't know what you can do with it; you can't spend it on better equipment or other stuff so I think it's just here for… well… getting the most money and bragging about it on the Net :-) Overall there are 10 missions in SoF, divided over 28 maps , spanning 6 different settings. You start in New York and travel around the world ( well, not the world, but some very different places :-)) as you get more and more information from your employer. There are actually two plots in the game, but they seem to connect at the end. That's all I will say about it, because throughout the levels you get a lot of scripted sequences that forward the story. And they look nice in doing so. Mum, look, No Legs !! Let's get on with SoF 's gameplay. Besides of the 'action' style, Raven has changed some other things as well. First of all you are limited in the number of weapons you can carry. At the beginning of a mission you choose weapons and the heavier the weapon, the more slot space it takes up. The same goes for your equipment like grenades and med kits. Gone are the days of carrying 2 different pistols, 3 machine guns and a rocket launcher. All these weapons are in the game, but if you want them you will have to get rid of one or more you are already carrying. By the way, my favorite weapons are the Bullwhip (a silenced UZI type of thing) and the sniper rifle, for taking out baddies and naughty helicopter pilots ;-) The other thing they have changed is perhaps the one most discussed : the GHOUL system. The GHOUL system is a rendering system that creates very realistic enemies, not only trough the way they look, but also trough the way they react to their wounds. GHOUL basically divides a body "into 26 gore zones". Say for example you shoot an enemy in the knee, then he will react accordingly. Of course this creates some great possibilities :-)    A shot in the head means instant dead. Shots to the joints mean dismemberment if the weapon is heavy enough. Hey, you can even kill a guy by shooting out his intestines with a shotgun ! Be warned, you will see things like this throughout the game and it's good you can't get killed by flying legs :-) You can disable the gore and mutilation, but that's why you bought it in the first place, isn't it ? Forget about Kingpin ! As far as gore goes, Soldier of Fortune rules. Next Page Up Previous Page If you want to review your favorite game, or if you work with a computer game company and want your products reviewing, mail info@playdevil.com. All contributions are welcome. Any problems and/or suggestions are always appreciated on webmaster@playdevil.com Nothing of this entire Site, animation & logo's included, may be reproduced, stored, saved, transmitted, in any form or means, electronic, written or otherwise without the prior permission of PlayDevil. Other Logos & Names are Copyrighted Material of its respectful owners. All Rights Reserved. PlayDevil Productions © 199/8-199/9-200/0 "rip your own stuff"