I have said more than a few times, how Soldier of Fortune was something akin to watching all the Die-Hard and Lethal Weapon movies at once. That comparison does suggest the amount of action most were expecting, but by comparing it to feature films I also want to get across the idea that there is a method to this madness. Games like Unreal Tournament and Quake 3 Arena (most immediate examples) do excel in their own brand of 'twitch' action, but it is created by players' actions, not by AI and event scripting. Raven has crafted levels that create situations that are so exhilarating and pulse pounding because the great scripting makes it so.

The story consists of the usual evil group of terrorists stealing some nukes. Of course the REAL government forces can't handle the situation so John and his friend Hawk are brought in to take care of is. On their path to track down the international gang that did this, they meet some other challenges along the way that involve destroying a gun placement, taking care of a hostage situation and blowing up a stealth bomber. Each level is peppered with JUST enough scripted events to keep the story moving at the pace that keeps action flowing. Most cut scenes are violent and action packed but they are make a perfect transition to the story.

While this game is built around the aging Quake II Engine, it has been HEAVILY modified to present some of the best effects currently seen. The innovative GOUL system is also something that could set a trend in first person shooters. While the idea is simple, the technology and effect created are really fantastic. Descent III was one of the first games I have seen that really had the AI react to harm with various tumbling, explosion, and miscellaneous animations. SoF goes beyond simple moving the whole of the model around by creating fourteen different zones on each body of the character models. Even though these areas are separated to allow specific targeting, when one is impacted it activates certain animations that affect the whole character model. It is done in a way that properly displays pain and physical injury inflicted by the player.

Raven presents some very interesting environments which all tend to appeal to the most primal hunger for battle. Missions take the player across the world to various locations that could have easily been ripped from any spy/war movie. Each area has its own host of foreign or domestic bad guys that scream in their various languages as you engage them. The AI is actually fairly intelligent, rolling out of the way and ducking when necessary. Unfortunately even though the AI is smart, the player can play a memory game during a mission since for the most part the AI is rooted to standard paths and areas that make the game fairly predictable after the first or second run through.

The difficulty is then dependant on the enemy’s accuracy and ability to dish out damage, which can be modified with the various difficulty settings. This alone should be enough for most people, but I think with the half-way intelligent AI this game has, it is sort of a shame to not allow a little more roaming. I do think Raven’s true intention was to keep some accuracy in the title by having military men stick to their ‘posts’, and not wander too far from them. Since Raven did opt for the Action-fest angle, they had to abandon any really good puzzle elements that games like Half-Life have had. Most tasks involve button pushing and blowing things up, no real brain benders.

Perhaps the most enjoyable part of Soldier of Fortune was the realism of the weapons. Although the Microwave Gun is something that most people don’t see, a lot of the weapons in SoF are fairly recognizable. The real accomplishment in respect to the weaponry, is the reaction each gun gets from being reloaded and unloaded on an enemy. I am also assuming the sounds of the weapons are fairly accurate thanks to the consulting Raven did with the VERY experienced John Mullins. My favorite weapon happens to be the smaller guns since they just seem to have more raw visible power. Shell casings shoot from the weapons as the player spends their ammo, all very cool stuff.

As mentioned a little earlier, since each ‘stage’ takes place in different areas, the NPC’s all have sounds that are native to that stage/area. As a person blasts their way through each level they will get different responses from their enemy, which goes a great way in enhancing the atmosphere. The explosions are very big as are the blasts from the larger guns. The EAX function is also utilized fairly well but I seemed to have a problem with it in a few levels that had a lot of ambient noise for some reason or another.

I have never always been a fan of organized online gaming networks. Most of the time the game depends on the networks stability. As a modem user I tend to be somewhat restricted to what I play online, but for the most part games like Team Fortress Classic (add-on for Valve’s Half-Life) ran pretty well giving me pings well in the 180-200 range. For some reason Soldier of Fortune ran quite poorly on won.net. I couldn’t get a ping under 400 most of the time, which is pretty much unplayable. However Game Spy will soon support Soldier of Fortune, which is something that should be welcomed by a lot of people. SoF’s multiplayer modes include the standard deathmatch environments; as well as a few special condition games with require different play styles.

Soldier of Fortune is a ride, a really good one. Although the game does tend to be somewhat predictable at times and there are no real challenging tasks along the way, these do in a way work to keep the fast paced gameplay from stumbling. A very solid experience that delivers the most action I have ever seen in a title.