Soldier of Fortune: Payback

"I am going to pop your head like a grape...with my little pistol!"

I loved the first two Soldier of Fortune games. It's hard to play the first SOF ever since SOF 2 came out; but it is still fun to go back just for nostalgic value. This game however, is a MAJOR downgrade from the second SOF.

Graphically, Payback is not up to par with SOF 2. The textures are terrible, as are the gun models. The character models are slightly better in Payback though. Mutilated bodies look good I suppose (more on that in a bit).

The physics are better in Payback, but that isn't saying much. The bodies fly around when shot/blown-up but these instances feel exaggerated way too much.

The sound in Payback is horrendous! An assault rifle may sound like a rapid-fire version of the 9mm pistol that you can carry. The sniper rifles sound far too weak. I understand that this is not Call of Duty 4 caliber realism, but the AK47 is a well-known weapon and most games today can replicate the firearm relatively well. This is not the case in this game, where the rifle is painfully generic. Your character (not Mullins anymore) sounds way too B-movie; it's like he figures if he talks like he has a sore throat he will sound tough. The music is not great but it is not bad either in my book.

The story is almost non-existant. After the first mission and the idiotic "cutscene" with the agent-gone-bad, I tuned out.

The gameplay is one of many disappointments in this game. The controls work well enough but what's the point? SOF has always been a gory game; the dismemberment is kinda the series' trademark. It is cranked up in this game...in a bad way. Shooting a guy in the head with a 9mm handgun will drop him (as it should), but sometimes this single shot to the head will result in a decapitation! I fired at a guy center-mass (ie: body) with a shotgun and he exploded into 6 seperate pieces, each limb, his head and his torso were laying on the ground in seperate piles. This game is not realistic and that is absolutely fine, but it has become so arcade-like that it is just not fun anymore.

I WANTED this game to be good but it just didn't work for me. Some may like it and that's great. If enough people buy this game then that may justify a fourth game...maybe they will get it right in that one. There are far too many FPSs out there to warrant a purchase of this game. The novelty of the dismemberment makes a rental worthwhile, but after you blow a guy's head off for the 100th time, the novelty may start to wear off. If you want a GOOD FPS, this is a great year for 360 owners because we have Halo 3, Call of Duty 4 and Rainbow Six Vegas to name a few. They don't have exploding bodies but they are a lot more fun in the end.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 11/26/07

Game Release: Soldier of Fortune: Payback (US, 11/13/07)