Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix Preview

"Every time he tells us a story, we're like 'Ooh, how can we fit that into the game?'" exclaims Raven Software designer Jon Zuk. Zuk is referring to John Mullins, the ex-Green Beret and security consultant whose wartime and peacetime combat experiences were made famous by Raven's Soldier of Fortune, one of the goriest and most visceral first-person shooters ever released for any gaming platform. "When we first started talking to John [Mullins], we realized that there was a lot we could do with him, and really, [the original] Soldier of Fortune barely touched on all his experiences," Zuk continued. That will all change later this year, though, when Raven Software and Activision release the follow-up to the controversial Soldier of Fortune: the aptly titled Soldier of Fortune II. Raven Software and John Mullins have teamed up again to deliver what will surely be another gun-blazing romp across the globe. Interestingly enough, Raven seems to be following the example of recent first-person shooters, and it's making the sequel a single-player-only game--there are currently no plans to implement any kind of multiplayer support in Solder of Fortune II. We recently had the chance to sit down with Zuk, who is the project lead for Soldier of Fortune II, to find out more about this promising game.

By Zuk's own admission, Soldier of Fortune wasn't exactly a realistic game, despite marketing claims to the contrary. According to Zuk, however, that wasn't because of the game's design--it was due to severe technological limitations. Soldier of Fortune was developed using the aging Quake II engine, and Raven didn't have the means necessary to implement everything that it wanted to into the original game. With Soldier of Fortune II, technology will clearly be at the forefront. The game is being developed using id Software's robust Quake III: Team Arena engine, and it will make use of Raven's ROAM terrain system from Soldier of Fortune and the ICARUS scripting language from Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force. Additionally, Soldier of Fortune II will feature the GHOUL II rendering system, an enhanced version of the original GHOUL engine that was responsible for the location-based damage via 13 "dismemberment zones" on all the 3D models of the enemy characters in Soldier of Fortune. According to Raven Software, Soldier of Fortune II will up the ante significantly. "GHOUL II is the main technology focus of the game as far as we're concerned," Zuk explained. "We've increased the amount of dismemberment zones from 26 to 36, and all the characters are modular, so we can add items like glasses, hats, and weapons onto someone without having to create multiple models."

The ROAM terrain system will also seem markedly improved to fans of Soldier of Fortune. Remember the impressive train level from the original game? Raven will be adding four such missions into Soldier of Fortune II. "We're using the same technique from Soldier of Fortune, but we're making these scrolling maps six times as large [as the train level], and we're making them more interactive too," Zuk said. For example, one such ROAM mission will have you manning a machine gun on board a helicopter. Here, you'll have to take out enemy forces on the ground below and in the air above, all the while making sure that the chopper doesn't sustain too much damage. While you won't actually be piloting the helicopter, it will be forced to land, at which point you're free to jump out, run around for a while, and then return to the chopper before it takes off again. Zuk pointed out that while you won't be able to control any of the four vehicles--which include a supply truck and a fast-attack vehicle--throughout the game, you will have the same level of limited interactivity with the terrain around you that you'll have in the aforementioned chopper mission.

So what about the realism? Raven is definitely striving to make Soldier of Fortune II significantly more realistic than the first game. While the sequel is an action game first and foremost, it will play more like an interactive movie than an all-out shooter. The first step in ensuring realism is the actual weapons that will be featured in the sequel--no more microwave guns or obscenely large rocket launchers. "We're including 14 melee, pistol, and rifle weapons, as well as a total of 10 different types of grenades," Zuk explained. "The grenades will be locale-specific, so if you're in Russia, you'll pick up actual Russian hand grenades, and so on." Instead of using the manufacturer's names for all the respective weapon models, Raven is referring to the weapons in Soldier of Fortune II by the US military's designations. For example, instead of the "Colt 45," your standard sidearm is the "M1911 A1." The same will be true for such weapons as the M4A1, the M203, the Mk. 23 SOCOM, the M60, and the OICW, all of which will be available for use in the game.

Additionally, Soldier of Fortune II will combine the teamplay elements from the original game with some new squad-based gameplay. Remember Hawk from the first game? Since he bit the bullet, he's been replaced with a new sidekick named Madeline Taylor, an operative with a specialty in medical research. You won't actually interact with her in the field, but she will constantly provide you with vital information and hints through a CODEC-style radio in every mission. Additionally, in one of the levels in Soldier of Fortune II, you'll play as part of a larger squad of marines, where--unlike in other squad-based games--you'll be receiving orders instead of giving them. You'll be given some leeway in terms of how much you choose to obey, but you'll be reprimanded if you don't follow through with your mission. In fact, your squad leader will even shoot you if you become too insubordinate. That same level will boast another interesting technological feature of Soldier of Fortune II: hand signals. "Since we're using the Team Arena engine, we're able to render individual fingers," Zuk explained. "Stealth is extremely important [in this mission], so you'll have to communicate with hand gestures." Raven is implementing the same set of hand gestures that the US military uses. Additionally, all the enemies will actually talk in their respective languages. So when you're in Russia, the bad guys will speak in Russian. Of course, there will be English subtitles just in case your Russian is a bit rusty.

Soldier of Fortune II will span 10 missions and nearly 70 levels in locations like Prague, Colombia, Hong Kong, Kamchatka, Jordan, and even aboard an ocean liner heading toward Tampa Bay. Little is known about the game's plot, but Zuk told us that it involves a group of rogue scientists who are threatening to tap into parts of the human genome that were never meant to be explored. You'll have help from Taylor, as well as the "shop" owner, Sam Gladstone, and Dr. Ivan Petrovich, a leading scientist in the field of human genetics.

One of the main concerns we had with the original Soldier of Fortune was its unimpressive AI. Enemies would simply stand in one place while shooting at certain intervals, giving you ample opportunity to blow them out of the water. Zuk revealed that the AI for Soldier of Fortune II is being rewritten from the ground up. In fact, the company has recently hired two University of Wisconsin graduates who majored specifically in artificial intelligence, which gives us high hopes for Soldier of Fortune II. Add to that the fact that the game is being designed with the visually pleasing Team Arena engine, and we're left very excited about it--we just hope that Raven and Activision stick to their scheduled release date of November 2001. In the meantime, we'll be bringing you more information on and impressions of Soldier of Fortune II from E3 next month. Stay tuned.