Soldier of Fortune … What can one say about this deranged, irresponsible montage of sickening gore available to you in a wonderfully woven gift basket created by the remnants of dismembered limbs? It has created a cult following amassing hordes of followers while finding itself at the receiving end of vitriolic damnation. It has seen its ups and downs but after a 5 year hiatus, Activision has resuscitated this once thought to be terminated gaming franchise. Nearly a decade since its initial release, was the effort and investment to develop yet another iteration of Soldier of Fortune worth it? Well, I am here in an attempt to shed some light on this quandary albeit through the eyes of a novice. Growing tired of the formalities I say we jump right into the Soldier of Fortune: Payback review.
After purchase and following the methodical removal of all cellophane and security tape, most will usually proceed to place the game in the disc tray and begin the campaign. After a brief explanation of your mission and current objectives, you are placed in an ambiguous Middle Eastern town SMG and Assault Rifle in tow. The first thing most will notice right away is the graphics. First impressions are of the utmost importance as they’re usually indicative of how the remainder of the game will play out. Solider of Fortune is not eye candy nor is it a sore sight. At first glance only one word comes to mind … meh. Many 360 games have come along that when comparisons are made make Payback look like Mass Effect. Civil War, Dynasty Warriors, and the entire Burger King collection are just a few of these gaming blasphemes. Graphically speaking, the game is on par with a Hitman or possibly Quake 4. Not bad but by no means something to boast about. The only positive aspect I could discern would in all likelihood be the scenery. Nothing realistic or revolutionary but it looks far and away much better than the character models. The jungle scenes are slightly better than Far Cry (again, nothing to boast about) and a few distant waterfalls actually pass as next generation. The scenery and general surroundings are only one element used when judging overall graphics. It is when one uses other criteria where Solider of Fortune fails miserably.
The enemies within Solider of Fortune are poorly developed and look incredibly horrid. These hideous creatures barely share any semblance to an actual human being and the fact that they passed QA has me appalled. The facial animations are elementary and their body movements are both clumsy and awkward. In summation, each enemy looks terrible without any justifiable reason as to why. If the character animations were developed with as much detail as the actual scenery, Activision may have been on to something. However, they failed to do so and all we are left with are gun toting Tango’s that look strikingly similar to Alec Trevelyan circa 1997’s GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64. Hyperbole people, it is only hyperbole.
Not only is the AI macabre, they are an outright abomination! Their intelligence reached an apex somewhere between a baboon and a Seagull while it feasts on a fresh making of Alka-Seltzer. Some of your targets will make a feeble attempt at maintaining cover although their heads protrude out from the barrels or crates for an easy pick. Others will simply strap on the bandanna and go Rambo while spewing out foreign profanities as if they actually have a chance to live. I have literally observed while soldiers marched out and posted up directly in my line of sight. Fully auto? No, that is far too complicated being that most only shoot burst rounds which are erratic and far from accurate. On default difficulty you should only be killed when you are ambushed because in pairs or small groups, these soldiers’ couldn’t put one in your chest at a meters distance. It is sad really inasmuch that I enjoy a challenge and the AI Soldier of Fortune provides falls spectacularly short. At its highest difficulty your death ratio will inevitably increase but after playing default for the majority of the campaign, my disappointment lingered and I chose to play something else altogether. Yes, it was that bad. To boot, the voice acting is lamentable. Dialogue sounds artificial without any fluidity or cadence whatsoever and each spoken word reveals the obvious fact it had been scripted. Granted, most voice acting is done in part through scripts but FFS, at least the decent ones can make it pass as extemporaneous. Debbie Does Dallas had better voice acting than Soldier of Fortune and that should only act as another illustration of how awful it actually is.
