Rented SoF2 earlier today(I am still in shock *anyone* had a copy in), and I must say that I disagree with 90% of the opinions I've heard about it so far...

Yes, it's going to be *that* kind of post. ;)

Before I begin, a few things that need to be said:

* I am a huge Soldier of Fortune fan; loved part one and two on the PC. Does this influence my opinion on the X version....most likely.

* I have just recently beaten SoF2(for the second time) on the PC about a week before playing it on the X, so it's pretty fresh in my mind.

* All thoughts are based on five to six hours of gameplay, and up to the beginning of the Seaward Star level.

* Finally, all thoughts and opinion of mine...are exactly that: Thoughts and opinions of MINE. I have to state this because I'm sure, as 90% of the people who have played this have slammed the fuck out of it, I'm going to get some whiplash...just remember, this is just what *I* think about the game. :)

{This is going to be a REALLY long post...so if you just want the gist of it: I feel that SoF2 is an excellent conversion that is incredibly close to the original and even surpasses it in some areas.}

As I love comparisons, I thought I'd start out with a few things that differ significantly from the PC/Mac versions:

1. All of the parts in the game where you actually talk to other characters have been replaced with movie footage of that scene. Not new, rendered footage or anything, just a really grainy movie of the in-game footage from the PC/Mac version. It's odd, I have no idea why they have done this.

2. The voices all seem to have been sped up a bit. Not so much that it changes the pitch or tone, just to where it sounds like the people are always in a hurry or something. Again, I have no idea why they would have done this either. I thought that maybe it would have been for saving space...but as the original PC/Mac version was only 2 CD's, how they could not have managed to fit an untouched version of the voice tracks on the DVD is beyond me.

3. The game is a LOT fucking easier(thank God). This is my favorite part about the conversion, and was my main gripe against the PC/Mac version. No shit: In the PC/Mac version, someone could take you down in as little as 3 hits(and this is with FULL armor). It was ridiculous....and made the game extremely frustrating.

4. You can't turn off the damn hit-inaccuracy! This really pisses me off. Mullins is a professional soldier, and a damn good one at that...so the fact that they've even added this in the game in the first place was bad...but now that they've taken out the option to turn it off....ugh.

5. The sound meter has been done away with. This is no big loss...at all. Like in part one, the *only* thing this does is tell you when you've done something so loudly that it MAY draw other enemies to your location. It has nothing to do with stealth or anything else. You won't miss it at all.

6. It's missing the entire movie that you could watch while installing the PC/Mac version. Kinda sucks...it was a nice little background into the story and the government's dealing with The Shop.

7. The violence, unfortunately, has been toned down...way down. Now, that's not to say it's not there, or you can't see it...it just seems like all of the hit points on the enemies aren't there anymore. Used to be, you could blow pieces of their head off and that hitting them with the shotgun(no matter where) would cause just seriously gory results...but it rarily happens when compared to the PC/Mac version. It was like this in SoF on DC...I think it may have something to do with the scaled down engine and/or polygon count.

8. The control room in The Shop is missing. Not a big thing...but I just found it odd that they cut it.

Now for a few things that they have left in, that I didn't even remotely think would make it:

1. Save ANYWHERE! Yes, as hard as it is to believe, you can(and will) save anywhere and at any time. That rocks. I thought it'd be one of those "beat the level and it'll save" sorta things.

2. Same graphical glitches. It's funny, all of the weird clipping and odd enemy behavior is still there. My favorite is in the jungle, how the plants will grow straight through the floor in the houses. There is one major glitch though: In Columbia, for some reason there's an invisible wall around the first guard tower...won't let you near it. It's weird.

3. Textures are pretty much just the same. Scaled down a bit, but all the paintings and such, they are all still there, and are of the same things.

4. On the Seaward Star(and I can't believe that A) They ever put this part in the game to begin with and B) that MS let this slide when approving the game) there's this one room where, if you've been moderatly quiet(and by that, I mean not shot off something like the shotgun right at the door or anything), there's this terrorist asleep. You can do *anything* you want to him. Favorites of mine include: Blowing his head off with the shotgun(of course), blowing his legs off with the shotgun and/or dropping an fire grenade on him. I mean, the game is violent enough...but this is bodering on disturbing. ;) Oh, also, on the PC next to his bed, in the PC/Mac versions, Doom II is show on the monitor where as now it has some blue screen and the title of "Intrepid Waters"(I think it's intreped, but can't remember now). I have no idea what that's all about. The developer(Gratuitous Games) has only done one other game(Crusin Exotica on N64) and their site is just a white page with the text "Gratuitous Games" on it so I guess it could be an up and coming title...no clue.

5. The Random Mission Generator is still there. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless you just like to see how goofy the computer can get. Some of the levels it will create are fucked up. I had one(back on the
PC) create this huge canyon I could barily even navigate through...it was crazy.

Ok, on to the actual toughts(for those of you who haven't fallen asleep yet)...

