It's just a real shame that such a good looking game went to such a waste. It should have been delayed a year and the de

User Rating: 5.5 | Soldier of Fortune: Payback PC
I've been a big fan of the Soldier of Fortune (SOF) series, and I haft to say that I'm very disappointed with it's latest installment, "Payback", for the PC.

Let's start with the story. This time around you don't play as John Mullins from previous games in the franchise... Instead you play a unknown loner named Thomas Mason working for some vague and discrete mercenary agency. Your task is to find evidence that the Chinese are in the process of using slave labor to construct and operate oil pipelines in several parts of Asia and the Middle East. The story is as interesting as watching the small needle of the clock go by so I'll leave it at that.

The gameplay is something of a "traditional", uh-sorry, "typical" first person shooter, you run, shoot, reload, crouch, repeat. That's it! You might haft to use your "INTERACTIVE KEY" (I smell console port) once in a while, but that's it. Not to mention it's hard to figure out where your getting shot from because the gun's seem to make no noise.

The graphics are the only good thing about this game. It actually looks pretty good, the player models, weapon models, even the bump mapping and bloom seem to be up to date. It also has the trademark gore engine that made the series what it is.

It's just a real shame that such a good looking game went to such a waste. It should have been delayed a year and the development should have been passed on to Infinity Ward, or something.

5.5/10