Soldier of Fortune 3: Payback Review

After playing a bit more and allowing my initial anger to fade, I tried to look at SOF Payback subjectively, as a game in itself, the self contained budget affair that it is, rather then a continuation of the SOF name. Which of course, naturally, isn't realistic, as no matter what the game will always be called SOF and will always have a standard to live up to, but still...

The graphics are really quite nice. Models are good, some of the animation is wonderfully fluid, especially in instances like enemies dropping dead and taking hits when running across open ground. Some neat extra touches, such as the blur effect when you reload a weapon, show a potential in Cauldron that the game suggests but fails to ultimately deliver.


In-game model showcasing the engines capabilities



Gore is mediocre, a major negative point for a game with such a legacy to live up to. While certainly good by the general standard but weak in comparison to SOF2, the damage system looks more like the original Ghoul damage engine rather then Ghoul 2 featured in SOF2 and as such is disappointing. While the game engine may be superior to SOF2 visually, it's a misleading improvement. The engine is the same one used in Battle For the Pacific and Civil War (A new CloakNt engine?), both of which basically look like SOF3 with different skins. Overall, the visuals in themselves can't be faulted. Nothing resounding, but functional and in some spots, very aesthetically pleasing and of similar quality to AAA titles. Cauldrons engines have always been excellent in particular in rendering outdoor environments, and Payback is no different, with foliage, grass and trees impressing greatly.

The area - or rather, areas, as it were unfortunately - it truly falls flat on is simply in virtually every other aspect of the game, such as sound, multiplayer and particularly, presentation. The title screens, for example, in SOF3 and Battle For the Pacific are identical, horribly reminiscent of an early 90's arcade machine. While not surprisingly given the budget nature of the game, equally given the good quality of the visuals you'd think Cauldron would have made a somewhat better effort to prop up the rest of the game to something beyond the status of it's other releases, especially considering the high profile of the SOF series. There are no customizable graphics options, and stupid features such an having to enter your name by having to click on the on screen keyboard really do the game's credibility no favors before a game has even been started.

Most unforgivably, there is no sense of involvement or plot within the game itself which is merely run and gun at heart. Nice graphics can only carry a game so far, and like Cauldrons other games, SOF Payback starts off initially as a bit of mindless fun but gets boring very quickly. FPS games are never notable for their enthralling story lines, but at least provide some characterization and something for the player to identify with, even if it is flimsy. SOF Payback provides nothing of the sort, it's weak, laughable and rushed speech based mission intros begging you to skip them, which again, is a disappointment, because the core of the game, the engine, is up to the task.


Firefight in SOF Payback, once again showcasing the nice visuals



Multiplayer was SOF2's stellar feature, presenting players with a credible alternative even to the likes of Counter Strike. SOF Payback actually recieves negative rep here for it's multiplayer options, shameful to the point of disbelief. In itself, it's nothing worth writing about, certainly not terrible on casual appearances, but in todays competitive market a game has to be so much more then that to be taken notice of and to succeed. Criminally, there is no in-game chat. No way, whatsoever, of communicating with the other players. This in particular pulls SOF Payback further down into the pit of budget hell and separates it cleanly from it's predecessors.

Despite a capable graphics engine, everything else about SOF Payback is sub par to the worst extent possible. It's not that the game is downright terrible, having nailed the most important parts of the game down, Cauldron really wouldn't have had to spent much extra on addressing the slight but massively affecting issues within the game. A small patch could immensely fix some glaring issues, but it would be too little, too late. As of now, the game is currently unusable on Vista, and only officially supported on XP, another nail in it's already well worn coffin.

It might look like SOF, but inside, it's an empty shell. As a massive fan of both the first two games, Double Helix in particular, I really wanted to like this game, even willing to overlook slight issues in favour of nostalgia. Sadly, this game has too much wrong with it to recommend to anybody, SOF or mere FPS fan alike. One to borrow from a friend over the weekend, if only to reassure yourself 'Thank God I didn't buy this'...

 

What specs were you reviewing the game on if you don't mind my asking?

 

x1800xt, 2gb ram, 2ghz Core 2 Duo....1024x768 resolution. Demanding engine..

 

Damn thats a shame. I loved SOF2.

 

???

The reason I loved SOF was because of the sick gore!

 

One of my top ten worst game ever played...avoid this for your sake

 

one of the top 3 worst games ive ever played ;p

 

This is probably the worst game I have ever played. The AI is not even worth calling AI. They run to the same spot every time and are so easy to kill. They had to compensate by making their shots cheaply accurate and more powerful. Basically you can throw a grenade in the same spot every time and blow up all the guys. I played one level so many times I went through it just throwing grenades in certain spots, killing everyone. The gore is very . . . gorey, and not realistic at all.

And the storyline is terrible, no real point. The boss fights are a joke - incredibly cheap and pointless.

Thanks for the review!

 

This sucks lol. I was hoping for at least one positive post about this game but it seems to have failed in every category. I had a shred of hope but now I am just full of doubt. I loved the first two games but I think I am going to just skip this one then. Good work on the review!

 

Nice review. I have some competition.

Damn hearing that its so bad makes me want to play it.

 

Installed SoF3, played the first level, then uninstalled. It sucked hard. Then I installed SoF2!