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Intro
When a routine escort mission goes horribly wrong, you find yourself battling an insidious enemy that knows no boundaries. You know the drill, it’s time to kill. This is Solider of Fortune: Payback, the third game in the franchise from way back in 2000 and the first time Activision goes to a non-Quake gaming engine and new developer. Lock and load.

Game
Solider of Fortune: Payback gives payback to its original roots that involved straight forward objectives without any strategy besides shoot before they shoot. Payback returns to simpler time of FPS gaming, before you had vehicles, co-operative single player missions and upgradable statistics. The only thing you need to know in Payback is the location of the trigger and the direction to kill. The plot in Solider of Fortune: Payback is horrible, but that doesn’t matter because most gamers are playing Solider of Fortune for one thing, the violent gunplay. I expected a little more out of the plot developments for Solider of Fortune before I started and then once I ran through a few levels I understood, the plot is just an excuse to change locations and gun down more enemies.

I find it interesting that I have been scheduled to review Solider of Fortune: Payback right after I put down the controller on Call of Duty 4. After running through the six hour adventure in Call of Duty 4, my skills where homed to take down more terrorists in Payback. This benefited my time in Payback because I didn’t have to adjust to the controls because they are identical to Call of Duty. You would think these two games would have too many similarities, but they do. From the publisher, to the controls and subject matter, Solider of Fortune Payback is a unpolished, more linear version of Call of Duty 4.

Cauldron HQ is at the helm this time around, changed from Raven Software who moved on to make a number of great games including X-Men Legends, and Quake 4. Cauldron uses its own gaming engine to its maximum levels trying their hardest to compete in the graphic intensive genre of first person shooters. It’s a tough season to crack when you look at the competition of Call of Duty 4, Bioshock, and Halo 3. This causes Cauldron to push their engine a little too hard which comes in the expense of the frame rate and constant slowdowns in game. Solider of Fortune: Payback has the right idea and some impressive visuals in a few areas that unfortunately get bogged down during gameplay.

On the good side of the graphics, the environments look crisp and clean and the vegetation overgrowth are some of the best I’ve seen in the jungle levels. Payback also boasts some impressive weapon models with excellent re-loading animations that can even give Call of Duty 4 a run for its money. Then we have the games sadistic feature, gore and dismemberment. Definitely not for the squeamish at heart, Solider of Fortune lets you blow apart your enemies literally “limb from limb”. Arms, heads, legs all go to the extreme and blow off sometimes leaving your victim alive to scream in pain. This would be closer to war, not the bloodless disappearing pixels we are used to in other games. If gore is your thing, you can get enough of those Saw movies, then Solider of Fortune: Payback will be a delightful experience of dismemberment.

I’ll let you know right now, Call of Duty 4 is a better overall game, but Solider of Fortune Payback has a few rewards that are uniquely their own. Borrowing from Rainbow Six, you can outfit your character before you go into battle. In the selection screen you can select your primary and secondary weapon, a handgun and an extra like grenades. The weapon selection covers everything from assault rifles and shotguns, to explosives, assorted grenades. You can also upgrade you weapon before you march into the unknown with sight attachments, grenade launchers, silencers and more. Upgrading you gun will give a tactical advantage on the field which works to your benefit online and off.

Payback is brainless fun and violent fun. Blowing apart human bodies as you run through pretty levels doesn’t always need a deep and interesting plot line, or revolutionary artificial intelligence. Payback is the type of game you’ll run through once, but you’ll never re-live the experience. All you do is point your character and one direction and watch the death count rise. Payback at times throws a few objectives at you that can be entertaining, along with the treating mercenaries who can sometimes get the jump on your character. At times, you will have to focus you attention all around an environment to pick of all the enemies which goes to great heights, or hidden in overgrown foliage. The ride isn’t that long and in six or so hours you’ll be done and possibly onto multiplayer.

For negative aspects, Solider of Fortune: Payback has lots. The artificial intelligence is brutally cheap and stupid. These guys either pick you off from a distance, or walk into the firing range like turkeys on Thanksgiving. The plot is horrible and the storytelling presentation matches its content. The graphics are questionable with devastating amounts of slowdown and overused havoc physics. The multiplayer is filled with lag, basic game modes and glitch gameplay. Summing up the Payback experience as forgettable, but... it has some of the most fun violence thrown into a shooter. Bluntly, it’s hard to come on top when you have that much going against you. That’s why it’s amazing that Solider of Fortune still manages to sneak a few shots in. This isn’t the worst game on the market, and it’s no where near the best.

Lowdown
I’m glad to see the Soldier of Fortune franchise return to the next-gen however this game could have used a little more development time if it hopes to compete with the other big FPS releases. This has to be the worst timing to release Solider of Fortune: Payback falling into competition with titles like Call of Duty 4, Halo 3, Bioshock and Metriod Prime 3. The best thing Activision could have done is discounted the price making Payback closer to a budget title. At the current price point, I can’t recommend Solider of Fortune: Payback for anything more than a rental.

 
Reviewed by Jimmy | 11.26.07

Features

  • Built to harness the power of next generation- Featuring an incredibly realistic modeling system allowing for accurate hit detection and detailed damage modeling. Enemies will not only react to the specific area they've been hit but also to the power of the weapon they've been hit with.
  • One of the most lethal collections of weapons ever assembled - Over 30 of the baddest weapons including sub-machine guns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, projectile explosives, weapons attachments and futuristic prototype weapons.
  • The world's most dangerous hotspots- Players will find themselves thrown into authentic mercenary situations in real world hotspots around the globe. Survive and ambush and rescue a diplomat, infiltrate a terrorist organization, go on a search and destroy mission and much more.
  • Enemies around every corner- High intensity combat situations where players will need to take down over 15 unique enemies including terrorists, mobsters, insurgents, enemy soldiers and more.
  • Online multiplayer- Play your favorite individual and team based online modes including death match, team death match, elimination, team elimination, capture the flag and demolition. Additional online options include maps tuned specifically for multiplayer action, and persistent stat tracking.
  • Compelling new storyline- When a routine escort mission goes horribly wrong, players find themselves battling an insidious enemy that knows no boundaries. As mercenary Thomas Mason, players will need to uncover and terminate an extremist plot aimed at throwing the world into global chaos.

Soldier of Fortune: Payback

Publisher
Activision

Developer
Cauldron HQ

Genre
FPS

US Release
November 2007

ESRB
Mature

Platform
X360, PC

Details
1 Player
Online Multiplayer
Dolby 5.1
HD Support