Soldier of Fortune: Platinum Edition

Played this on Linux (Wine) with the SoFPlus fan patch. Didn’t try the multiplayer but I recall it being fun back in the day. The gameplay is basically Quake II but modern warfare. You run through the levels, blast bad guys, use buttons & switches to progress and get to the end of the level. There is a plot, but as John Carmack once said, "It's expected to be there, but it's not that important." I *strongly* recommend customizing the difficulty settings at the main menu because the default options are uneven at best. I found medium difficulty too easy (boring), but the jump in difficulty on the “Challenging” setting was insane. I was doing fine until the first level of Siberia. You are immediately sniped and attacked by an auto-turret, both of which can see you through the map’s fog. Not sure if it’s a lack of testing or sadistic developers, but on Challenging difficulty it’s just cheap deaths over and over. It’s worse because your number of quick-saves are limited, so you’ll be replaying the same section and dying over and over. Another critique I have of this game is the weapon variety. There’s an over-reliance on the SMG or shotgun. If there was different types of SMG or shotgun it would be okay, but there's only one of each. This game also has a sniper rifle but you’ll barely use it. Grenades are quick-thrown like Call of Duty, but only frags were useful. Flash grenades don’t seem to affect the AI most times and usually end up blinding you instead. C4 is too situational to be useful. Enemy variety is underwhelming. Occasionally you’ll fight enemies with body armor, defense turrets or vehicles, but it’s mostly the same goons with different uniforms. The levels may change, but the AI does not. It can get a bit stale after a while. As a whole, the game is okay despite its flaws and worth a play at sale price. I wouldn’t pay the $9.99 asking price for this. SoFPlus fan patch is an absolute must.

The only reason I didn't give 5 stars to this game was some small movement bugs during my gameplay, the puppet seemed to be sliding on ice instead of running... But honestly, WHO CARES? The game is just too good, its trademark was the exaggerations. I had a great time playing SoF, it's a shame that it's sequels didn't even come close to this big boy. ATTENTION Remeber to download SoFplus - client to have a good exprience.

Honestly, the only thing I really need to say about this game is that I used to have to get into fights with my then-16-year-old sister because she was hogging my computer all the time, playing through Soldier of Fortune's campaign on repeat. Let that sink in for a moment. If that doesn't sell you on trying out this game then I don't know what will. And before you get on my back for suggesting that girls aren't gamers or whatever, you really need to understand what kind of a teenager my sister was. She was literally the last person you'd suspect to be into this type of game at that age. Hell, she was never really into gaming at all and once she got over SoF, I don't think she ever picked up another game ever again. And I guess it's entirely possible that what grabbed her attention was the fact that you could shoot dudes in a dick and they would react to it in a believable way. But my personal takeaway from this little anecdote is that Soldier of Fortune is just so much fun that literally anyone will find it enjoyable.

KB4571756 update is don’t launch game. update plz

Soldier of Fortune is a pretty straight foward early 00's FPS, but with the added gimmick of gore. It does its job, and it does it fairly adequately. The storyline is a fun paramilitary romp. The gameplay is still perfectly playable by today's standards. There's a variety of guns that kill people in different ways. It's a fairly simple and average game, but simple and average is good. It's an safe bet if you want to play an old style of FPS before the days of digital knife collections and dancing emotes. I'm giving this a rock solid 3/5 for being as average as it gets, but I'd bump that up to a 4/5 if you like cheesy gore effects.