Levels, while beautifully textured, are extremely linear. There is only one way to beat a level, and it's pointed out at you from the moment you the game starts. There is next to zero replayability due to the lack of freedom the player is given. While the levels are beautiful to look at, the enemies themselves are not. There's only so many identical people to shoot before you get bored, and it gets tricky to determine what's friend or foe when they all have the same face and clothes. The A.I. seems great at first glance, popping out from behind cars to take you out and working in packs to put lead in your face, but after seeing how enemies react exactly the way no matter what you do, you quickly realise that the game is merely jumping from one set piece to the next. This thought is confirmed when you hit the rare occasions of a section without set pieces, and the enemies all of a sudden become stupider than solar powered mining hats.

Fighting through idiot bad guys would be almost tolerable if the boss fights were decent. Unfortunately, they aren't. At All. Not only are the fights themselves very plain and unexciting, but they are also very easy, and have incredibly unsatisfying endings. Speaking of endings, Payback doesn't have one. For some reason, Cauldron HQ thought that this game would be a hot seller, and would warrant a cliffhanger ending. Oops!

Soldier of Fortune Payback was obviously a rushed release. With an extra six to eight months of work, it would have been a pretty good shooter. I want to like it due the its almost arcade style fun of blowing enemies into several pieces, but there isn't enough fun in the gore factor to warrant the purchase. Even online play gets boring after a few games (if you can find anyone to play with - i found only three players in the span of a month). If Payback was a budget game like it is on PC, then maybe I'd be a little more lenient, but for a full priced product, games like this do not cut the mustard, and should be avoided at all costs.

Soldier of Fortune: Payback is rated M (Mature) by the ESRB for Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language. This game can also be found on: PC, PS3.