Gaming Target - Xbox: Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix

Written by Nick Doukas on September 10, 2003

First Impressions: Excuse me, but is that your spleen in the corner over there?

Did you ever get the feeling that too much of a good thing isЕwell, too much of a good thing? I love FPS titles, and as an Xbox owner, I get a lot of them. Not only that, but many are PC ports. Some, like the recent Return To Castle Wolfenstein, are upgraded in every way and shine as high quality games with great online options, while others, like the subject of this particular review, Soldier Of Fortune II: Double Helix, are not. That's not to say that SOF II is a bad game, it's just rather conventional and unadorned. Read on to see why the online option saves the game from complete irrelevance.

You'll play the game as John Mullins, a military consultant with a long combat record, including three tours in Vietnam. You work for The Shop now (I wonder if they got that from Firestarter?) and you'll fight your way through a lengthy campaign that will take you to hotspots around the globe.

The controls are your standard console FPS affair, with movement on the left stick and aim/view on the right. Fire the currently equipped weapon with the right trigger, and use the left for alternate attacks. Reload with X. Use B to quick-switch between grenades and your primary weapon, and A to jump. The directional pad is used to lean from cover, as well as cycle weapons. The HUD indicates your armor and health, as well as your clip and reserve ammo. Overall, the game controls fairly well, but not quite as smoothly as you'd like. It's certainly playable, but feels uneven and clunky at times. Fortunately the game seems to run cleaner and actually has a better framerate during multiplayer.

The single player missions are pretty uneventful, and the enemy AI, while mostly competent, occasionally reacts poorly in a given situation. Firing into walls, standing frozen while you fireЕyou get the idea. The game looks extremely pedestrian, with blocky character models and bland textures. The graphics are passable, but certainly nothing beyond that. The sound is average at best, but it does manage to accomplish the goal of immersion, and in the case of weapons fire, even excels. The AK-74 and Combat Shotgun are great fun to use, and thanks to the games engine, which allows you to target specific body parts, blowing your friends to bloody pieces is now more fun than ever!

Which brings us to the saving grace of Double Helix -- the online multiplayer. While the single player missions may be bland and simplistic, the Live portion of the game is wicked fun. Running through terrorist camps in the South American jungles, or fighting a raging gun battle in a Middle Eastern Bazaar, the online play will have you feeling like Bruce Willis and his SEAL team in Tears Of The Sun. Multiplayer game types include Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, Elimination, Infiltration, and Demolition. SOF II supports up to 12 players per match, but like most Live games, finding a good server is key to having a lag free experience. Once you do though, the gameplay will have you hooked for hours. Blasting at snoops or VengefulFerret with that monster shotgun (we've got a little nickname for that old girl) while avoiding offering my melon to Darth Neo, who's sniping from the window across the courtyard (not to mention their return fire) is extremely difficult, but the adrenaline rush of the visceral battles is addicting. Taking the flag while blowing a bloody hunk off of someone's hide is a rewarding experience, and SOF II lets you run the war games with abandon. Good stuff, and if you're a Live junkie, the game should give you plenty to sink your teeth into.

A random mission generator adds some replay value to the title, but the poor design and implementation of these levels leaves much to be desired in the quality department. It really feels like a tacked on feature, and a poorly executed one at that. Not really worth the time, which is better spent playing on Live.