Gameplay

We've seen it before

Before you get too excited about Soldier of Fortune we should preface this section with a warning - the single player campaign doesn't break any new ground. If you were hoping for an involving and extremely interactive solo campaign like a Half Life or a System Shock 2, then look elsewhere. Soldier of Fortune is an action game, period. It's all shooting and scooting, punctuated by the obligatory switches and buttons to open up the next set of levels. Having said that, we still found Soldier of Fortune's single player game fun filled and involving. SoF is a pure shooter and it makes no bones about it. You're the star of an Arnold Schwarzenegger type action film, with waves upon waves of enemies coming at you fast and furious. Want to catch your breath? Better do it while you're changing clips because that might be the only chance you'll have.

He's almost intact

That will hurt in the morning

Keeping it under control

It's not altogether mindless though - Raven has designed Soldier of Fortune in such a way that you can't simply hold your finger down on the fire button and hose down everything you see. It's much more effective to take deliberate and intelligent shots at your opponents from behind cover. There are a number of reasons for this, and the first has to do with how much sound you're making.

Psst! You're looking the wrong way!

I know him!

Sound Meter

Remember the little crystal in Thief that told you how much you were being illuminated by nearby torches (and therefore how visible you might be to a guard)? Soldier of Fortune takes the idea and applies it to sound. At the bottom of the screen is a meter that measures sound levels in your immediate area. The more you fire a loud weapon (and the more often you fire one in a short amount of time), the more your sound meter starts to climb out of the safe green levels and into the yellow and red. Were you careless and let your enemies live to return fire? Their shots will add to the sound meter too. If you max it out, then you trigger a spawning of bad guys who might rush into your room from any direction - even an area that you cleared out a minute ago.

Wow he's fugly

Crude oil isn't that volatile

So what does this mean? It encourages players to take short, well aimed bursts with their weapons rather than simply hosing down everyone you see with reckless abandon. Even if you have ammo to waste, you're not going to want to trigger a new set of enemies who might jump you from behind. The sound meter also makes your silenced weapons more attractive to use in certain situations.