Soldner: Secret Wars Image
Metascore

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 23 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 21 Ratings

  • Summary: After half a century of military interventions major countries like the United States of America or Russia are weary of their role as "World Police". The consequences of their military actions for their economy, national security, and internal ethnic conflicts let to the conclusion to tune down their military campaigns. Due to that more and more countries choose unconventional warfare by using secret Special Forces. Military success is no longer made by major countries but by small and highly specialized mercenary forces. In "SOLDNER - Secret Wars" the player takes over the command of such a Special Forces team. As the Commander he leads a small high tech army consisting of soldiers, light armored vehicles, helicopters and VTOLS (Vertical Take Off and Landing Airplanes) to fulfill a wide variety of mission types. The players units are stationed on a multi purpose ship which is camouflaged as a merchantman to allow unrestrained travel of the seas to get their forces to the area of operation. The complete simulation of a complex political world system allows creating a dynamic campaign: each decision of the player, each success or failure has direct effect on the game flow. In addition the player has the ability to gain access to the latest weapon systems and technology, which currently exist in the research centers of the weapon industry only. [Encore Software] Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 23
  2. Negative: 12 out of 23
  1. Out of the box, Söldner is bug-ridden and weak, but in its current patched state the game is a worthy contender in the recent crop of online war game titles. It’s fun, and in my opinion more fun than Joint Ops and even the Battlefield games.
  2. 60
    You'll have to deal with a clunky interface and menu, silly single-player missions, brain-dead A.I., bizarre vehicle physics, horrible net code, dull graphics and sound, and more bugs than a Georgia swamp in June.
  3. All the gameplay ingredients are here, but a complete lack of seasoning makes this one dish that should be tossed down the disposal. [Oct 2004, p.98]
  4. A good concept ruined by shoddy programming and pathetic design, technical flaws all over the place (choppy framerate, lag issues), terrible Bot AI, dated visuals, some of the worst voiceovers and sound effects ever.

See all 23 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 13
  2. Negative: 8 out of 13
  1. Jack
    9
    I think that this game was under rated, if people will try using the online patches then they will think "hey look Söldner isn't buggy", instead of thinking "buggy piece of s***" Expand
  2. AaronB.
    8
    I don't know how the highest score this game has gotten is only a 60. This game has the potential to be so good once more patches come out, it could almost be FLAWLESS, except for the downright shameful single player-but hey, it's an online game, right? Has anyone taken a look at the list of updates that JoWood is planning to be put into patches?? http://soldner.jowood.com/?RubrikIdentifier=1288&lang=en . Basically, they are going to fix just about everything that all the reviewers have found "wrong" with the game. And personally, I didn't find that the game is that bad, even in it's current condition. Some of the "bugs" mentioned in reviews are so minute, that I didn't even notice them until I read the review. A lot of the stuff they have against the game doesn't really detract from the playing experience. Sure, there are some things I can find wrong with the game, but that goes for just about any other game there is. Expand
  3. Daddy
    6
    This game was not ready. Just another 3-6mths development would have cleaned it up into a respectable title. Aspects of the gameplay are very reministent of the legendary PC game "Operation Flashpoint". But bugs, laggy graphics, ghastly controls and multiplayer issues will leave you wishing for more. Perhaps if the developers do some major overhauling with patches, this game will be rescued. But by then the community will be dead, and HL2/Doom3 will have taken over. Hence i give it a very generous and "promising" 6/10. Expand
  4. StefanK.
    4
    It's out in europe already, but it is riddled with bugs, bad performance, oldish graphic (slightly improved Operation Flashpoint Engine!), instable multiplayer and balacing flaws. The first patch fix some of these, but greate also new bug. The game is far from being finished. The biggest waste of money in this year so far. Expand

See all 13 User Reviews