Solider Of Fortune 2 : Double Helix

Now I don’t live in a trailer park, neither am I a ‘god-darn’ hillbilly dressed in a lumberjack shirt and body warmer, most of all I am not American and therefore, overall, I know nothing about guns. But, Soldier of Fortune is THE game for all those of you who like to ‘lock n load’, as it were, people who can strip and re-build an M16 in under a second.

This is the sequel to the highly popular Soldier of Fortune, a game more famous for its real guns, violence and blood than the game itself. Soldier of Fortune 2 picks up where the last one left off, you play as John Mullins, member of the Soldiers of Fortune, a secret anti-terrorist group, and owner of a stunning mustache. The Double Helix of the title is of biological origins as the main plot of the game is about those pesky Russians and their viral weapons development, something which you aim to put a stop to. One of the games most impressive aspects is the range of locations your mission takes you into, without giving away the plot too much you begin in the streets of a rain swept Prague while the second mission sees you being flown into a dense Columbian jungle by helicopter…

The detailed, Tom Clancy style plot is unfortunately not met by the depth of the gameplay. SoF 2’s gameplay is mainly about gunfights and nothing more. The game is named after a gun magazine and contains representations of 14 different guns as well as several grenades, knifes etc… At the start of each level you get to choose a selection of these weapons to take with you, anything else you want you will have to take off the bodies of your enemies.

As I said, SoF2 suffers from its structure…it is a very mixed bag. Every level is as linear as a big straight line drawn with a big metal ruler, you simply edge from door to door/tree to tree/rock to rock and exchange fire with terrorists every step of the way. This is fun for a while but I soon grew to want a little more from my game time. The gunfights are pretty intense though I do admit; the superb selection of weapons really does help here. Things considerably pick up when you play in a team situation where you and your other squad members cover each other, give out orders, these sections are a joy to play. The interaction changes the feel of the game completely, why this wasn’t realized I don’t know as the solo missions are generic FPS fare that I only played because I had to.

Another problem is the AI, mainly its impressive, enemies retreat, throw grenades, peer round corners during combat but there are several eyebrow-raising moments. Playing on the middle difficulty setting I found the AI simply too good on many occasion, when an enemy can bulls-eye you when your 100m away, lying prone in thick vegetation and on the other side of a hill you have to ask questions. Similarly the stealth missions are ridiculous…alarms are oddly set off on sight rather than on the trigger of a button and slicing some-ones throat with a knife is deemed raucous enough to set off the sirens.

The fire fights you experience are displayed in some of the best graphics you’ll see on the PC at the moment, something represented in the resource hungry requirements. Based on a highly tweaked Quake 3 engine player models are stunningly detailed and the environments are similarly detailed. In particular the Columbian jungle is gorgeous, the place feels alive as every inch of the vegetation sways in the wind, it makes Ghost Recons forests and trees look…well I would say wooden but that’s ridiculous.

The very best aspect of the graphics though is the animation, the death throws of the enemies and their movement overall is highly realistic…I’ve managed to avoid the gore so far…but the deaths are fairly grim…that’s all I’m really willing to say though. If you consider dismemberment a reason to buy a game then this is the one for you…

My overall opinion of the game is that mostly it feels like a technical demo for something much grander…the area specific body damage is truly impressive, coming a long way since Sin did it, the graphics are genuinely superb and the squad missions are very good fun but unfortunately that’s the end of the stand-out parts. All in all it leaves a rather shallow, immature feeling experience, almost as though a bit of blood is all that you need for a cracking FPS game.

There is surprisingly some originality in here though, a random mission generator is an all-new idea and can be used in single and multiplayer. The multiplayer is actually its saving grace though, offering the obligatory straight death matches, CTF and simple objective modes of play. The gung-ho gameplay style suits multiplayer down to the ground and, if people can get their CD Keys working (a current problem for some people) and if the mod community gets going, then this could be an exceedingly popular net title.

OVERALL SCORE: 68%

• Bio
• Latest Posts

Jamie Wharton

Jamie Wharton was based out of Europe before disappearing off the face of the Earth. His contributions in the early days of Gaming Illustrated's history, however, shall never be forgotten.

Latest posts by Jamie Wharton (see all)

• Yager Xbox - October 6, 2004
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War Review - September 21, 2004
• Ghost Master - July 29, 2004

tags: review