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GameSlice Daily Editorial

Week Ending February 1, 2000

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING EDITION
PAGE 2

Soldier of Fortune

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Let's start with the positive: There's an array of nice big screenshots showing off different parts of the game, right down to the Saddam Hussein look-alike. Unfortunately the ad goes way downhill from here. Let's get this straight: You're trying to sell me a highly detailed and realistic military-themed game and want to make me laugh by placing a big fat guy in the ad? I don't know about you, but it seems like a big disconnect. Oh, but wait, isn't the "Department of Decency" sign over his crotch oh so funny? <rolls eyes>.   Although some of the screenshots match up to the areas the lines point to, someone has to explain to me how a screenshot of a guy blowing up an explosive crate relates to the area right below a fat guy's nipple.

What's further puzzling is the copy in this ad which doesn't do anything to play up the whole military espionage aspect of the game, instead opting to highlight the fact you can shoot people in 26 different areas. What's the justification for this? "[It will] keep you from getting bored," according to the ad. Yes, you read that right: A company is actually admitting that if it wasn't for the gore zones, Soldier of Fortune would be boring.   All told, Activision shoots itself in the foot gore zone with this embarrassing ad.
Grade: D

Kingdom Under Fire

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It worked for Total Annihilation, it worked for Age of Empires 2, it worked for Diablo II, and now it works for a game I had honestly never heard of before, Kingdom Under Fire.   What I am talking about is the idea of taking a large screenshot from a game and plastering it across the page. There's just something about seeing a large section of a game map on the page that brings the game to life. You begin to imagine what it would feel like to see all the elements of the screenshot animate. Admittedly the screenshot used here isn't particularly impressive (all the spells are very localized and the architecture of the level has far too many 90 degree angles), but the image got my attention and put the game on my radar map. One pitfall: This game is using the "Action RTS" label again, although this is a "true Action RTS" according to the tagline. I have one rhetorical question: When is the Adventure RTS going to debut?
Grade: B-

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