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	Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix
	Developer: Raven Software Publisher: Activision Genre: First-Person Shooter Players: 1-12 Similar To: Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War Rating: Mature Published: 08 :13 : 03 Reviewed By: Matt Hart Overall: 6 = Fair

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Soldier of Fortune II doesn't take many risks. From the get go, it appears to be a standard cookie-cutter shooter. Whether it's the weapon selection, the level locations, the plot, or the bad guys, breaking new ground isn't really this games forte. For starters, the plot: I can't really recount the specifics but the ingredients were biological weapons, terrorism, drugs, and secret government agencies - a successful recipe for bland pie. The really disappointing part of the story is that it starts so well. The first chapter serves as a sort of prelude for the game and sets up the story in a manner that left me eagerly awaiting the next chapter; however, it soon runs out of steam and the story falls back to the ol' topics of CNN headlines. From the drug lords of Columbia to the uzi toting gangsters of Hong Kong (the Red Dragons - how creative), all stereotypes are represented equally.

But all gamers know the value of a story in a good shooter - minimal. From Doom to, ummm, Doom II, story can always take a backseat to gameplay, and that's fine, as long as the gameplay is good. The problem with SOF2 is that the gameplay isn't always good. In fact, it seems a bit sloppy and unfinished. For example, from the beginning of the tutorial, the game gives the impression that stealth will be a major part of the game. There are several exercises that include avoiding lights and cameras, crouching, walking quietly, and dispatching enemies silently. However, once the single player starts, stealth is all but ignored. Sure, one of the first levels dictates that it must be completed without detection, but due to the dumb A.I. not being able to see or hear their comrades die a mere 4 feet away, it isn't really an issue. Some later levels that feature alarm systems don't really do anything to combat this either. Trip off the alarm and an endless supply of guys come, but it doesn't matter due to the aforementioned sloppy A.I. - the game just doesn't punish players enough to make stealth as important as the tutorial leads players to believe. Besides, the stealth detection is so sketchy that tripping off the alarms is imminent. Once all the levels featuring stealth are completed (within the first two missions), it never really comes into play again. Sure, it's possible to sneak up on the first guy of every stage, but once he's dead, the rest of the enemies magically know exactly where Mullins is - amazing.

Oh well, at least shooting guys is fun.

Actually, it's really fun. Well, when the game works properly anyways. There's over 25 weapons and items to use and play with including mounted guns. Grenade launchers, M60s, the ubiquitous sniper rifle, and anti-tank guns are all included, some of which have alternate firing modes as well as several varying modes and accessories to complement the already outstanding selection of killing devices.

Too bad that they don't always work correctly. It's not uncommon to shoot a guy squarely in the chest, only to see them unaffectedly continue to run. On several occasions, I was able to unload a full 5 rounds from my shotgun squarely into a bad guy a mere 3 (to scale) feet away only to see them run into the wall as if nothing happened. Wow, no wonder the war on drugs is so unsuccessful - these guys don't die. Other times, however, the game detects hits perfectly. In fact, the tutorial emphasizes the use of crouching and prone positions in order to better accuracy. Never once did I have to use either position, and my accuracy never suffered. I was able to take down snipers so far off in the distance that the game had just begun to draw them with a headshot from my SOCOM pistol. Now I'm sure Mr. Mullins is a crack shot, but I didn't know he also had access to the Matrix. It's funny how a point-blank shotgun fails to register a hit, but a long range pistol shot does the job cleanly and efficiently.

I've mentioned the A.I. on several occasions, but let me be more specific. We're talking enemies that run full speed into walls, doors, and corners. We're talking enemies that apparently don't communicate with each other, nor move for better cover. In a day and age where group tactics and cover are increasingly important to shooters, these enemies are pure bad guy fodder. For a game that touts itself as the "most realistic covert-ops shooter...ever," I'm not impressed. No wonder these bad guys turned to a life of crime, I think the Spelling Bee circuit was a bit too much.

And the unevenness continues to the multiplayer. The game does support Xbox Live and system link, but for those players not so broadband endowed, they skimped on the split screen mode. Additionally, Xbox Live play is a bit spotty. If you manage to find a game that has more than 2 players (a feat in and of itself), you can expect an awkward and clumsy experience. The game does feature several modes found stock in most modern shooters, and sometimes a heated match will break out, but the overall experience is very lackluster. When I asked a sole proprietor of a server where all the players were, I was met with a (paraphrased to omit profanity) response of Return to Castle Wolfenstein - the enduring champion of Xbox Live multiplayer shooters.

