And the same can be said for the game.
Soldier of Fortune is a good game, a straightforward shooter that owes more to the games from the start of the genre than the more thinky-think titles of late, and while the DC has its own problems--most notably, and horrifically, the insane load times--there's quite a bit of fun to be had with this title. Assuming you don't own the PC version, and you don't mind having a pee break every few minutes,
Soldier of Fortune is a game you should definitely check out.
The storyline is rather intriguing, if not as coherent as you'd like. You play the role of John Mullins, a covert agent who has to save the world on a regular basis. You've got the typical 'save the good guys,' 'kill the bad guys' sort of assignments, and it's up to you to pull them off without getting your head blown off. The game takes place in a couple dozen levels, each with its own look and feel and all of them packed to the brim with bad guys to kill.
Indeed, therein lies the core conceit of Soldier of Fortune. There's a lot of death to deal, and it's up to you to deal it. There'a a nice array of weaponry to play with--as should be expected, since the game is a license of the magazine with the same name--and you'll have fun playing with shotguns and rifles (and bears, oh my!) as you blaze your way through the evil troops. Indeed, the game discards almost all pretense of a 'thinking man's shooter,' as that's not what it tries to be. Run down the hall, clean out the room, lather, rinse, repeat.
It's a good thing that the game plays well enough to keep that going for a while. There's a lot to do, even if the game is painfully linear, and it's always fun seeing how the next enemy will drop with your weapon. There's enough variety to keep you playing until the end, which is good.
At least, if you can stand the load times. By far the main detractor from this game, costing it some serious 'cool factor' points, is the fact that the load times are frequent and atrociously long. I suggest reading a book or short story while you're playing this game; you'll be able to finish a short story per play session if you get far enough into the game. These sort of load times are downright criminal. It shouldn't take three minutes just to get into the start of the game, folks.
The game also lacks any multiplayer capabilities, although I understand the concentration on the single-player experience. And I feel a little dirty nitpicking about stuff like this. The Dreamcast never got its Half-Life, but at least it got this.
