The PC version is something totally different, why the XBox version is so disappointing!?
SoF2 is a pure 1st person shooter, immediate to play and easy to control, just aim a target and pull the trigger: and I consider that as a value.
Three are game modes: Campaign, Online, Random Missions.
Ok, first of all, I really hate to badly judge a videogame, but graphics are terribly embarrassing, definitely the worst side of SoF2: it’s an insult to powerful Xbox hardware, especially to video chipset Nvidia!
Graphically, SoF2 is the worst fps I’ve ever played on Xbox!
Anyway, cutscenes between action levels always seem to be incomplete, they are so bad that’s impossible to remember with homesick the ones from PSone, they were 100 times better… During game, since from the first level your eyes will be totally disappointed by the light effects ( in dark areas it’s possible to notice design lines!) and by textures roughness.
Terrorists bodies are designed with too little polygons, as any object as well, and people move in a ridiculous, not spontaneous and natural manner.
External environments are too simple and poor of details to be appreciate.
Internal environments are a bit less worse, because some of them are quite detailed (for instance the labs in Kamtchatka Base), and you can destroy small objects like pc, chemical containers and so on.
Music is totally negligible, you can set its level in options to zero, it’s the same, you won’t miss anything; sound effects are just a bit better, but nothing really special.
Gameplay, as I said at the beginning, is immediate to play, and that’s good, but there are some weak points anyway.
Enemies’ IA is simply pathetic: if you find yourself surrounded, or ambushed, just repair behind any kind of shelter you can find (but strong enough not to be pierced by bullets, so avoid tables for example, because in this game some tender objects can be destroyed) and wait for terrorists: they are so stupid they simply will go ahead to your direction, in the worst case they’ll launch grenades to make their way.
Grenades (both yours and terrorists’ones) can be really dangerous: you must pay attention to hear them dropping close to you, and it’s not always so easy; foes have an incredible precision by launching them.
Many times Mullins will be nuked and surrounded by a lot of grenades, and even if you are quick to move away, they will probably wound you.
Various sorts of them exist: explosive, flaming, smoking (these last ones are very usual in foes’ strategy before attacking you).
A special feature of the game is its body-damaging system that allows you to wound exactly the body-parts of unlucky enemies you encounter on your path: if you aim an arm with a heavy weapon, for instance with a shotgun, you’ll see it flying away, you’ll see the blood squirting, you’ll hear the guy screaming for pain before he dies; aim a leg, and it will happen the same as for the arm, the enemy will jump on the remaining leg before atrocious death; aim the head and you’ll assist a decapitation (gulp!).
With a sniper rifle too it’s possible to see the blood flowing down the face (in case of headshot), or part of the face itself broken by the bullet, and to hear the foe drowning in his own blood (shoot the throat).
Wow, the effect (if you are not accustomed to horror movies) is quite violent to see, but after a while you’ll be pleased, because it’s quite realistic, and it’s one of the (few) good points in the game.
A really useful and strongly recommended Mullins’ ability is leaning out a wall or a shelter in general: if you don’t get in the habit of doing it, you’ll be an easy target for Prometheus terrorists.
To make your duty easier, at least you have the possibility to save your progress anytime you want, and it’s good, because in this game a sudden attack is enough to lose a lot of health, or to find your armour jacket heavily damaged.
Before every mission you can choose the most suitable weaponry and equipment, depending on the environment and the enemies you are gonna kick in the a*s, but, sincerely, it’s not so important: apart from the last Shop level (where I recommend to select the night-vision goggles, necessary ‘cause the whole place is in the darkness), many guns can be picked up after killing terrorists.
So, I suggest to select guns that terrorists don’t carry, such as the OICW.
By the way, all of the guns, the OICW too, are really existing.
The Generator of Random Missions is a good feature: you can decide, before any mission, if you want to play in the desert, in the jungle, in the streets, by night or with daylight, and you can chose the kind of objective to complete (ex: assassin, escort etc.).
Well, to bring to an end this review, I want to say this, SoF2 is not a horrible game, and it’s worth playing, but I advice everyone to buy it used (like me, I paid only € 10,90, an acceptable price) and only if you are keen of first person shooters, and in this case too only if you have already finished other masterpieces, there’s no need I say what I mean, ‘cause SoF2 is a really modest videogame.