On top of the single player and multiplayer modes, there is also a random mission generator. Apparently, "random" means "flat and boring," while "mission" means "running around trying to find guys to shoot", and "generator" means "a minute and a half load times." Yuck.

Graphics: 7/10
Now the graphics aren't all that bad. John Mullins and other main characters are all rendered well, with face models that even move when they talk (now if only they were synched with the audio). Mullins moves fluidly, the guns all look great, and the cutscenes are all well animated. However the game has a nasty problem of throwing 50 identical bad guys at you. Additionally, some of the levels are just horrid. The jungles of Columbia, for instance, are plagued by "tree wall," flat bushes, a terrible draw distance, and bland greenness all around. Meanwhile, levels like Hong Kong rely on colored boxes a bit much, but more than make up for it with their wonderful looking city streets and building. Textures can be a bit bland, but with large, outdoor environments done tastefully, it's perfectly forgivable.

Sound: 8/10
Sound in shooters is another category that has become more and more important as games like Halo and Metroid Prime use atmospheric effects to create an immersive environment. And while SOF2 doesn't go to these lengths, the sound is still good. Guns are satisfyingly loud and boomy, which really adds to the effect of a flying leg or blood curdling death cry. Each gun sounds unique, yet powerful without sounding overly cheesy. Because bad guys rely on grenades so often, the developers saw it fit to include a very obvious grenade sound, and no matter if Mullins is in the jungles of Columbia or the snows of Kamchatka, the sound is always the same - metal on metal. While the sounds is very distinguishable and lets the player know of an impending explosion, it is also horribly out of place in game that strives for realism in every other category. The voiceovers are easily the all-stars of the sound package. Even Mark "Skywalker" Hamill enjoys employment as a voice actor. And it is all handled very well. Now if only the story and mouth animations for the speech would catch up.

Control: 5/10
Since shooters started being developed for consoles rather than for the PC, control schemes have started changing to take advantage of a console controller versus adapting a keyboard and mouse scheme to a controller as an afterthought. Games like Halo and Metroid Prime have completely revamped how shooters control and have done a great job doing it, raising the bar for all console shooters. Unfortunately, SOF2 comes from the former school. It uses the left stick for moving, the right stick for looking, and the shoulder buttons for firing, while the d-pad manages inventory and the face buttons control miscellaneous functions. I've never liked this scheme. A keyboard has many, many more buttons to take advantage of, and as a result, inventory management while running and shooting is always a frustrating, thumb-jamming experience. Fortunately, Raven thought to include a "quick grenade" face button that, when pressed, automatically switches to a grenade for easy explodin' and when pressed again, switches back to the last used gun - a very thoughtful and useful feature in the otherwise abyss of first person shooter controlling despair.

One of my main problems with the controller setup is accuracy. I can never achieve the same sort of accuracy with twin analog sticks as I can with a single mouse. Other recent shooter ports have included an auto-aim feature to help combat this, but there's no such feature here. The targeting reticle changes to reflect when someone is targeted, but it is so big and obtrusive, it's hard to see the targeted enemy. Additionally, just because the reticle changes, doesn't necessarily mean that the enemy is going to get hit - for some reason, the reticle changes when it is in the vicinity of the enemy, not when a hit is assured. Combine that with the aforementioned size of the targeting reticle, and it makes for some very frustrating shooting indeed.

Overall: 6/10
If you like shooting people, I mean really like shooting people, Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix will satisfy all your terrorist murdering yearnings. But the main problem with this game is that it simply doesn't fulfill its expectations. Many of the game's bragging points are either lacking or poorly implemented. The A.I. makes the bad guys fodder, nothing else. The stealth features are half-implemented at best. In short, the game feels clunky and unfinished. But, if you absolutely must have your fill of ridiculously violent deaths then this game can provide sweet, sweet murderous release. It is fun to shoot guys to little bits, but a certain amount of tolerance with the other issues is required. If nothing else, playing through the single player mission will provide some good, not-so-wholesome rental fun.

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