Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix

If you want a game thats main characteristic is violence, SOF2: Double Helix is for you.

I remember buying this game last year and being absolutely amazed by the realism, but I would say the game goes slightly downhill during the course of it.

The main problem with SOF2: Double Helix is that it is riddled with bugs. You shoot some guy in the head and he falls down with a lot of realism, but about 3 seconds later he goes into a "stiff" state and sometimes slides along the floor in a very mysterious way... Also if you shoot someone sitting down they just freeze.

Buggy or not, it is a good enough game in my opinion, and it's one that I played over and over again. Buy it! 7/10

This is a very good game and it still holds up well for online fighting. I wait eagerly for SOF 3 though :-) It has good graphics and good multiplayer support. Go get this one, it is still going strong online and I am sure it is available cheap by now...

I don't know about today's standards, but by 2002 standards it was a 10/10 game.

The first game I ever paid. I had to order it from a computer shop, took them a month to get it for me.

Got action, the graphics was great too. The game's story, excellent.

Beside the story mode was other single player modes too.

The game generated infinite ! Number of random maps. For both single player and multiplayer. Today's games not doing such. You have like 5 multiplayer maps, then you have to purchase more of them. In SoF2 you got infinite maps.

The multiplayer was perfect, no clumsy shooting, the guns in the game had great sound, and they "felt" real.

The game was moddable too. I made many skins for multiplayer. I even made maps for single player.

Nowadays they make a kind of unfinished game with full of bugs that they fix or not, they release a few additional maps, 6 months later something DLC but the game becomes irrelevant, as next year the next game comes from the same company.

SOF 2 came out and people were playing it 10-12 years later. A few years ago did check it, people were still playing deathmatches.

Sure, by today's standards it's old and not looking good. However the technical factor of the game is still better than today's FPS games.

If we talk about the shooters of the early 2000s, "Soldier of Fortune 2: Double Helix" holds a special place in my memory. It was one of the first PC games that I played and went through, like, three times.

There were times. There were times when developers could afford not just shooting games, but a real madness with blood and extremely realistic violence. As a child, this game seemed to me to be one of the best. Now, reviewing it through the prism of time, I understand that this is too much for children. The many subsequent games I played literally blurred my memories of this revelation of violence. But the game is a product of its time. Such were the realities of computer games back then. It's up to everyone to decide for themselves whether it's good or bad.

The plot of "SoF2" tries to surprise with complex intrigues, cheerfully rushes forward, like a hero of a category B movie with a weapon at the ready. The main character is John Mullins, a mercenary and a man who has to save the world again. This time, the threat is a deadly virus that the terrorists are going to use for mass destruction. At first, it all starts with relatively modest missions, but then it drags into a global story with travels around the world - from snow-covered forests to tropical jungles and city streets. A cliche? Of course. But at one time it worked, creating the atmosphere of a harsh action movie with a brave mercenary who solves problems solely with bullets and grenades.

In terms of mechanics, "Soldier of Fortune 2" seemed like something outstanding at the time. The developers have tried to make the game as realistic as possible: here you need to take into account the recoil of weapons, speed of movement, shelter, and even damage physics. Opponents die very differently, depending on where the bullet hit. Sometimes it's too "spectacular", but at that moment it just looked amazing.

At the time of release, the game boasted one of the most detailed damage systems in games. The developers used an engine that allowed enemies to take damage in 26 different areas of the body (I remembered this figure from childhood, having read in some game guide). Bullets could leave holes in limbs, tear flesh, and even tear off body parts if used with particularly powerful weapons. It looked shockingly realistic, which, of course, did not frighten the teenagers, who had the opportunity to shoot coolly.

The levels are varied. The hero will visit Colombia, Hong Kong, Prague and even Kamchatka. Each place offers its own challenges: somewhere you have to sneak in, and somewhere you have to hit in all directions, fighting off enemies. However, the level of difficulty sometimes seems inadequate: in the later stages, you had to go through the same moment ten times, dying again and again from machine gun fire, without even having time to notice where it came from.

The choice of weapons is quite rich: pistols, shotguns, submachine guns, even experimental weapons (I remember there was such a massive futuristic machine gun with a sight). Noise plays an important role - for example, if an enemy walks through broken glass, you will definitely hear him approaching. This detail gave the game a special atmosphere and allowed us to tactically wait for opponents.

Although Soldier of Fortune 2 is primarily a shooter, some missions encourage stealth playthroughs. You can use a silencer or a throwing knife and covertly eliminate enemies. It is also important to monitor the level of armor and health - they cannot be restored here with a simple shelter, as in modern shooters. We have to look for first-aid kits and armor, which adds tension to the firefights.

When I was a kid, Soldier of Fortune 2 was one of my favorite games. It offered a serious level of hardcore, dynamic gameplay and a lot of interesting details that made it special. Today it feels a little outdated, but it is still capable of giving a couple of dozen hours of intense action. Not a masterpiece, but a strong representative of its genre. The score for her is from my childhood.

"Double Helix" is not a revolution in the genre, but it is certainly a memorable project. As a child, the game was amazing for its cruelty, complexity and variety of passing. Today, it feels old-school, archaic in places, but still able to give the atmosphere of classic 90s action movies. If you are not afraid of hardcore and appreciate old-fashioned shooters, you can give the game a chance.

9 out of 10.

Soldier of Fortune 2 is one of the best games I've played. A storyline you can actually follow, good graphics, and even (relatively) realistic graphics and effects. The physics system, while not the best in the world, is quite realistic, as are the baddie's reactions when you hit them (well, kinda; sometimes, they don't react at all, which is somewhat annoying, but you get used to it) It's theme of one man against half the Soviet army in the late 80's, a Colombian rebel group, a drug lord/arms dealer from the same country, and a good-sized terrorist group, (wait'll you find out who runs it) all of it centering around a genetically engineered uber-virus, is both intriguing and thought-provoking. (Could this actually happen? Would anyone know about it?) While many people bash the game, and others of its genre, (first-person shooters) due to it's realistic portrayal of violence (for instance, shooting a guy in the head with a shotgun stands a good chance of removing the head entirely), few laud its well-thought-out storyline (for which we can thank the real John F. Mullins, who was a consultant to the developers). I'd like to see this game converted into a movie, but one that actually FOLLOWS THE PLOT OF THE GAME (subtle hint, movie makers!), instead of making up a whole new plot just for the movie.