If you make too much noise, more bad guys will turn up which soon becomes a problem regardless of how good you are. Sniping and quick, controlled gunfire bursts are the order of the day here, adding an interesting tactical aspect to the game. Raven also decided to take a page out of the Aliens versus Predator book by limiting the number of saves and, just as in Rebellion's nerve-shattering title, this prevents you from saving whenever you want, making you more of a careful and nervous gamer.
What has probably been hyped the most about the game is the animation system, dubbed GHOUL. Originally developed for an engine Raven was developing for themselves, GHOUL was added to Soldier of Fortune to make it more realistic. This extra realism involves various "gore zones" on the models, which means that when a shot hits an enemy in a particular place they'll react accordingly.
Shoot them in the foot and they'll hop on the other one in pain, snipe them in the neck and they'll go down with one shot, clasping their bleeding jugular. A close shotgun blast might even remove a limb in a nasty shower of blood and bone. Gruesome as it is, it does make things more interesting than seeing the same death animation over and over, and the technology behind it is undeniably impressive. Add the GHOUL animation system to a Quake 2 engine improved by detail textures (like those used in Unreal), fog and an excellent particle system and you've got a rather good-looking title.