Sound: 7
Gameplay: 8
Value: 8
Reviewer's Tilt: 9
Overall: 7.8
Many would argue that the success of Red Faction revolved around Geo-Mod technology, and I would probably agree. The perfect technology: Allow the player to blow holes in walls, dig tunnels and knock over structures. Once you fully discovered how to use it, you soon blew apart a bridge while a vehicle was driving on it, causing the bridge to collapse and the enemy vehicle to plummet. To tell you the truth, I had no idea about this technology before I bought the game. I thought it was just another FPS, and I had not played an FPS since Aliens vs. Predator on the PC back in 1999. Thus, I picked it up. Soon, I was blown away by the excellent level structure and graphics, and the Geo-Mod slowly sank in with me, and that was when I realized that the revolution was here. It only got better. Volition really spent some time with the game, because the players could operate a jeep, a submarine, a flyable fighter and that mining vehicle in Total Recall. The plot was great, you were Parker, a miner trying to escape a mine with the help of the Red Faction, your little organization who started revolting against cruel miners.
I must have spent the whole summer of last year playing Red Faction. It had a gripping story and one fine multiplayer. Whether you were blasting away at enemies with an aid of a friend via co-op, or digging tunnels deep into the walls, trying to hide from your friend, or shooting apart walls finding secrets such as health power ups, super weapons, etc…Red Faction had it all. It was a gaming experience unlike no other, as clichéd as that statement sounded.
And now, Red Faction 2 is out. Two weeks early. Apparently the development of the game didn’t take as long as expected, although I would argue that this game needed a little more development time, simply because the game feels a little undercooked. I will go into depth later in this review, but right now, I’m just going to say that Red Faction 2 is a good game. It’s a great game, actually. I wouldn’t go out and buy this game for $50 however; I would wait for the price to drop before considering a purchase.
So what happened? After all, Red Faction proved that story and action can co-exist in a first person shooter. What is Red Faction 2 missing? Do you really want me to answer that? Read on, but expect some ranting. I must warn you, that you are about to read some things about this game that might spoil it for you, so if you have not played this one yet, don’t read on. If you want an honest answer of what Red Faction 2 is missing, then proceed.
For one, the plot of this game is pretty weak. It really sucks. I take that back, it sucks ass. Sorry for the language, but I think that is the best way that I can describe it. I tried at least pretending to be enthusiastic about the cut scenes, and I did for about a fourth of the way through the game, but I couldn’t do it after that. Things got a bit monotonous. I did not enjoy watching a lot of those. It just isn’t as moving as Red Faction’s plot. Yes, I know I should not compare the two games, but I can’t help it. If Volition wants to make a successful series here, they have to know how we compare the two games, because this is the sequel to Red Faction. RF had miners starting a revolution; RF2 has…who the hell knows what. Don’t care. All I know is that it is more military themed, and uh, that’s pretty much it. THQ tried too hard to make a plot, and it ended up virtually uninteresting.
Is everyone still with me? Shall we go on? Because there is much more.
I mentioned the vehicles that were in Red Faction. I clearly remember the enjoyment that I got out of them, but I remember that they were not in the multiplayer section of the game. I think I remember someone saying that Red Faction 2 would have vehicles in multiplayer, but surprise, surprise. No Vehicles in multiplayer. Again. So where are they? They sure aren’t in single player that much either! There are only four vehicles in single player, just like Red Faction, but only two of them are fully controllable. The other two vehicles only allow you to operate the turrets on them. Where’s the fun in that? Take, for example, the Gunship. It’s a pretty sweet ride, too bad you can’t fly it. Instead, you just sit there operating the damn guns on it. Think of the possibilities and what could have been: Flying it around all over the city, blowing up pieces of buildings. It’s too bad that the Geo-Mod permits you from damaging them. Another disappointment is that there is jeep like vehicles all around the complexes that you go to, but not one of them is drivable. I don’t know about you, but I think that it would have been so cool to take a car for a test drive and run over the enemies. Not here. Volition seemed to have been more concerned with developing a plot than letting the players actually have fun in their game, too bad it didn’t pay off in the end because the plot just sucked.