Graphics:
Ok, just a quick little rant, not trying to be a smart ass....but: For those of you complaining about the graphics...you do realize that this wasn't built on or for the Xbox right? What you are getting, graphic-wise is almost exactly what was on the PC/Mac version. They may seem dated, or dark or whatever to you, but that's the way they were on the PC/Mac version...nothing that Gratuitous Games could do about that. One really nice thing though: A lot of the levels on the PC/Mac version where it's so dark that wearing the night vision is mandatory, have been brightened up a bit so that you can actually navigate them without the goggles.

With that said, I thought they were excellent on the PC and I think they are excellent here. The Xbox does a great job rendering it all with very little slowdown(the *only*{ONLY} times I have encountered any slowdown was in the jungle...this one spot where I had the three marines with me, it just started to slowdown for some reason...then it picked back up. It was odd. I mean, you pick up that fourth marine later on...and no slowdown there...who knows) and much better transparencies that I was seeing on the PC at work(a P4 2GHz with a gig of Ram and a 32 meg Radeon). The jungles in Columbia, especially, run SO much smoother than the PC version(again, that I was seeing). One of the biggest things I noticed: On every computer I have *ever* seen this game on, when a player/enemy throws a smoke bomb, shit just slows down...not to a crawl necessarily, but it does slow down to a noticably framey rate....on the Xbox, it doesn't even seem to flinch when someone pops one off. That's really nice.

The framerate, like I talked about above, was smooth. I have no idea how anyone could say this isn't a decent framerate. Granted, it's not Halo smooth or anything, but then again IT WASN'T BUILT FROM THE GROUND UP ON THE XBOX. People say that they find it to be running slow....this is your character, not the game. Mullins wanted Raven to really work on the game's realism and this(the speed of the walking/running) along with the damage scale and other things are what came of it. You have to remember: He's a *real* human...he's not the Marine from Doom or Barak from UT, he can't run 40mph and jump 50 feet.

Sound:
This is will be relatively short. The music and sound effects are ripped directly from the PC/Mac version, so it's the same stuff. Now, what I will say is this: As you may remember from waaaaaaaay back at the beginning of this post, the speech sounds like it has been sped up...but beyond that, some of it sounds like it was recorded at the lowest possible bit rate. The results are parts of conversations being overly loud/quiet, grainy, etc. I was a big disappointed at that as there is no reason for this. Oh, one thing for you 5.1 system owners: The game is
great in 5.1 and will *really* help you figure out from where those bullets are coming from(especially in the jungle).

Control:
A quick tip: Turn the fucking viewing axis almost all the way up! The default speed is entirely too slow and makes the game feel sluggish. Other than that, the dual analog is actually pretty good(yes indeed folks, I have *finally* gotten into the groove of using that scheme. Still not that great, but at least I can get around now where as a few months ago...I could barely get with it enough to move just sidways or something) and helps out in those few places that require you to be (somewhat)stealth-like. All of the major buttons are represented on the
controller and relatively easy to get at. I have still yet to figure out how to get the Sniper rifle to zoom past X5, but as I have rented the game...there was no manual to explain this to me.

Gameplay:
Ok, quick, sort of agressive statement for those of you who have stated"It sucked on the PC, it sucks on the Xbox": If you didn't like it on the PC, WHAT IN THE FUCK made you think you were going to like it on the Xbox? I just don't understand why that statement was ever spoken...it makes less than no sense to me. You either like the quasi-realistic gameplay of the PC/Mac version or you don't...simple as that. If you don't, then don't play it, go get Halo or whatnot, no big deal. I just hate hearing people bashing this conversion like the PC/Mac version was so much better or something and the developers just (somehow)fucked it beyond being playable. That's not that case AT ALL.

Now, that's not to say that the gameplay is perfect in ANY respect...it has its definite issues and flaws. How about the inane wire cutting feature they decided to put in? It's use TWICE in the ENTIRE game. Hell, you don't even have to do it, just jump the wire or break it away from the side with the explosive. The fact that Mullins can only seem to pick certain locks, but not all of them(as to which he will tell you, "It's locked". Then pick it motherfucker!). ;) The inclusion of stealth: The game wasn't built for it...and every damn level that wants you do use it, you WILL fail miserably as the guards are somehow psychic and know when you knife someone 8 blocks over and hit the alarm. I am glad they took out the sound meter, and SERIOUSLY relaxed the ONLY level in the game where it's mandatory that you not be seen(or it will end the game and you will start over at that level). Don't even get me started on the "super" gun that they give you towards the end of the game. Yes, it's
cool, thank you very much Mr. Scientist...but it's not the mesiah you and the game makes it out to be...

Online:
This is the one part I *will* agree with every other person who has talked about it: It REALLY DOES take 45 seconds to 2 minutes for the FULL server list to come up. I have NO idea why that could be. Now, if you do Optimatch, and just search for certain game types, I have gotten it to appear within 30 seconds. Online play is pretty hip, and has a LOT of maps on it. I am hoping that the "Content Download" section will eventually have the "Gold" levels from the PC/Mac version that were released a few months ago. Every game I went into was oddly silent...it was weird. I still don't understand the walkie-talkie. Something you can talk without it being on and they will hear you, sometimes, I guess, they won't. As I have rented it, there was no manual with it to give me an explanation. Also, you seem to have 4 channels on the walkie-talkie...that I don't know what are used for just yet. I guess, maybe, you can put four different people in a seperate channel?

