Bet On Soldier Hands-on

Digital Jesters bets on the success of this FPS and its vision of a violent future Earth.

It tends to be pretty hard to break into the gaming industry as a fledgling publisher and have any immediate success or respect. One of the newest on the scene is Digital Jesters, a crew hailing out of the UK that started bringing games to the public about 6-8 months ago. In that short amount of time, they've managed to publish around 12 titles, with many more in the works, an impressive feat in itself. Now Digital Jesters will be trying to break into the North American publishing gig with Bet On Soldier, a new first-person shooter from the French developer Kilotonn. It's set in a future world where war is too profitable and the world too dependant on it to quit. Highly trained mercenaries come for hire to take on specific jobs. But at the same time, the public can place bets on which of these super mercs will outdo the other. It's entertainment and war! Very convenient.

The guys that came in to show Bet on Soldier off the other day described this as The Running Man vs. Total Recall. While the stories may be different, I can see what they mean. The world is a brutal place that feeds off of violence. Not only are the mercenaries paid to fight, but they're also traded on the stock market. The best of the best are incredibly valuable commodities. War has almost been turned into a sport and corporations are more powerful and important than any other major entity.

Players will take the role of one of the elite mercenaries viewed as heroes among the masses. The story itself is mainly incident driven as the main character enters the competition after his girlfriend is murdered hoping to find some answers. One of the things he finds out quickly is that he's very good at being a soldier even though he's never had any formal training... which lends even more curiosity to the circumstances of the plot. It's a non-linear progression because players will be able to choose what missions they wish to participate in. One of two endings will be played depending on these choices. So there certainly is a story and fiction to follow, but it will be told through briefings and gameplay rather than cutscenes and character interaction.

I suppose in some way it actually fits the impersonal nature of this fictional future. When bloodthirsty mercenaries become heroes and battles to the death are the most entertaining thing on TV, society has gone a little over the edge. It even goes far enough for the mercenaries fighting on the battlefield (and most levels really are battlefields and not simple arenas) that they get paid for not only completing missions and killing enemies, but also how quickly they can kill off the other well known mercs fighting against them. This Bet on Soldier program apparently popped up because the fighters weren't happy with the pay they were receiving considering the highly hazardous working conditions. These bets allowed the mercs to make a considerable amount of money (assuming they survived) while giving the public something to cheer about. Of course, the corporations get a cut as well, so everybody is happy.

Before each mission, players will get the chance to find out about their mission as well as which of the 40 different elite mercenaries will be standing in the way of fame and fortune. The profile on each of these soldiers will be available to peruse, which is good because these profiles will actually show the specific weaknesses of any opponents. For instance, in the level that we were allowed to fight through on an older version of the game, three elites had been hired by the enemy. One of them was quicker and more agile. In order to defeat him, his legs had to be taken out from under him. Another had a shield that needed to be destroyed while the last one held a mini-gun and possessed a shield pack on his back that had to be destroyed before the guy himself could be killed.

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