A Bloody Mess... (Soldier of Fortune (PC))

Member Name: raynor238

Product:	Soldier of Fortune (PC)
Date:	20/06/01 (79 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Decent FPS, Gore

Disadvantages: Repetitive, Gore

Ooooh! Controversial violent game. Lets stick on an 18 certificate which everybody will ignore, drum up some media indignation at our moral decline, and guarantee a surefire No1 selling hit!

Cynical attitude maybe, but no less cynical than the marketing merchants who grabbed this game, and thrust it to the front of the limelight, giving it far more attention than it deserved.

Essentially, this game is a run of the mill Qauke style first person shooter. It performs competently enough, the graphics are smooth and clear, and it is relatively fun to play. It has nothing to make it more outstanding than any other game of its type apart from the violence.

The violence cannot be ignored. It is an integral part of the game, and its main selling point, and indeed attraction for many consumers. It purports to being realistic, but that carries no weight apart from being an excuse to justify its explicitness.

I must admit that personally I was taken in by the dismembering, and a little shocked by the agonised screams coming from the groin injured enemies, but it quickly becomes tiresome. There are only a limited number of animations for the dying soldiers, and their death throes soon become familiar.

To sell a game based on the violence alone is simply criminal, and all it does is serve to hamper game developement from other sources who are constantly held back by the wittering moral majority who like to interfere in issues they have no knowledge about.

The game itself was an average to good attempt, if a little on the easy side (I usually have to resort to cheating on first-person shooters, but I finished this quite quickly). Apparently there is a sequel in production which is going to have even more 'realistic' violence. Lets hope it isn't another exercise in cynically cashing in on the game buying public.

Summary: