A while back a game was released that was made notorious for its realistic violence, in fact, it was such a big deal, that the company had to make a copy for sensitive viewers, that game was Soldier of Fortune. This time around, however, Activistion and Raven software’s latest installment of the series, Soldier of Fortune 2: Double helix has more gore than the first trip. Now, you may think that behind all the blood and gore that a game doesn’t exist there, you think wrong. SOF2 has a very good story, along the lines of Hollywood blockbusters. You play retired marine John Mullins (Based on a real person, too) who has become a soldier of fortune (read: mercenary). As John, you undertake several missions that all form one gripping plot: Bio-terrorists are creating a virus that is capable of wiping out humanity. Serious stuff, right? Not for Mr. Mullins, armed with weapons ranging from knives to rocket launchers to heavy machine guns (all real world weapons, by the way).But not even those guns can prepare you for what’ll happen next.

    The graphics in SOF2 are very impressive, for it being a two year old port of a great PC game. Speaking of which, the gore seems more toned down from the PC daddy, but it’s still noticeable and gruesome. That brings me to my next thing, SOF2 has implemented a revolutionary system: the “gore zone” system, which allows your enemies to act how a person would if they got shot in real life. You say “Dave, you moron, games do that already!!” but I say, no, my friend, no they do not! In SOF2, if you shoot a person in the hand at close range with say... a shotgun, his lower arm will be flung back about 2 meters, thus, resulting in him losing his arm, needless to say what happens if you do that to his head. Another great thing that games are lacking, rag doll physics, like in say...Halo, while SOF2's aren’t quite as good as Halo’s rag doll physics, it often results in great realism, along with the realistic gore.

    The sound effects in SOF2 are as realistic as they can get, bullets ricochet off of walls, resulting in a ripping sound, all the guns sound authentic, from the powerful sounds of the SOCOM pistol, to the rapid pounding of a AK-47 on full auto blast. The voice acting is also impressive, the horrified screams of the enemies almost make you feel sorry for them, and the actual actors are great, Mark Hamill (Star Wars’s Luke Skywalker) Cam Clarke (Metal Gear Solid 2's Liquid Snake), just to name a few. All of the actors are convincing, with the exception of two characters, John Mullins voice acting seems forced and unconvincing, as well as his partner, Madeline Taylor.

    The game play of SOF 2 is decent, it’s not as forgiving as a mouse and keyboard but I easily adjusted. The same difficulty exists, and it’s still pretty tough, even on easy, but that doesn’t stop it from fun and enjoy able, this is one of the first FPS’s that actually require you to outsmart your opponents, asides half-life, but who cares about half-life, this is a SOF2 review. A welcome addition to the bag-o-treats is Xbox Live play, which makes the package all the more tempting, the ability to speak to your opponents/team mates make it all the better, from infiltration missions to simple deathmatch, this game is good for it. All in all, this game is a port, and a damn fine one at that, any fan of the series, the genre, or online players should give this a whirl, it’ll be worth the cash. Asides from minor difficulty flaws, and toning the game down slightly, this is a game than anyone who owns a Xbox, and isn’t afraid of a little bloody fun should have. Though through it’s completion, there’s no desire to play it for a long time.