Played online for about an hour or so across three or four different games. The online-only levels are pretty badass....really big, but not so big that you can't run into someone pretty regularly(assuming you have three to four people in the game, at least). Most of them are just cut up versions of the regular levels, but there are some that are completely new, and they are really nice. There are 5 or 6 game types, I only played in Deathmatch...but Demolition sound interesting and I'd love to try a game of Capture the Flag. All in all, this is an excellent Live title, imo.

Bottom Line:
I hate to admit, because I hate to agree with any "official" publication of any kind as they are there to get you to buy games, not like them(and on top of that, they are seriously biased), that I agree with OXBM's rating on the game...but past that, I would have given in a 9(I think they have it an 8?). *If* you liked the PC/Mac version, or like I said earlier a psuedo-realistic FPS, then I think you will like SoF2. The framerate issues I have heard about, I disagree 100% on. It's smooth, very smooth...even in places that the 2Ghz P4 with a 32Meg Radeon and a gig of ram couldn't even run it that well. The graphics are almost exactly like the PC/Mac version, scaled down and cut so that they could be put into the resolution scheme of the common TV. It's not a computer monitor people, it's your 27"...you've got to let a little bit slide here.;)

A solid conversion with a lot to offer offline and, especially, online. I actually like it better on the Xbox than on the PC/Mac due to the lowered difficulty level and constant smoothness of the framerate(those screen-slowdown bombs are hell on the computer versions). I recommend this title highly, and when my 5 day rental runs out, I will be heading out to pick it up myself...hope to shoot...er, see you online. :)

...and finally: For those of you playing SoF2 for the first time, a few quick tips and a link to the ultimate FAQ for this game. These are all parts I had difficulty with my first time through on the PC.

1. When you run into the doctor in Prague, SAVE THE GAME immediately. If he dies, you start the ENTIRE level over again. Try to stay in front of him and when he says "Watch out" get ready to cover him. Just load the shotgun and keep pulling the trigger until everyone but you and the doc are dead.

2. When riding off in the truck, out of Prague, though you can shoot anywhere on the enemies trucks and blow them to bits, try hitting the hood.

3. The Train Station is the ONLY part on the game where you HAVE to use stealth. If you are seen or the alarm is hit, the game ends and you start the level over. The developers of the Xbox version have done you all an amazing favor and scaled the difficulty of this mission down to a cakewalk. Just walk(not run) up behind the guard, aim for the neck or head and peg them with a knife...easy as that. They are dumb as brick and blind as a bat to boot. There will be one part where you WILL NOT believe the guard can't see you...it's hilarious.

4. Be sure and visit the coffee room in The Shop, the guy bitching about the coffee pot is pretty funny.

5. In Columbia, DO NOT hit the switch, that launchs the missle, twice. I am warning you...

6. The Marines CANNOT be killed by the enemies...now this is not to say that you can just stand back and let them do all the work, they seem to be terrible shots...and you will have to help.

7. Don't attempt the rescue of the fourth Marine until the captain gives you the order. Again, I am warning you...

8. When in the chopper, on your way out, when you hear the pilot say "Take out that encampment" he's serious. That thing will waste the chopper damn quick! You can't kill the guy, for some reason, directly so shoot the barrels behind/to the side of the building to take him out. Do this as soon as you come up on it, you may not make a full circle...

9. Why do the insist on circling shit you've blown up three times? I don't know...in the PC version, if you killed something before they started circling, they wouldn't circle it at all.

10. At Vergara's place, no shit, do NOT attempt the front door. An endless amount of enemies will just keep coming. The pool is also NOT the way in...

11. Taking out Vergara's bodyguard is tough when you don't know what you're doing. He still does an AMAZING amount of damage, but not nearly as much as he did on the PC/Mac version(he could kill you in 3 to 4 hits) so rushing him is no good. Get as close as you can(there's a pillar right in front of him you can hide behind), break out the sniper rifle, lean over and shoot the electric box next time him. You can try to lob a grenade in there...but it's tough to get that to work.

12. On the Seaward Star, when in the ship, try to only use the pistol when you reach the crew's quarters. Like I said, as long as you don't start blasting away with the shotgun, you won't wake up that crew member...and you can do to him what you please. ;)

That's as far as I am now, upon beating it(most likely tomorrow) I'll post somemore tips.

In the meantime, if you need some help, this FAQ rocks!

http://db.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/soldier_of_fortune_ii.txt

If that doesn't work, and I think it might not as GameFAQS has some kind of rule against direct linking, try this link and choose the FAQ by Halon50.

http://gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/game/32260.html

BTW, as hard as it is to believe, I'm probably forgetting a few things...so I may pop back in and post some other things I've noticed/liked/disliked, etc.

Have fun,

Bel, who reminds you that these are just *his* thoughts on the game...;)

Just two quick notes on some stuff I meant to put in, but forgot about: