Special Force (online game)

Special Force (Korean: 스페셜포스) (named Soldier Front in the North American version and often abbreviated as SF) is an online free-to-play first-person shooter developed by the South Korean game developer Dragonfly. By January 2006, 8 million users have been registered in South Korea alone. The game has expanded to several countries around the world since its debut in 2004 in South Korea. Dragonfly continues to expand the game around the world and plans to expand into the Middle East, India, and Russia market.^[2] The Indonesian version of the game was discontinued in March 2012.

Soldier Front is currently being published by Aeria Games for North American users. In October 2009, a European server was added to this version of the game to fix latency issues with the large amount of Filipino players. The North American version of the game has been transferred over to Aeria Games due to the acquisition of ijji by Aeria Games.^[3]

Gameplay

Special Force provides several game modes including team battle (bomb planting, escaping, object stealing, etc.), single battle, team death match, horror mode, and more. Most modes consist of a red team and a blue team, with the exceptions of single battle, training, and horror mode. The game allows for a maximum of 16 users to be in the same room playing together. The scoreboard keeps track of names, kills, deaths, assists, and ping (milliseconds) in most modes as well as other information in exclusive modes such as points. Special Force focuses most on teamwork therefore it is important for players to cooperate. The frames per second in-game is capped at a maximum of 32 frames while the lobby is capped at 40 frames.

Players have the ability to purchase from a range of character forces including French GIGN, German GSG 9, Malaysian PASKAL, Republic of Korea Marine Corps, US Army Delta Force, Russian Spetsnaz, and more, where you are able to rent equipment for speed and armor. A range of weapons are available including rifles, sniper rifles, machine guns, handguns, shotguns, melee, and grenades. Weapons have durability and must be repaired often. Weapons are not mod-able like other first person shooters, but once they are purchased, they are permanent and stay in inventory until they are resold by the player.

Special Force uses a ranking system in which users can rank up after a certain amount of experience points which is received after each match. Players are rewarded for reaching certain ranks.

Graphics Update

On July 14, 2009, Dragonfly provided a patch to the Korean version which had a completely redesigned UI and reorganized game items for the celebration of the games 5th anniversary.^[4] Along with this, many of the older weapons graphics looked outdated and were updated to a new and sleeker look to compete with newer games.^[5] This patch was applied to all other versions of the game in the following months.

Game Modes

Special Force currently has 11 modes available in the North American version of the game.

• Training - Targets are placed everywhere on the map where players can shoot them down. This mode is used for practicing aim and strategies.
• Single Battle - It is free for all and the player who reaches the set amount of kills wins.
• Team Battle - Red team must complete the objective while blue team must prevent red team from doing so. Depending on the map, the objective could be planting the bomb, escaping the map, or retrieving an object.
• Clan Battle - Same as Team Battle except the red team must be all from the same clan and also the same goes for blue team. Clans are not able to face each other. This mode is often played in 5 vs 5.
• Team Death Match - The team that reaches 100 points first wins the round. Each kill grants 2 points and special kills will grant extra points.
• CTC - One player from each team is selected as the Captain who will be granted extra HP, along with an over-sized head. The team to defeat the opponent's Captain wins the round.
• CTC 2 - Similar to CTC, except every player will be a Captain. The team to defeat all the Captains on the opposing team wins the round.
• Horror Mode^[6] - Each round, some players are selected as zombies. Zombies must kill all the humans while humans try to stay alive until the time limit is up. Humans that get killed before the time limit will turn into a zombie. Zombies win the round if no humans are left alive and humans win the round when at least one survives by the time limit.
• Sniper - Players are only allowed to use sniper rifles and knives on this mode's exclusive maps. The team that kills all the opposing team's members wins the round. With a premium item, there is an option to allow secondary weapons.
• Rage Mode - The team that reaches the target points first wins the match. Every time a player is killed, their rage meter increases. Once the rage meter is maxed, the player is given extra HP in order to take revenge.
• Horror Mode 2 - Teams switch from zombies and players each round. The team that reaches the target points first wins the round. There are additional zombies compared to Horror Mode.
• Pirate Mode - Players to win should get 500 points, and conquer each of the treasures.

In Single Battle, Team Battle, and Clan Battle, there is the option to allow sniper rifles only, but the host must have a premium item to do so.

Sequel

The sequel to the game, Special Force II, is in development using Unreal Engine 3 and is currently available in China United States (called Tornado Force instead), South Korea,^[7] and as of June 2012, available in Japan. Aeria Games announced in March 2013 that Special Force 2 will be released in the North American market as Soldier Front 2. The game has been fully released in North America, and Is being updated Regularly. It was also released on Steam in July 2013.

Critical Reception

MMOHuts states that although the game is fun, it does not compete with other modern shooters such as Combat Arms, criticizing the graphics and weapon imbalances.^[8]

See also

• ijji
• Aeria Games and Entertainment

External links

• Soldier Front (North American version) on ijji
• Soldier Front on Aeria Games
• Dragonfly Homepage

References