Remember "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," the spaghetti western starring Clint Eastwood? The movie's title suits my purposes perfectly for this month's review. Soldier of Fortune (SOF), one of the most talked-about games on the market today, is truly a story of the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The Good
SOF, from Activision, has generated a ton of buzz in the gaming community. It's a first-person shooter game in the style of Doom, in which everything is totally three-dimensional. The premise of the game is that you are a former United States military officer who takes covert jobs in exchange for money (and of course, you don't mind getting your hands a little dirty). The story line and concept are quite entertaining, and the action will keep you gripped, if not addicted, until you complete all of your missions.
The bad
The element that makes SOF so awesome is also what makes it bad. Because SOF is so graphically advanced and renders so quickly, it not only requires a speedy computer, but you need a healthy video card. My 8MB video card was barely sufficient, but if you have less video horsepower than that, you might discover one of SOF's biggest problems. Getting it to work without freezing and crashing due to outdated video and sound drivers can be a nightmare. It just so happens that I had one of those nightmares. After I reloaded Windows 98 twice, I did get the product to work. Activision helps by putting a version of the GL setup updater on the CD, but in the end, it was really a matter of tinkering to get the game to work. Now and again, however, the game still crashes; a lot of people are still complaining about this on the Internet, so be sure to research the product--and your computer's capabilities--before buying.
The Ugly
While proclaiming SOF to be one of the best games I've seen in a long time, I also must point out that it is also the most graphic-almost disturbing. SOF takes violence to a new height and this game is totally inappropriate for young children. To its credit, Activision makes every effort to alert buyers of this and to help you keep the game out of young hands. This process begins during the install. You get multiple warnings and the option to install a less graphic version. The game can also be password-protected, and it flashes a warning at the outset of each game that it's intended for a mature audience.
Some elements of the game in particular are especially disturbing. It's common to hear your wounded opponents screaming before you finish them off. You can actually blast off body parts with your weapons and totally dismember opponents with fragmentation grenades. The evil gunmen can be seen beating innocent bystanders and urinating on the floor (probably a first in my gaming experience).
Despite all of its violence, SOF is still a rocking game. The graphics and rendering machines are unparalleled. You might find that SOF is most fun when played with others over the Internet.
-Brent Baude
