Hands-on: Soldier of Fortune

Majesco hit town with an early build of Soldier of Fortune this week and let us blow the limbs off people until our hearts were content. A PlayStation 2 port of the entrails-spewing PC first-person shooter of the same name, SOF is looking to offer PS2 owners the same bloody experience. You will take the role of John Mullins, soldier out to retrieve four nuclear warheads by any way possible. The terrorists who've taken the warheads are not pleased at having to return them and look to offer John quite a bit of resistance. Fortunately John's arsenal of weapons is extensive and packs a limb-removing wallop. SOF PS2 will offer the same 26 hit locations on enemies, called "gore zones," to allow for very accurate damage when hit by a weapon. Kneecaps can be blown off just as easily as heads; it all hinges on how good a shot you are. You will get plenty of shooting practice as you make your way through the game. SOF will feature 10 missions set over 26 levels that take place on five continents.

So far the game runs a bit rough in spots, the frame rate and loading still need to be optimized, but it is looking pretty faithful to the feature set of the PC version. Given Majesco's experience in porting PC games to consoles, SOF's control setup feels pretty user friendly. If you can't get the hang of a first-person shooter with the PS2 controller, you can use a mouse and keyboard via the USB ports. For those who do opt to use the controller, the game handles well, an auto-aim feature helps make up for the limitations of the controller. Graphically the game has a ways to go, but lighting had yet to be implemented and optimized. Unfortunately it looks like online play will not make it into the game. However, multiplayer games will be available for up to four players on a split screen. In addition, Majesco is looking to include new maps for multiplayer games if development time allows--at present the company is hoping to include at least two.

Soldier of Fortune is expected to ship in September.