Graphics and Sound

Ghouls and ghosts

Besides using the Quake 3 Arena engine, SOF2 also uses the GHOUL2 rendering system (as seen in Jedi Knight II). The GHOUL2 is the perfect match for this type of gameplay. It allows character models to have 36 different damage zones, which means that a character model can reflect 36 different areas where he’s shot. Add in the ability to remove limbs at several spots and there are dozens animations for injuring an enemy. There are also tons of death animations, from a headless body squirting blood out of its neck and falling lifelessly to the ground to a soldier choking on his own blood from a neck shot to a gang member falling over after you blew his leg off. All of these animations are top notch. It looks like Raven spent a lot of time and money on motion capture, because the character animations are some of the best I’ve ever seen. It’s satisfying to see an enemy’s arm fly off, rather than seeing the same four death animations over and over. It’s more entertaining than realistic, but the real payoff is seeing your handiwork portrayed.

That’s gotta hurt

Don’t lose your head, or arm

I love the shotgun

Soldier of Fortune 2 also uses decals very well. Every time you shoot someone blood appears on their clothes at the area where you shot them. Shoot someone next to a wall and you’ll see the blood splatter on the wall and the ground. Blow and arm, leg, or head off and their body will squirt blood from the stump, complete with stains from the gushing blood. Bullets and explosions always leave scuffs on the ground and walls. The decal system is so good that you could recreate the cause of death at a death scene from the blood splatter, scuffs, broken glass, and bullet casings on the ground. This is no kid’s game.

Some of the minor details in SOF2 add to the quality of the graphics. Bullet casings eject out of weapons – nothing new there – but the casings are real objects with physical properties, unlike most games that do this. So if you’re standing close to a wall on your right, the bullet casings will eject out of the gun and ricochet off of the wall instead of just falling to the floor. Knocking head gear and weapons away from enemies is common (as seen in the first SOF). Textures add a lot of detail to the models, from wrinkles in a soldier’s uniform to scuffs on a used weapon.

Shot through the glass

He can’t pick up any either

Red clashes with white

The maps take advantage of a lot of graphical effects. The environmental effects, such as snow, rain and fog are some of the best around. The rain is especially good, as you see a blanket of water splashes as the rain comes down on the map. There are a lot of movable and deformable objects on the map as well. While you can’t blow chunks of out of every building on the map, the scripted deformations are done very well. Grass in the jungle levels are cool – you can duck down and hide in the grass, but enemies can too, which leads to some very difficult gunfights.

Plunk, plunk

The sound effects in Soldier of Fortune 2 are some of the best to date. The best aspect is that everything fits together well. The in-game voice acting is just as good as the cut scene voice acting. The weapon effects are great, as are the sound of ricochets and explosions. There’s nothing quite as unnerving as the sound of bullets plunking the ground beside you when someone is shooting at you from afar and you’re too far to hear the gunshots.

On location

Bio suits are sexy

Let’s do it

The sound is so good that it makes an integral part of the gameplay. SOF2 is one of the few games where you really need to use your hearing to play. When you’re trying to sneak it’s very common to hide in a shadow and listen to a guard’s feet walk up, pause, and fade away as he walks off. In gunfights you hear enemies communicating to each other, “He’s over here!” or “He’s mine!” and “Grenade!” You can also use audible clues to estimate how many enemies are in a room or listen to see if you hurt someone when firing through a smoke grenade. A door opening behind you can alert you of a sneak attack.

The music of SOF2 isn’t very memorable. Most of the time the music needs to be turned down because you need to listen for enemy movement and make sure you’re not making a lot of noise. I didn’t really notice the music much because of this. In multiplayer, the music is pretty cheesy. It reminds me of bad 8-bit Nintendo MIDI music. Good thing this is a Quake 3 engine game so you can listen to your own MP3’s instead.