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Soldier of Fortune: Payback In library In cart Soon Wishlisted In library In cart Soon Wishlisted. Soldier of Fortune is a first-person shooter (FPS) video game created by Raven Software and published by Activision on February 29, 2000, for Microsoft Windows.It was later released for the PlayStation 2, as well as the Dreamcast, while Loki Software also made a port for Linux.

Raven Software scraps high fantasy for a gory first-person shooter that aims high on the stomach churning factor. You play as real-life mercenary John Mullins, a former Vietnam vet tasked with retrieving four stolen nukes while blasting any assorted scum that get in his way. The real John Mullins, as opposed to the fictitious one depicted in this game, is noted for providing insight on the gun-for-hire trade.

The game lends its name and theme from Soldier of Fortune magazine, a pro-military editorial paper that covers world conflicts, gun reviews, anti-gun control rants and gory first hand accounts of combat from people who lived to tell the tale. It’s a magazine that isn’t solely directed at mercenaries (although it’s the self described ‘journal of the professional adventurer’), but appeals to a much broader audience of army servicemen, police officers, war buffs or people who just take a visceral joy out of reading about blood and violence.

As a PC game, Soldier of Fortune has much of that same appeal mixed with an over-the-top budget blockbuster theme. It looks and plays like an action movie, made to feel more so with levels that involve hijacking a running freight train or defending your sidekick while he disarms a time bomb. The game is divided into ten missions that take you to famous war-torn hotspots like Iraq, Russia, Kosovo, Sudan or Uganda. Although some historical backdrops are provided, like the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, these are treated only cosmetically.

Your enemies are as stereotypical as bad guys get – arab terrorists, white skinheads, black gangstas and lots of Russians line up to die miserable deaths courtesy of Raven’s patented GHOUL engine. GHOUL is a hit detection system that takes combat to the next step; a system that enables you to shred off body parts in spectacular fashion, leaving enemies cowering in a jumbled mess while they slowly give away their last dying breath. Some of the heavier weapons can dismember foes to lifeless pulps in no time, while the low caliber stuff can incapacitate or disarm, if needed. Shoot an enemy in the crotch and it’s a priceless show the first time. Shoot his thumb off and he’ll drop his weapon, rendering him harmless.

The show-down with this tank is pretty cool.

Although the initial uproar that SoF generated might have been blown out of proportion, there’s no denying that this game absolutely revels in causing virtual misery. Bad guys frequently plead for mercy and there’s no reward for sparing them. But it’s not all mass homicide – you’ll occasionally stumble on civilians needing rescue, and you’ll fail the game if too many die (most of the time at least). It’s very odd how the game should sometimes punish you for gunning down innocents in one level while turning a blind eye the next. Oddly, the only place you’re allowed to indiscriminately gun down both bad guys and innocents alike is in Iraq.

The game has a light tactical element to it, although it’s more for show. This includes the PADD, a device that measure how much noise you’re making, as well as an assortment of fairly cool weapons and gadgets that are all perfectly balanced to suit particular engagements. Most if not all of the weapons have real world counterparts, their naming changed to eliminate licensing fees. Everything from handguns to suppressed SMGs to sniper rifles and rocket launchers are available, and you get to choose your gear before each mission. Weapons slots are limited to a couple of primary weapons, a sidearm and three inventory items. Grenades and flashbangs are available, but throwing them feels pretty clumsy. The guns you carry occupy front row center. and the way your character handles and frequently fidgets with each gun is pretty cool, giving the impression of someone who knows his trade.

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A Russian guard runs for the alarm.

The aforementioned PADD, described as a device that measures how much noise you generate, is more of a bust. In the tutorial it’s said to gauge your stealthiness, a statement that’s only half true. It’s basically a meter that rises every time you fire a weapon, particularly loud ones. The louder a gun battle rages, the more enemies you’ll spawn around your area. The trick to keeping noise down, and hence reducing the number of bad guys spawned around you, is to either use silent weapons or fire loud ones in short, precise bursts. Spawning can be turned off when starting a new game.

Matter of fact, lots of little things concerning the game’s difficulty can be adjusted before starting the game, from the AI to save availability. But again, you can only change them only once and have to stick with it for the remainder of the campaign. I recommend you set the enemy AI to ‘aggressive’ and increase your savegame availability. By default, enemies tend to be far too easy on ‘medium’.

