Soldier of Fortune: Payback Hands-On

By Brad Shoemaker, GameSpotPosted Oct 19, 2007 5:41 pm PT

The limbs are still flying in Activision's new follow-up to this ultraviolent first-person shooter series.

If you've been fiending for a new Soldier of Fortune game since the release of 2002's disturbingly violent Double Helix, Activision is finally here with more gore. The company just recently announced the next Soldier of Fortune, Payback, and surprisingly, the game is already planned for release in November. Veterans of the previous two games may also be surprised that franchise creator Raven Software isn't making Payback, at least not directly; that duty has fallen to an Activision Value studio located in Slovakia. But Raven and a number of other internal Activision studios, including Treyarch and Call of Duty maker Infinity Ward, are said to be contributing some technology and input to the game's development.

Regardless of who's making Payback, it has all the hallmarks of the Soldier of Fortune series. You've got your real-world weaponry, your story of international turmoil and intrigue, and, of course, an ultradetailed dismemberment model that lets you blow the arms, legs, and heads off of your scores of opponents with deadly aplomb. In fact, the new engine can model the break points on enemies' bodies with greater detail than Raven's old GHOUL system used in Double Helix. A leg, for instance, is now broken up into a foot, ankle, lower leg, and two sections of thigh. Headshots don't just kill an enemy, they cause the head to burst in a fount of blood and cranial matter. If you don't believe us, the game is so violent it just received ade facto ban in Australia. Then again, you can also watch our new gameplay movies to see for yourself.

See? It's a bit bloody. Totally not kidding.

If all this sounds a bit sadistic, well, that's just how Soldier of Fortune rolls. You might be surprised to find out that when members of the development team viewed some real-life dismemberment footage as part of their research early in production, they were actually quite disturbed by the horrific nature of the video. We'll spare you the specific examples we heard about, but in short, this inspired the team to ratchet Pay Back's violence into stylized, exaggerated territory, rather than grounding the combat in stark realism. Like the previous games in the series, it's sort of gruesomely comical to see the combat in action here; it's just that over the top.

Payback's story goes that you are, in fact, a soldier of fortune--a mercenary--and you and your partner have been contracted to head to the Middle East, retrieve a Chinese government official in possession of sensitive intel, and escort him to safety. But no sooner do you complete this mission than your "partner" turns on you, kills your ward, and sets off a whole string of international incidents. You'll spend the rest of the game fighting through more fictionalized Middle Eastern locations, as well as levels in places like Burma and Russia, as you track down the bad guy (or guys--you know there are always more of them) and try to restore global order. Let's hope somebody is paying you handsomely for going to all this trouble.

Still not kidding. At least that guy got to keep his arms.

In practice, Payback plays like a typical run-and-gun shooter, emphasis on the gun. Before each mission you can select a primary and secondary weapon, a sidearm, and a grenade type. There will be around 40 guns in the final game, and you can customize them with add-on grips, scopes, grenade launchers, and other gear that you'll unlock more of as you progress through the game's 12 missions. We got to try out some of the first mission in the dusty streets of the Middle East and found that the controls will be very familiar to shooter fans, especially those who have played the Call of Duty 4 beta (or will have played COD 4 itself by the time Payback ships). You can sprint from point to point by clicking the analog stick, raise your weapon to aim down its sights with the left trigger, and so on--with the focus here squarely on the deadly efficient elimination of everyone standing between you and your objective.

If you're looking for extreme amounts of gore couched in straightforward first-person shooter gameplay, Soldier of Fortune: Payback looks like it will satisfy that particular itch. The game doesn't look half bad, either. It's not up to the level of a Call of Duty 4, say, but the environments and character models look surprisingly good coming from a developer with "Value" in its name. The game is planned for release in mid-November, so we'll be back with a full review at that time.

