In the combat mode, the screen is divided into squares with player and computer-controlled characters taking turns trying to eliminate the opposing party.

The main hero of the story is the 40-year-old Canadian soldier Cole Sullivan, a commando team member with extensive scientific knowledge.

[14] Eric Bratcher of NextGen called it "A groundbreaking title kept from four-star status only by the at-times unwieldy mechanics and some minimal balance issues.

The game was published in North America by Dreamcatcher Interactive as Soldier Elite and in Europe by Enlight Software as Aurora Watching.

The English translation ignores all ties to the previous Gorky titles, for example changing the protagonist's name from Cole Sullivan to White Fox.

The English-language story concerns the protagonist infiltrating a secret Russian base where scientists are developing enhanced human soldiers called "Crazy Ivans".