Soldier of Fortune: Payback (360) Review

The cover speaks for  the game

Ah the soldier of Fortune Franchise. Each game takes a different influence and gets its ass in to some sort of controversy. Payback (the third game in the series) is not different. However, that, the gore, and the name are the only thing similar to the first two. Soldier of Fortune payback is a Budget FPS which (somehow) got the rights to the franchise from Raven Software. Why Raven Software didn't make this is beyond me but whatever. While Critics Beat thecrap out of this game, I don't find it to be to bad. People seem to beat up budget titles way to much since they expect to get a top of the line game for cheap money. Anyway, lets start this review.

Presentation

Right off the back you can tell this is a budget game. From the cover showing nothing but a dude holding a gun to the bland menus. The game has little cut scenes. The missions start off with audio logs in front of text and pictures in a brief case. The load times are a bit annoying, but not to bad (anything is better than the load times of the First SoF on the DC!). Theres little to talk about in this cause its pretty clear the presentation department wasn't to sharp. But It gets the job done i guess. 

Graphics

Looks good, when your not moving lol

Normal to the series, there mixed. The lighting and texture look really good. However, there married with pop-in, slow downs, and a sluggish frame rate. The characters look decent, but sort of lifeless. The guns have a nice shine to them. The animations aren't really bad, but  there not great either. Overall the graphics get the job done with a little extra, but the slow downs may affect the gameplay from time to time.

Sound

Oh man, them some loud gun sounds. I've been unsatisfied with the typical guns in shooters this gen. They just seemed to lack the bang they should. I'm glad to say that this game really hits hard. These are sound and sound great. The  rest of the sound...meh. The voice acting is average (even though you may get some enjoyment out of the conversations between you and your commanding officer). The music is very bakground loike if you know what I mean. Quiet and just there for the hell of it. Like the graphics, it gets the job done. But unlike the graphics, they don't hurt the gameplay.

Gameplay

The controls (I question why I do this) are as followed. A Jumps. B Interacts. Y switches weapons. X reloads. RB throws grenades. RT shoots your current weapon. LB is your secondary fire mode. LT aims down your sites (or shoots your second weapon if your duel welding).  Left thumbstick moves. Right thumbstick aims. Clicking the left thumbstick sprints. Clicking the right thumbstick knifes. D pad up switchs your grenades. D pad right switchs your fire mode. D pad down crouchs. Back is your mission objectives. Start pauses.

Brutal!

      Well that was pretty fun lol. In terms of gameplay, this is more good than bad. The game's movement isn't as smooth as I've seen on the 360, but its not as bad as rogue warrior. The game has some pretty interesting concepts to make up for controller limitations. When your being hit by an enemy, you auto turn to them. The controls are good, but not perfect. It REALLY annoys me that the duck button is on the D pad. Its an overall run and gun with generally no puzzles or anything like that. Lets face it, for the price, this isn't half bad.

Overall

BOOM!

While not as good as the first two, this is still a pretty good game.  Critics really did beat this game up to much. I'm not saying you should buy this game over something else, but If  it sounds interesting to you, feel free too at least rent or borrow it. You may enjoy it.