There are two reviews here, the first one is my first attempt at the game on "challenging" difficulty, I abandoned the game 3/4ths of the way through, the second review is my second attempt where I complete the game on "regular" difficulty. On the first playthrough I gave it a 1.5/5, on the second playthrough I give it a 2/5
FIRST REVIEW/PLAYTHROUGH:
A classic "boomer shooter", one of the more talked about titles.
I played this game on challenging. and holy shit is it challenging, but not in the right way. older games are always very unforgiving and hard, but Soldier of Fortune is just filled with jank and straight up bullshit. You will find yourself repeatedly getting sniped by enemies that are out of your view distance, You will find yourself walking around a corner or opening a door and literally the frame you do this a sniper has killed you. Enemies sometimes miss like storm troopers while other times having perfect aim and not missing a shot. Enemies will completely blend into the environment, especially when further away. Their accuracy does not change depending on how far away they are.
The character movement is somewhat slippery and not all that precise.
Now, most the guns are really awesome. The shotgun feels really great to use, but level design mostly punishes you for using it, as it will go from close quarters to long range back and forth with every step you take, so I found myself having to use the SMGs most of the time. The Uzi and SMG are both really fun to use, and feel good. The sniper is terrible and doesn't flow with the rest of the game at all. The first pistol is dogshit but the ripoff Deagle is really good, but can feel inaccurate, maybe that's just me being bad. I didn't even get to the point where I used Machine guns or anything like that, as this game has just frustrated me with all the janky bullshit. There is a lot of trial and error as well.
The game itself looks really good, characters look interesting and so does the map aesthetics, and the sound is superb. This seems like the type of game that I'd love, but I'm sick of opening a door and getting shot one frame later. Also the turrets and tanks are ridiculously strong. I didn't try a lower difficulty, so I don't know how those fair. If you play this, I strongly advise not playing on challenging, as you will die a lot, with 90% of the deaths not being your fault.
SECOND REVIEW/PLAYTHROUGH:
Ok so, nearly a year later or something, I watch a youtube video where the guy just jerks off about how great this game is, so I say man, maybe the game just sucks on challenging, so I decide to playthrough it on regular, and I fully completed it.
It's not the worst shooter in the world, it's just completely average. The gun models and sounds are fucking awesome, the gore and all that is great, but the gameplay itself is just average.
So I found on challenging I'm just constantly dying from cheap deaths and getting shot by enemies I can't even see, here I found I died only a handful of times, most of my deaths being in the final level. It's fucking LEAGUES easier just one difficulty down. I think it's too easy here, but at least it feels like the game was made with this difficulty level in mind.
The biggest challenge now is just getting through the fucking levels, and this is my biggest problem with the game: the level design is shit. I feel like most levels was just me aimlessly wandering around hallways and rooms that all looked identical until I finally found where I was supposed to go. The worst offender of this is the factory level where you have to find and turn 4 little knobs around a massive factory, shit's just annoying.
BTW the machine gun is easily the best gun in the game, as everything else either doesn't get enough ammo or is weaker.
Overall this is just an average FPS campaign, nothing special here really, John Mullens is a cool character and there's some awesome stuff in here, but it's just not that fun. Average game I say.
A bonus note, I feel like I'm fucking crazy for not liking this game. scouring reviews across the internet, everyone fucking loves it and compares it to other FPS greats, and they all talk about how satisfying and fun it is. Its like they saw the shooting but not the levels. This really should be a game I love on paper, but it's just so annoying. I don't understand how someone could love this game, as it's just so insanely flawed. Maybe I still don't understand Soldier of Fortune, but after two playthroughs, I'm done with it and 2 is final.
FIRST REVIEW/PLAYTHROUGH:
A classic "boomer shooter", one of the more talked about titles.
I played this game on challenging. and holy shit is it challenging, but not in the right way. older games are always very unforgiving and hard, but Soldier of Fortune is just filled with jank and straight up bullshit. You will find yourself repeatedly getting sniped by enemies that are out of your view distance, You will find yourself walking around a corner or opening a door and literally the frame you do this a sniper has killed you. Enemies sometimes miss like storm troopers while other times having perfect aim and not missing a shot. Enemies will completely blend into the environment, especially when further away. Their accuracy does not change depending on how far away they are.
The character movement is somewhat slippery and not all that precise.
Now, most the guns are really awesome. The shotgun feels really great to use, but level design mostly punishes you for using it, as it will go from close quarters to long range back and forth with every step you take, so I found myself having to use the SMGs most of the time. The Uzi and SMG are both really fun to use, and feel good. The sniper is terrible and doesn't flow with the rest of the game at all. The first pistol is dogshit but the ripoff Deagle is really good, but can feel inaccurate, maybe that's just me being bad. I didn't even get to the point where I used Machine guns or anything like that, as this game has just frustrated me with all the janky bullshit. There is a lot of trial and error as well.
The game itself looks really good, characters look interesting and so does the map aesthetics, and the sound is superb. This seems like the type of game that I'd love, but I'm sick of opening a door and getting shot one frame later. Also the turrets and tanks are ridiculously strong. I didn't try a lower difficulty, so I don't know how those fair. If you play this, I strongly advise not playing on challenging, as you will die a lot, with 90% of the deaths not being your fault.
SECOND REVIEW/PLAYTHROUGH:
Ok so, nearly a year later or something, I watch a youtube video where the guy just jerks off about how great this game is, so I say man, maybe the game just sucks on challenging, so I decide to playthrough it on regular, and I fully completed it.
It's not the worst shooter in the world, it's just completely average. The gun models and sounds are fucking awesome, the gore and all that is great, but the gameplay itself is just average.
So I found on challenging I'm just constantly dying from cheap deaths and getting shot by enemies I can't even see, here I found I died only a handful of times, most of my deaths being in the final level. It's fucking LEAGUES easier just one difficulty down. I think it's too easy here, but at least it feels like the game was made with this difficulty level in mind.
The biggest challenge now is just getting through the fucking levels, and this is my biggest problem with the game: the level design is shit. I feel like most levels was just me aimlessly wandering around hallways and rooms that all looked identical until I finally found where I was supposed to go. The worst offender of this is the factory level where you have to find and turn 4 little knobs around a massive factory, shit's just annoying.
BTW the machine gun is easily the best gun in the game, as everything else either doesn't get enough ammo or is weaker.
Overall this is just an average FPS campaign, nothing special here really, John Mullens is a cool character and there's some awesome stuff in here, but it's just not that fun. Average game I say.
A bonus note, I feel like I'm fucking crazy for not liking this game. scouring reviews across the internet, everyone fucking loves it and compares it to other FPS greats, and they all talk about how satisfying and fun it is. Its like they saw the shooting but not the levels. This really should be a game I love on paper, but it's just so annoying. I don't understand how someone could love this game, as it's just so insanely flawed. Maybe I still don't understand Soldier of Fortune, but after two playthroughs, I'm done with it and 2 is final.