We take a look at the goriest first-person shooter on the Dreamcast. If we can keep our eyes open long enough that is. What better place to start than the story?
Gameplay/Control:: You are John Mullins, a professional consultant with a long combat record and a reputation for getting the job done when the world's governments can't. You have learnt that a bloodthirsty worldwide terrorist organisation has stolen four nuclear weapons from a poorly guarded weapons facility in the former Soviet Union. Your mission: root out the terrorist organisation, discover their secret plans, stop the organisation and bring their leader to justice. Simple eh?
Even a hardened war veteran such as yourself needs weapons, and basic items such as a combat knife, a pistol and a shotgun will just have to do... for now. The more noise you make, the more enemies will attack - so the knife is good for stealth. Of course, most people will probably prefer the guns, you can't blow various body parts off with a knife, now can you?
As you progress through the game, you gain access to improved weapons such as the sniper rifle, submachine gun, rocket launcher and microwave pulse gun. Yep, the further you get the bigger the guns you get to play with. Of course, weapons and human flesh don't mix too well and the results can be somewhat disturbing.
If you do not manage to fatally wound an enemy soldier, he will hold the injured part of his body or hop around. This gives you a chance to go in for the kill without actually being shot at. Don't dawdle though because if you wait too long they will miraculously recover. The less braver enemies will even hide. The weapons definitely do their job though, leaving enemies lying next to their severed body parts or with gaping holes in their torso. This game is bloody.
Whilst playing, try not to shoot too many innocent people or you will have to restart your current mission. To compensate for not being able to shoot everything that moves you can try and see how many parts of your enemy you can blow off, an arm, a leg, a head or just shoot them where it really hurts... ahem.
Visuals:: Graphically, it's not the most 'polygon-heavy' game on the DC but that doesn't matter too much as the gameplay is pretty solid. Unfortunately, SoF is a PC port, as evidenced by the many graphical problems throughout the title. Seems like the developers never heard of collision detection as many enemies, once killed, fall half through the walls.
There are also many times when you will notice their guns floating in mid-air. The worst thing about this game though is the horrendous loading times - this, coupled with the fact that many of the missions are extremely short (each of which is preceded by a short cinematic cut-scene whose primary purpose is to give you your mission briefing) means you'll end up seeing the loading screen a lot more than you'd like.
Once killed, the enemies will fade away leaving just a blood splat to show they were ever there. The game's framerate is decent, though considering it's just a single-player game that's certainly expected. Yup, you heard right, unfortunately there are no multi-player or online functions here. So what about the controls then? Pretty standard for a FPS actually - the Y button moves your character forward and the analog pad allows you to survey your surroundings. The right trigger serves as the fire button and the D-pad does the rest. It's pretty basic and very easy to use. A lot better than in Outtrigger where the bad controls just spoilt the game for me.
Extras:: The game autosaves at the beginning of each level and is pretty playable, I found myself saying, "I will just do the next mission" over and over. Once you complete a level you are shown how many enemies and innocents you killed, as well as how many shots in various parts of the body you got. There are apparently 26 body damage zones on the enemies, I bet you can't hit all 26.
Cash is earned as you complete missions, which can then be used when you periodically visit the shop to buy weapons, items and ammo - which your weapons would be pretty useless without (doh!). In-game items such as armor, stun grenades and C4 can be found, the latter is used to blow open locked doors. Ammo, as you'd expect, can be picked up from fallen enemies. I should mention that although the game is very linear the missions are varied so you're not just running down a corridor all the time. One of the early levels for example, is set on a train, requiring you to find your way to the front, one rail car at a time.
Overall:: So would I recommend running around corridors, strafing round corners and painting the walls red with the blood of your enemies? It may not be the best game graphically, but this is one title that DC owners would do well to give a shot (pun intended). Fans of the genre will like it and the gameplay is simple but strangely addictive. SoF will probably be one of the last third-party titles on the Dreamcast and should kill a little time between now and Shenmue 2.
Score:: 7.0/10
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