Soldier of Fortune 2: Double Helix Preview

Even though the crew at Raven stated that the game's plot will be unfolding in a somewhat linear manner, they also indicated that players have the possibility to carry out certain missions in several different ways, which signifies a thorough approach the developers applied to the in-game level design. Although, they still have to decide if they want to sustain this linear approach to the story fundamentals or if they wish to add a more restrained method which is allows players alternative solutions to each mission objective. As opposed to that, the creators of SoF2 are certain that the main character, John Mullins, will be meeting numerous NPC's, some of which are crucial to the storyline while others will provide him with useful information.

Since we've scratched the surface of the in-game NPC's, we will dive deeper into the issue by looking at the AI routine. Soldier of Fortune 2 has an AI technology named LICH, which gives enemy units a more particular way of defense, attack, and general movement. The following is a list of the many ways in which your adversaries will react to your actions and very presence; enemy units will be able to:

• Use Vision and Hearing
• Detect Player
• Raise Alarms
• Return from All-Out Action to Stealth Mode
• Interact With World Objects and Surroundings
• React Quickly To Player and Changes in Surroundings
• Work In Tandem
• Be Interested In Self-Preservation
• And finally, the AI Will Have Perpetually-Raising Difficulty Levels

As for the assortment of weaponry, you can look forward to a rich mixture of guns, rifles, pistols, grenade launchers, etc. Specifically, the player can look forward to using amusing little military toys such as the M84 Stun Grenade, M67 Delay Fragmentation Hand Grenade, and the AK-74 assault rifle. (This is not a typing error - he's actually referring to AK-74, and not AK-47 - Ed.) Each of these weapons has its own definite range, ammo capacity, etc. An important issue regarding the weapons, mind you, is that they are all region specific (which represents another boost to the in-game realism).

All of the aforementioned details have greatly contributed to the game's verisimilitude. Unfortunately, a slight bummer comes with game's multiplayer feature. Well, to put it is as briefly as possible, there won't be one. (Aww... f-ck! - Ed.) The developers regret to have excluded the multiplayer aspect since it could've been a major boost to its popularity. Even so, fans of the old game should not be discouraged given that the game will contain a random mission generator that allows players to instantly create and design their own levels.

Yes, I remember the good-old days when we senselessly wasted our precious moments in life by playing Counter-Strike until our eyes popped out of our heads. We will, therefore, really miss a multiplayer aspect in such a notable FPS game and it will be a shame if the game-designers make a decision to stick to the more linear approach to the game's concept. But, as there's still a lot of time, there's always hope that they will go for a multiplayer game add-on following its release.

Full game-production started during October 2000, and is currently half way through its development. Expect it to start hitting the shelves this November.