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1* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The music in the nightclub level in ''Payback''.
2** Although the music in the series is mostly pretty generic, the final boss battle in the first game is accompanied by some seriously ''epic'' battle music, complete with a grandiose choir.
3* CompleteMonster (both from ''Double Helix''):
4** [[spoiler:[[TheMole Assistant Director Aaron Wilson]] is a greedy member of The Shop and the secret head of [[WesternTerrorists Prometheus]]. Missing the old days of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, Wilson decided to [[WarForFunAndProfit bring it back]] by using his old contacts in KGB to create Prometheus and have them develop a [[SyntheticPlague deadly Romulus virus]], which he soon tested by forcing drug lord Manuel Vergara to sell it to a rebel terrorist group La Fuerza del Dios and led them to use it on a village full of innocent people, leading to many people dying a slow and agonizing death. Later on, leaking The Shop's moves to Prometheus and blowing up a secret base under the book shop, which caused several deaths, Wilson has Prometheus attack a hospital to kill the survivor of the explosion. At the end, abandoning all pretense, Wilson leads an attack on The Shop, killing countless people and openly announcing his intention to use the Romulus virus to infect world leaders and plunge the world into another Cold War.]]
5** Ex-[[UsefulNotes/MoscowCentre KGB]] agent [[TheHeavy Alexei Nachrade]] is one of the highest members of Prometheus, acting as its official leader. Eagerly joining [[spoiler:Wilson's]] scheme of using the Romulus virus to plunge the world into a Cold War, Nachrade takes an equal part in trafficking the virus to US territories and delivering it into the hands of La Fuerza del Dios for testing. When [[PlayerCharacter John Mullins]] starts getting too close to discovering the identity of the mole within The Shop, Nachrade has him lured to Hong Kong to his personal prison, where he has his men torture people to death. Later on [[HostageSituation taking the airport full of people hostage]] and having his men murder several innocents along the way, Nachrade distracts Mullins enough for [[spoiler:Wilson]] to attack The Shop, announcing that with The Shop destroyed nobody could stop Prometheus from doing whatever they want.
6* DemonicSpiders: Potentially any enemy in ''[=SOF=]2'' on Consultant and Soldier of Fortune difficulties, due to the AI [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard being a cheating bastard]] with accuracy (they have pixel-perfect aim at very long range even with sustained fire, while you are screwed by the crosshair's pixels and gun recoil), [[TheAllSeeingAI visibility (they can see you through thick brush, smoke, and fog, and even behind hills)]], and grenade timing (sometimes they will detonate it in midair ''a la VideoGame/{{Worms}}'', so better move a few meters as soon as you hear their "grenade out!" call, which you WILL learn to recognize).
7* DifficultySpike:
8** The Colombian jungle. Terrorists concealed by bushes that they can see through fine, assault rifles come into play, and as mentioned above in DemonicSpiders, they can magically see you and lob perfectly-timed grenades over hills that you didn't even get close to. After you're done with it, though, the difficulty (or at least the GrenadeSpam) drops back again until Kamchatka, near the end of the game.
9** The first several levels of ''Payback'' are your standard ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty''-style FPS, with your character possessing regenerating health and the ability to soak more than a dozen assault rifle rounds before croaking. However, in the last 3 levels, the enemy receive a massive increase to their damage level, allowing them to kill you in just 2 or 3 shots from a SMG.
10* DisappointingLastLevel: The last few levels of ''Payback'' suffer from an abrupt and insanely annoying jump in difficulty.
11* FirstInstallmentWins: The first game is considered an underrated classic both for its insanely detailed damage system for the time and a few other novel ideas. ''Double Helix'' is more divisive, being praised for its graphic and gameplay improvements but also criticized for its rather unfair difficulty, and ''Payback'' was roundly bashed for its uninspired story, ArtificialStupidity, and general low production quality.
12* GameBreakingBug: Exceeding 100 FPS on ''Payback'' is an outright game-stopper, as it removes hit registration from any shots you fire.
13* HarsherInHindsight: UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein cameos in the first game for a single scene, where he's chewing out a general for selling uranium to Dekker and seemingly about to execute him before Mullins politely cuts the meeting short. This was in the year 2000, where he had already committed horrible crimes, but shortly precludes the invasion of Iraq which would set into motion his own execution in a matter of years afterwards. Had the game not been VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory or even just a couple years later on, one can imagine the player would've been killing Hussein themselves instead of Mullins being rather cordial to focus on his real target amidst tearing a [[{{Gorn}} bloody warpath]] through Iraqi forces himself.
14* {{Narm}}:
15** Most of the dialogue and voice-acting in ''Payback'' is so ridiculous and over-the-top that it's almost impossible to take seriously.
16%%(ZCE)** Some of the first game's death sounds and animations.
17** The BigBad's death in the first game. Despite getting ripped in half by falling machinery, the only sound you hear is his death scream.
18** The gang leader Sabre escaping in the first game. He stands on a train [[EvilIsHammy petulantly folding his arms]] and waiting for the train to move. When it does? [[EvilLaugh "MU-UHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!"]]
19** In ''Double Helix'', every single voiced character speaks in a tone of DullSurprise no matter the circumstances. This is especially noticeable with Mullins.
20%%(ZCE)* NightmareFuel: The slaughterhouse in the Sudan mission in the first game and the village of Pureza in the second game.
21* PlayerPunch: At the end of the Sudan mission (late in the game), [[spoiler: Mullins is LateToTheTragedy and sees his accomplice Hawk [[KickTheDog get executed]] by BigBad Dekker.]]
22* ReplacementScrappy: Taylor is considered by many to be a weak replacement for Hawk. Unlike the latter, Taylor barely shows up as an AI companion in levels, [[spoiler: and is unceremoniously shot in the back, turning her into a FauxActionGirl.]]
23** One of the biggest criticisms of ''Payback'' is how it replaces John Mullins with a new protagonist, Thomas Mason. While replacing a previous protagonist is one thing, it didn't help that Mason came off as a less likable character due to being an aggressive SociopathicHero compared to Mullins more professional persona.
24* {{Sequelitis}}: The third game. No John Mullins, [[OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight different developer]], different story.
25* ThatOneBoss:
26** The final boss of the first game is regarded as this by many, with an extremely powerful weapon, nasty turret back-up and being [[MadeOfIron absurdly resistant]] to everything with the {{Handwave}} of "he's wearing body armour".
27** The Interrogator in the Hong Kong prison in the second game, with his near-instant-death machine gun. And he's MadeOfIron even though he doesn't wear armor. The real boss, [[spoiler:[=Deviant1=]]], has a SniperRifle and WP grenades, but isn't anywhere near as dangerous as he is.
28** The FinalBoss in the second game is an Osprey that'll rip you apart in seconds if you're out of cover and takes an ''insane'' amount of ammo to bring down if you don't know what you're doing[[note]]shoot the engines' outer panels and their glowy insides until both catch fire like back in the hospital, and then [[SnipingTheCockpit shoot the pilot]][[/note]]. This is the one time where [[AwesomeButImpractical the OICW's alternate launcher]] actually comes in handy: if you can adjust the range properly, you can lob grenades at the chopper safely and defeat it much faster then you would with normal ammo.

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