Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix - Gold Edition

As much as I love the original SoF, something went wrong with this sequel. I'd say that it has something to do with too large ambitions. For starters: the game has lost a lot of the original's feel. This is not Quake with human enemies anymore, this feels more like a misguided attempt at a tactical shooter with realistic (if over-the-top) violence. The gunplay just lost a lot of its power in a pursuit of more realism. The human models have lost their bulkiness, the gore has become almost too realistic, the shotgun doesn't spray pellets all over the screen anymore... And the game tries much too hard to do stuff that video games just weren't ready for yet. There's terrible stealth sections, there's a jungle that's literally hell because the only one whose sight is obstructed by the foliage is the player. And far too often you're constantly being hit by enemies you don't see which often makes the game just feel bad. There's also a problem with the game's identity. While the original SoF was little more than an excuse to slaughter a variety of archetypes of human enemies in iconic places, this one tries too hard to tie everything into a remotely plausible plot. You don't just slaughter punks and Russian or Iraqi soldiers anymore because that's what you did at the time. Here you slaughter all sorts of unrecognisable people because there's some story reason you probably don't care much about. And most locations really lack character. Prague just can't compete with a New York subway station. To top if off, the game kinda looks worse. Everything is more detailed but also ugly and especially the characters just look creepy and unreal. Polycounts may have gone up but the texture work and lighting utterly lack love. Why four stars, then? Because it's still SoF. It's still very satisfying when it's not frustrating, it's still unchallenged ultra violence in a rather fast-paced shooter with a realistic setting. There's still nothing quite like it other than the original SoF.

Get it it runs perfectly on windows 7 and i have no issues. The game itself is pure shooter fun and it gets really hard on higher difficulties. And for german purchasers this game is comepletly uncut.

For the price, people should get this game and Soldier of Fortune 1. Forget about payback, it was made by another people and it was a rush job.... SoF2 gave us all we like from 1 and made it look better, violence, cheesy history (from an 80s movie), PHOTOREALISTIC GRAPHICS!!(photo textures... it was awesome on the early 00s). Be aware that this game is from the early 00s, made using the mindset of the late 90s and before 04 (when HL2 and COD games made a new trend on gameplay styles). So it may feel a bit hard and unfair. But then again, for the Price is a must have.

This is one of my most favourites ever, played this one uncountable hours and several times and I look forward to it again. The game combines uncomplicated gameplay and a story of secret service issues. The difficulty level can be hard and just running and shooting doesnt help, you always have to look for cover and think tactically and should not forget to save. I think its the best episode of the series, recently played the platinum edition of episode one, the 3rd episode is not worth to be mentioned. However great to have it on GOG finally.