Wrapping up SoF isn’t that hard. It’s a pretty fun shooter that’s especially noted for its gratuitous violence, towering proudly next to hard hitters like Grand Theft Auto or Postal 2. It’s not extremely original nor revolutionary an action game, but damn if it ain’t cool.

System Requirements: Pentium 200 Mhz, 48 MB RAM, 3D Accelerator, Win 95/NT/98

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Soldier of Fortune is a first-person shooter (FPS) video game created by Raven Software and published by Activision on February 29, 2000, for Microsoft Windows. It was later released for the PlayStation 2, as well as the Dreamcast, while Loki Software also made a port for Linux. It was digitally re-released on GOG.com on October 2, 2018, along with its two successors.^[1] The player takes on the role of a U.S. mercenary as he trots around the globe hoping to halt a terrorist nuclear weapons plot.

The game was notable for its realistic depictions of violence, made possible by the GHOUL engine, including the dismemberment of human bodies. This was the game's stylistic attraction and it caused considerable controversy, especially in British Columbia and Germany, where it was classified as a 'pornographic film' and listed on the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons, respectively. The technology creates 26 different zones on the bodies of enemies, allowing for vastly different reactions depending upon which one is targeted. Nonviolence is also possible, if the player can aim well enough to disarm enemies.

The game was designed to be realistic, but many more modern military shooters, like Call of Duty, offer more realistic gameplay. The game plays more along the lines of the Quake II engine, id Tech 2, that it was based on. During development, it had been planned that the game would take place partially in Bosnia, that real weapons would be used almost exclusively, and that taking damage would affect the player's movement and dexterity.

The game sold well initially and critical reception was positive. Two sequels were later made for the game: SOF2: Double Helix (2002) and Payback (2007). An MMOFPS entitled Soldier of Fortune Online was published in Korea in 2010.

• 5Reception
• 6Legacy

Plot[edit]

The story involves the theft of nuclear weapons, and the main enemy turns out to be an Afrikanerneo-fascist group based in Germany, led by South African exile Sergei Dekker. At the beginning of the game, terrorists steal four nuclear weapons from a storage facility in Russia, and proceed to sell them to various nations. This is a prelude to the acquisition of advanced weapons of mass destruction by this terrorist group. John Mullins, working for a U.S.-based mercenary ('soldier of fortune') organization known only as 'The Shop', and his partner, Aaron 'Hawk' Parsons, are assigned to prevent the nukes from falling into the wrong hands, and stop the terrorists in their plans. His missions take him to New York City, Sudan, Siberia, Tokyo, Kosovo, Iraq, Uganda and finally Germany.

Gameplay[edit]

Soldier of Fortune was best known for its graphic depictions of firearms dismembering the human body. This graphic violence is the game's main stylistic attraction, much like the destructible environments of Red Faction or bullet time of Max Payne. The GHOUL engine enables depiction of extreme graphic violence, in which character models are based on body parts that can each independently sustain damage (gore zones). There are 26 zones in total: a shot to the head with a powerful gun will often make the target's head explode, leaving nothing but the bloody stump of the neck remaining; a close-range shot to the stomach with a shotgun will leave an enemy's bowels in a bloody mess, and a shot to the nether regions will cause the victims to clutch their groin in agony for a few seconds before kneeling over dead. It is possible to shoot off an enemy's limbs (head, arms, legs) leaving nothing left but a bloody torso. In the last mission there is also a fictional microwave weapon, causing the enemies to fry or explode, depending on the firing mode. However, nonviolence is a possibility, if the player is a good shot it is possible to shoot an enemy's weapon out of their hand, causing them to cower on the floor to surrender. The game also came with password-protected options to disable all gore and there is even a version of the game with the extreme violence permanently locked-out, titled Soldier of Fortune: Tactical Low-Violence Version.^[2]

Multiplayer[edit]

In multiplayer mode, there are seven gametypes: Arsenal, Assassination, Capture the Flag, Conquer the Bunker, Control, Deathmatch and Realistic Deathmatch.^[3][4]

Development[edit]

Raven Software acquired a license from the mercenary magazine Soldier of Fortune to produce a video game based on the publication.^[5] The game was built around a modified version of the Quake II game engine.^[6] It was the first game to utilize the GHOUL damage model engine developed by Raven Software. This introduced the ability to dismember enemies in combat, adding to the realism of the game. Upgraded versions of the GHOUL system were later used in other Raven titles, such as Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix and Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast.

