Soldier of Fortune is a first-person shooter video game developed by Raven Software and published by Activision in 2000 for Microsoft Windows. It was later released for the PlayStation 2 (as Soldier of Fortune: Gold Edition), as well as the Dreamcast, while Loki Software also made a port for Linux. It was digitally re-released on GOG.com on October 2, 2018, along with its two successors.The player takes on the role of a U.S. mercenary as he trots around the globe hoping to halt a terrorist nuclear weapons plot.
The game, which was built with the Quake II engine, is notable for its realistic depictions of violence, made possible by the GHOUL engine, including the dismemberment of human bodies. This was the game’s stylistic attraction and it caused considerable controversy, especially in Canada and Germany, where it was classified as a restricted-rated film and listed on the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons, respectively. The technology creates 26 different zones on the bodies of enemies, allowing for vastly different reactions depending upon which one is targeted.
Gameplay
Soldier of Fortune is best known for its graphic depictions of firearms dismembering the human body. This graphic violence is the game’s main stylistic attraction, much like the destructible environments of Red Faction or bullet time of Max Payne. The GHOUL engine enables depiction of extreme graphic violence, in which character models are based on body parts that can each independently sustain damage (gore zones). There are 26 zones in total: a shot to the head with a powerful gun will often make the target’s head explode, leaving nothing but the bloody stump of the neck remaining; a close-range shot to the stomach with a shotgun will leave an enemy’s bowels in a bloody mess, and a shot to the nether regions will cause the victims to clutch their groin in agony for a few seconds before kneeling over dead. It is possible to shoot off an enemy’s limbs (head, arms, legs) leaving nothing left but a bloody torso. In the last mission there is also a fictional microwave weapon, causing the enemies to fry or explode, depending on the firing mode. However, nonviolence is a possibility, if the player is a good shot it is possible to shoot an enemy’s weapon out of their hand, causing them to cower on the floor to surrender. The game also came with password-protected options to disable all gore and there is even a version of the game with the extreme violence permanently locked-out, titled Soldier of Fortune: Tactical Low-Violence Version.
Developer(s) Raven Software
Runecraft (DC)
Pipe Dream Interactive (PS2)
Publisher(s) Activision (PC)
Crave Entertainment (DC)
Majesco Entertainment (PS2)
Director(s) Brian Raffel
Producer(s) Marty Stratton
Designer(s) Jim Hughes
Programmer(s) Rick Johnson
Artist(s) Joe Koberstein
Scott Rice
Composer(s) Chia Chin Lee
Engine Quake II engine
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, Linux, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2
Release Windows
EU: March 28, 2000
NA: April 3, 2000[1]
Linux
July 14, 2000[2]
Dreamcast
NA: July 24, 2001[3]
EU: 2001
PlayStation 2
NA: November 11, 2001
EU: July 5, 2002
Genre(s) First-person shooter
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer
