Soldier of Fortune: Payback Review

The bloodshed can be switched off, but its inclusion wasn't looked kindly upon in certain parts of the world. While most countries were okay with Payback being M-rated, Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) effectively banned the game from sale Down Under, due to "high impact" violence.

Seeing as this was a Value title, I was rather surprised with what the development team has done in terms of visuals. Even though most of the levels appear ...rather plastic, other details and visual effects make the game seem a bit more up-to-date. Explosions are passable and there's a solid variety of environments to go through. Another obvious thing is that the team did a solid job on creating the character models and fine-tuning ragdoll physics. You'll also appreciate the variety of death animations.

The game isn't exactly technically sound. On top of sudden frame-rate drops, you're liable to experience occasional visual bugs. There's a patch available for the game, which may help solve some of these problems.

If senseless, over-the-top violence can keep you entertained, you'll be done with the single-player portion in several hours, after which you might want to get into the multiplayer. Yet, this is just another mundane aspect of the game, featuring nothing beyond the traditional deathmatch, CTF and so on.

So, as it happens, I did have some fun with SoF: Payback; plus, it did evoke some of the SoF nostalgia. At the same time, however, I think the content and gameplay do not justify the game's price tag. If you're really that desperate and keen on experiencing a largely inane gory action game, Payback is just the ticket. Even so, you're sure to be annoyed by the cheap tricks pulled off by the enemy AI.

Do yourself a favor and let this one pass. There are so many other shooters on the market that are worth your while - Crysis, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Halo 3, BioShock, The Orange Box, Medal of Honor: Airborne, Call of Duty 4, Gears of War (PC)... take your pick.