237 Comments

  • SamFreez1982

    Posted Dec 7, 2007 8:48 am PT

    I was a huge SoF fan, but after trying out Payback, I'm sadly going to hang up my hat on this series. Payback looks cool (not top-end, but nowhere near dated) and could have been awesome, until you get to the first level, get lost trying to find that alley that seemed to unblock itself after a predetermined time... all the while getting blown up by "random" explosions. Then you'll notice the canned way in which enemies are unleashed. You can spot each "ambush" site so easily you may as well wear a blindfold. Also, the enemies love to stream from around a corner, and you can just unload on the first one, with each successive enemy blindly running into your hail of bullets. Tip: aim for the first guy's head. I've nailed 5 or 6 guys in a row with headshots, which does look funny when they all just vanish in a red mist.
    It has so much potential, but the horrible flaws and tired ways of doing things make this a frustrating trip at best.

  • ConstantinNC

    Posted Nov 16, 2007 8:56 pm PT

    I am a fan of SOF, sure I will have Payback.

  • ecyoral

    Posted Nov 15, 2007 7:50 am PT

    This game is niccee. I played a few online matches last night an was not disappointed. The run feature got me out of a tough situation fast and the weapons are top notch. I know a few titles were released on the 13th , but SOF Payback is a must have for any collection. The beautiful multiplayer is back and if we had a few more multiplayer maps this game would be a 10. Check it out and see the bloody goodness for yourself.

  • pidow

    Posted Nov 14, 2007 12:12 pm PT

    I liked the other SOF games and with this one being brought into todays world, it should make this game a good one.

  • ringwraith58854

    Posted Nov 14, 2007 10:20 am PT

    I hope my pc will run it, cause i wanna play!

  • The_Godfather_

    Posted Nov 14, 2007 3:56 am PT

    soldier of fortune 1 and 2 were beautiful. I hope payback will be beautiful , too. and i certainly hope the main character will be John Mullins ...

  • person2

    Posted Nov 13, 2007 9:48 pm PT

    to be honest, i think this game looks...well...bad. It would have been cool a little while ago, but there are much better games coming out

    also, any weapon you use seems to dismember people, what are they made of? paper? it should be a bit more limited to stronger weapons

  • redeemer_spawn

    Posted Nov 13, 2007 8:16 am PT

    I like this game and probably I'll get a copy of this one.,I'm on this game

  • mikek9988

    Posted Nov 12, 2007 1:00 pm PT

    A must game for gore cravers!!!!!!!

  • alberto2045

    Posted Nov 11, 2007 8:16 pm PT

    I cannot wait for this game

  • sellardwellar

    Posted Nov 11, 2007 3:54 pm PT

    this game was my all time fav back in the day... and now here comes the new one.. who here is not siked to blow some arab heads off....

  • bashcash007

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 1:32 pm PT

    @emptycow
    Tell me about it. I feel exactly the same.

  • chuflito

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 9:45 am PT

    As long as it has local co-op

  • jblaze5000

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 2:47 am PT

    must buy.best lookin shooter game out maybe better than cod4.

  • crippla87

    Posted Nov 8, 2007 7:34 pm PT

    The trailer is so funny. The last sentence made it worth it.

  • sw_and_wet

    Posted Nov 7, 2007 11:34 pm PT

    I hope we can pick up a lot of ammo throughout the level, coz I will dismember every single enemy I killed. I will blood wash the street!!!

  • sw_and_wet

    Posted Nov 7, 2007 11:26 pm PT

    Although the game is banned in AUS, but the game is still available for preorder at some AUS web store..

  • t3hKEG

    Posted Nov 7, 2007 8:26 pm PT

    First thing that came to my mind was a kick-ass zombie mod. Anyone?

  • jaredrichards3

    Posted Nov 7, 2007 6:59 pm PT

    This game will rock!!! lets hope it has a wicked multiplayer as well

  • waveddiamond

    Posted Nov 7, 2007 4:54 am PT

    now that gamespot under appreciated COD 4 maybe SOF payback will make the difference it looks hot though, but its almost looks like COD 4 twin brother John

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