2007-Nov-13 - Soldier of Fortune: A History of Gore

Blood, guts and brains are what you can expect from the Soldier of
Fortune games. Raven Software's blood soaked series began with the
first edition Soldier of Fortune. Published by Activision, Inc in
March of 2000, the story follows John Mullins (as played by Sylvester
Stallone), a professional consultant with a reputation for getting the
job done, and his partner Aaron "Hawk" Parsons who are employed by the
mercenary organization "The Shop." Mullins and Hawk are sent are sent
to track down Sergei Dekker, a Neo-Nazi whose stolen handle full of
nuclear weapons from a Russian Storage compound. Mullins and Hawk are
to stop Dekker at any blood splattering cost.

With Raven Software wielding the GHOUL engine they were able to build
the character models based on body parts that each take their own
damage (what better way to depict graphic dismembering). A shot to the
head with a powerful gun, nothing but a stump; a shotgun to the gut,
destroys his bowels, and a shot to the stones will cause the victim to
garb himself then keel over. There's always the option of shooting off
an enemy's limbs leaving nothing but a bloody torso. If an enemy is
shot in the hand they cower surrendered.

These horrific acts span the globe, such as Japan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia,
the US, South Africa, Russia and Siberia.

The series continued with the tactical shooter Soldier of Fortune II:
Double Helix. Ten years ago Dr. Piotr Ivanovich, a leading Biopreparat
scientist, was smuggled out of the Soviet Union. Dr. Ivanovich has
discovered multiple instances of a viral agent with properties that
link directly to old experiments from his Biopreparat days. "The Shop"
sends Mullins is to stop Prometheus, a terrorist group whose mission
is set the dangerous virus on the world.

With the GHOUL 2.0 the depiction of carnage was enhanced. Now shooting
an enemy in the head would blow apart his skull and reveal the gooey
brains inside. Shooting limbs would expose jagged bits of bone and
squirting blood. As gory as it was SoF II was it was taken to another
level by fashioning a more believable, and stylistic blood fest.

The games difficulty was also enhanced, Mullins ability to absorb
bullets was scaled back some.  Weapon recoil made autos more
inaccurate. The AI was tuned up, no longer would your enemies would
charge straight at you, now they used squad like tactics, hid, and
fired from cover.

And now the latest Soldier of Fortune III: Payback. You play as Thomas
Mason (a totally different guy from SoF and SoF II) a freelance
mercenary, when a routine escort mission goes horribly wrong, Thomas
Mason finds himself battling an extremist enemy that knows no
boundaries. Using any means necessary, players will need to uncover a
complex plot and defeat an extremist organization determined to throw
the world into global conflict.

Just like its predecessors SoF: Payback gives the disturbing graphical
decapitation an upgrade, using nex-gen technology (I do believe that
is the scientific word) the most outrageous modeling system was
devised. With over the top blood spray, destructible limbs, and
squeamish death animations, enemies not only react to the specific
area where they've been hit also by how powerful of weapon. Be sure to
finish the job or you might get shot in the back by an enemy you
thought was dead.

Payback also includes a multiplayer with more than 30 weapons, modes
such as Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Elimination, Team Elimination,
Capture the Flag, and Demolition (everything you'd expect from a FPS).

 Additional maps tuned specifically for multiplayer and many server
settings custom online play.

Soldier of Fortune: Payback is sure to continue the blood, sweat and
tears for the next generation of gamers.