The game was originally supposed to be much more realistic, featuring mostly real weapons, and the players taking damage would impede their movement and dexterity, depending on where and how many times they were hit. In 1998 (prior to the Kosovo War) the game was also supposed to be partially based in Bosnia instead of Kosovo.^[7]

The game is AMD Eyefinity validated.^[8]

Reception[edit]

According to PC Data, a firm that tracked sales in the United States, Soldier of Fortune sold 100,919 units by November 2000.^[9]NPD Techworld, which also covered the United States,^[10] reported 298,563 units sold for the game's computer version by December 2002.^[11]

Soldier of Fortune was praised as being a solid and entertaining shooter, with one of the game's greatest praises being its graphic depiction of gore and violence, which both proponents and detractors consider to be more realistic than most first-person shooter games.^{[citation needed]}

Critical reaction was positive, with the GameRankings averaged rating of 82.30% for the PC version. However, the Dreamcast version's reception was less enthusiastic, with the 71.06% average rating (reviewers criticized the loading times, which were both frequent and extremely lengthy).^[12]

Violence controversy[edit]

In 2000, after receiving a complaint from a member of the public about the explicit content of the game, the British Columbia Film Classification Office investigated and decided the violence, gore and acts of torture were not suitable for persons under 18 years of age. In a controversial decision, the game was labeled an 'adult motion picture' and was rated as a pornographic film. In Germany, the game was placed on the Index List of the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons.^{[13][14][15][16]}

Legacy[edit]

Soldier of Fortune is regarded by many as a classic of the first-person shooter genre.^{[citation needed]}

Soldier of Fortune was released on CD. GOG.com re-released this game alongside its two successors digitally on October 1, 2018.^[17]

Soldier Of Fortune Gameplay

Sequels[edit]

Based on its success, Raven Software and Activision later published Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix in 2002, based on the Quake III: Team Arena engine.^{[citation needed]} Initially released for Windows, the sequel was later ported to the Xbox.

A third game in the series, Soldier of Fortune: Payback was made by Cauldron HQ and released on November 14, 2007.

An MMOFPS based on the series, Soldier of Fortune Online was published in Korea by Dragonfly and went in Closed Beta on August 12, 2010 and ended on August 16, 2010.^{[citation needed]}

References[edit]

1. ^Soldier of Fortune: Platinum Edition - GOG.com
2. ^Soldier of Fortune: Tactical Low-Violence VersionArchived March 16, 2009, at the Wayback Machine (MobyGames)
3. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on December 7, 2013. Retrieved February 2, 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
4. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on February 4, 2014. Retrieved February 2, 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
5. ^Salmon, Mike (June 1999). 'Soldier of Fortune'. PC Accelerator (10): 57–60.
6. ^Blevins, Tal (April 3, 2000). 'Soldier of Fortune'. IGN PC. IGN. Archived from the original on March 17, 2007.
7. ^PCGames Vol.5 issue 8 (October 1998) p.36
8. ^'AMD Eyefinity Validated and Ready Software'. Archived from the original on July 4, 2014.
9. ^Staff (November 2000). 'Where Have All the Legends Gone?; By the Numbers'. PC Gamer US. 7 (11): 42, 43.
10. ^Spooner, John G. (June 13, 2003). 'Gateway notebook goes for ratings'. ZDNet. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
11. ^Staff (May 2003). 'The 10 Most Controversial PC Games of All Time'. PC Gamer US. 10 (5): 50, 51.
12. ^Soldier of Fortune PCArchived June 21, 2009, at the Wayback Machine (GameRankings)
13. ^McCausland, Mary-Louise (July 11, 2000). 'B.C. Film Classification Soldier of Fortune Decision'. The Free Radical. Archived from the original on January 11, 2009.
14. ^Lunman, Kim (July 12, 2000). 'B.C. Labels 'Brutal' Video Game as Adult Film'. The Globe and Mail. p. A1. Archived from the original on January 11, 2009.
15. ^Lunman, Kim (August 12, 2000). 'Company to Appeal Game's X-Rating'. The Globe and Mail. p. A3. Archived from the original on January 12, 2009.
16. ^'Soldier of Gore: Excessively Violent Video Game restricted by B.C. Film Commissioner'. The Globe and Mail. June 12, 2000. Archived from the original on August 8, 2007.
17. ^'Soldier of Fortune: Platinum Edition on GOG.com'. www.gog.com. Retrieved October 1, 2018.

External links[edit]

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• Soldier of Fortune at MobyGames

Soldier Of Fortune Game Trailer