Reviews | PC
Soldier of Fortune: Payback
By David Perkins / December 29, 2007
I don't know whether Cauldron should be commended or condemned for resurrecting the infamous Soldier of Fortune franchise. For my money, Payback's a better game than SoF2 (which seemed to get tangled up in its own laborious level design mid way), but it would seem that its design document was penned during a heavy night of red meat feasting and testosterone injections.
About as politically correct as a panda-fur swastika, the whole game is about little more than shooting middle eastern terrorists, to a chorus of "die America". Its tone is so preposterous, that it's impossible not to treat it as some sort of FPS spoof.
Of course the Soldier of Fortune games are not bought for their plot but for the generous and graphic amount of gibbage on display. If this floats your boat, then you'll be pleased to know that Payback offers 36 bodily separation points and the weapons to go to work with. I did, however, find it to be quite a bit more sinister than previous outings. Whilst blowing people's arms and legs off seems to satisfy some sort of primeval blood lust, watching the resulting mass prop its legless form up to take a last few pot shots at me, or seeing armless men run screaming away, quickly wiped the schoolboy grin from my face. The leap in graphics from the previous installment goes some way to further the intensity of it all, and whilst the whole experience does feel farcical, it's difficult to ignore the sewer of ideas which lie at the heart of this game.
Mechanics-wise there's nothing of note to comment on, other than just how spectacularly Cauldron have ignored the advance of the genre since the release of the original Soldier of Fortune. It genuinely does feel like a homage to the FPS games of ten years ago, offering nothing beyond run and gun action, and yet it's for this very reason that it doesn't fall completely flat. There are no gimmicks, puzzles, or intricate plot developments vying for your attention; this is about as straightforward an FPS as you will find, and, to my surprise, the simplistic action is still as satisfying as it was all those years ago, even if its repetitive nature does place it firmly in the dust of more recent releases.
The graphics are generally pretty good, though nothing that's going to trouble Infinity Ward, and the environments are all interesting enough, ranging from cities to deserts and jungles. There's also a glut of bugs, mostly centering on limbs performing a LOL-worthy brekdance once separated, and there is a general lack of polish (mirrors don't reflect, grenades make the same splash of dust whether they explode mid-air or in grass etc.) which adds to the rough and half-hearted feel of it all.
The highlight for me though was undoubtedly the sound and music. Many games nowadays substitute a soundtrack for atmosphere, but as there's no danger of Payback building up one of those, much of the game is backed by some genuinely thumping tunes. The weapons also sound meaty as hell, with the shotgun resembling a tank blast more than any hand-held firearm. It all goes to play into the balls-out nature of the game, and I really can't emphasise enough how some of the tunes significantly boosted my enjoyment of otherwise drab missions. Aside from the ridiculously slack finale (the last mission quite literally finishes the game before the final act), Payback consistently delivers the cheap thrills.
I did have a quick go on the multiplayer, but it's really bare-bones stuff: four maps and the multiplayer essentials (deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, etc.). With games like Call of Duty 4 on the market, it's really not worth the bandwidth.
So there you have it. Soldier of Fortune: Payback is to games what the return of Rambo is to films. It's out to satisfy your blood lust above all, and recall the FPSes you played all those years ago, when a first-person shooter meant nothing more than shooting people in the first person. I guess you'll know instantly if this sort of guilty pleasure will do anything for you.
