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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good, but typical, July 9, 2002
I bought this game while shopping for a more modern tactical shooter. I'm and ex Counter-Strike junkie and I've played Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Medal of Honor:Allied Assault and quite frankly I'm a bit sick of the current trends in online gaming as well as the community in general. I was looking for something with a lot more single-player replay value. I'm sure by now everyone knows a little bit about SoF2 so I'll omit the overview and get straight to the point. This is basically just another Q3A mod with more blood and gore. Like RTCW and MOHAA, the graphics are good and technology seems sound, but for such a latecommer I believe it's reasonable to have expected a bit more. The single-player campaign is your typical linear shooter. Run around, do these things in order, pick up more weapons, etc.... The story itself is terrible - think Max Payne meets the A-Team. There were some great ideas mixed in, and I really appreciated the more modern military feel, but by now we're all getting a bit tired of the same format. The random mission generator looks appealing, and was a major factor in the decision to buy this game, but it becomes redundant far too easily. If you intend on purchasing this game only for the single-player features, I would strongly recommend some serious comparison shopping before putting the money down. As previously stated, I'm not much of an online gaming fan, but I felt it was necessary to give the MP games a chance before writing this review. To my surprise, MP is pretty darn fun! It supports the usual team-oriented games (CTF, TDM, etc...), and doesn't add anything revolutionary to the mix, but the combination of the modern weapons and outdoor themes really made this a blast. Compared to what's currently out there, SoF2 does the best job in mixing action with simulated warfare. Unfortunately, the Q3A "feel" or the game is still there. The damage system is a bit too forgiving, and I don't know how anyone could jump around with 80lbs of gear on their backs, but I guess this is the way people like it. If you're a big fan of Half-Life and Quake mods, you'll feel right at home with this. Counter-Strike fans will probably consider it on the goofy side of the spectrum, but I think they should still give it a chance. Of course, my biggest gripe with most of the online shooters is this: Even the best laid plans and teamwork can be spoiled in a heartbeat by some rambo running around with a grenade launcher. Anyways, SoF2 is a shining example of modern game technology that's just starting to become dated. It can easily be worth the price tag, but I fear that in less than 2 months it will take it's place on the shelf next to the other Q3A-driven games and collect dust. Not the tactical shooter I was looking for, but I'm glad I had a chance to play it.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rat-tat-tat-tat-*POP*!! The exploding heads are back!!, May 26, 2002
Great single player game, so far. I bought it yesterday and have been playing it ever since. The graphics are nice - Raven's GHOUL game engine works well. The game can be configured like the old SOF game except that grenade lobbing is more realistic - no more cartoon-style "throw 6 grenades in a second" action - but the new weapons, like the OICW rifle, more than compensate for this. And...the exploding body parts are back and better than ever!! Nothing beats those bloody head shots, especially since this game has such great death animations (The squemish can adjust the gore levels). Plus, the enemy AI is better than the first SOF game, the game is quite challenging (I already miss the "bigelbow" cheat codes). Also Included is the "Random Mission Generator" which allows you easily create custom single player missions. Enjoy!!
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty much is all, July 12, 2002
Feel free to berate what I have to say, even flame me, I'd like something to debate.
Yes, the graphics are pretty. I'll say they did a rather good job making things look 'pretty' but that is all. I've only made it so far in the game, but that far has already annoyed me to the point I don't think I want to continue.
I'll give it kudos for a good game of multiplayer as well.
Now, what don't I like it? Poorly inspired level design. The world is so linear, that you can't help but go in the right direction. This, in my opinion makes for a bland game. I want to feel like this is a world, not a tunnel. And the maps are rather uninspired. It is everything I've seen before, not necessarily done better
I still have yet to see the awe inspiring AI in action. Guys hide behind trees.. ok, seen that. It saves me from taking cover. All I have to do is wait for them to poke their head out. The AI also over uses grenades. Not just the bad guys. And they don't seem to know how to use them. I've seen a flash of an explosion 100 feet out only to find out that they are trying to throw grenades at me when I can just pick them out in my scope. And god forbid your friendlies get the idea to toss one. Sitting in the middle of a firefight when all of the sudden a mis thrown grenade from a computer controlled friendly lands at my feet is not a fun thing to have.
The pacing is terrible. There are levels where you have to stay with a group of 'friendlies' through the whole map. while this isn't a bad thing, it is a bad thing when the friendlies are set at their own, designer created, pace and if you go to far away from the group you will be considered to be 'endangering the mission' and subsequently killed. I found this annoying so I tried killing off the group to save me many tries of happening to get tofar ahead of them, because they move ridiculously slow even when I have killed every hostile for a square mile. The end result of killing them is dying. It can't be stopped. instant dead.
I've also noticed some graphics issues. I have a 2 Ghz machine with a 128 Gforce 4, I do not want to see graphics problems. these include choppy frame rates in open areas, shadows that will fall on top of objects and go through walls/floors and lips that don't move when the character is speaking. Lip movement is an old technique; you'd think they could do it.
Gore: just pointless. Unless you are one of those people that get off to blood and guts, this game doesn't offer what hasn't been offered before. Their claim that it is for the sake of realism is just plain stupid. It is just to make people with a ... for blood buy the game. The only time I thought their modeling was interesting was when a guy looked to be trying to pull the knife out of his back that I put there. Then he died. That part was cool. No sooner did he hit the ground, though, than a massive pool of blood formed. This pool of blood continued to expand when I moved the body. The blood also looks the same no matter the area. If it was affected by things like, say, rain, I'd give thumbs up to it, but it is just for show.
All in all I've had a terrible experience. I don't recommend it to anyone, try something like `America's Army' or any of the Rainbow Six games, if you want a `realistic' combat experience. This game is just for show.
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