Explosive or not, just about every weapon of yours has an alternate firing mode or some other special ability. For instance, the rail driver allows you to target and shoot enemies who are on the other side of walls or obstacles. The precision rifle points you to enemies in the vicinity when you're looking through its scope. All this hardware packs a satisfying punch and looks good in action, though the weapon that will likely get the most use is the NICW, an assault rifle with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and a built-in targeting system, evidently modeled after the US military's next-generation objective individual combat weapon. An all-purpose firearm, the NICW can get you through virtually any encounter. You'll appreciate that this and most other weapons in your arsenal are so effective, though you might find it odd that you can carry all the game's weapons simultaneously.

Over a dozen high-powered weapons let you make mincemeat of your foes.

Red Faction II controls like most any other console first-person shooter these days, with the left analog stick controlling movement, the right stick controlling your aim, and the shoulder buttons controlling your weapons' primary and secondary firing modes. In a great touch, these buttons are also used to independently fire smaller weapons (such as pistols or submachine guns) that can be wielded in pairs. The controls are about as responsive as can be expected in a console shooter, and the somewhat imprecise aiming is mitigated by an auto-aim feature. Notably, the Xbox and GameCube versions of Red Faction II lose the PS2 version's support for PC shooter-style USB mouse-and-keyboard controls.

Too bad the game doesn't support online play. Red Faction II does offer a fully featured multiplayer mode, accommodating up to four players in a split-screen view, though unfortunately there's no option to play the campaign cooperatively. At any rate, Red Faction II's multiplayer mode still adds to the value of the game, especially since it features computer-controlled bots that you can play against either alone or with others.

Eight different multiplayer game types are available, ranging from standards like deathmatch, team deathmatch, and capture the flag to variants like regime, in which one player is the "dictator" and must try to survive as long as possible as all the other players try to bring him or her down. These are all pretty standard multiplayer shooter variants, involving either all-out shooting mayhem or goal-oriented, team-based objectives. The team-based modes can be fun if all human players join the same team and pit themselves against the AI, and if you find that some of the game's extremely powerful weapons unbalance the multiplayer game, you can remove them from play. Numerous other options, decent bot AI, and a variety of serviceable maps make multiplayer Red Faction II a well-rounded experience overall.

It may be fun to play, but Red Faction II loses some points because it doesn't look all that great. In fact, it looks like a straight port of a PS2 game, which is more or less true. Textures are blurry and plain, and in the instances where the visuals were sharpened up, you'll likely just notice other problems such as the low polygon counts on enemy characters. The GameCube version hardly looks any better than the PS2 original, though the Xbox version looks better and tends to run smoother--yet both these new versions still suffer from some of the frame rate issues that affected the PS2 game. You'll see things slow down noticeably when the action heats up. The cutscenes still aren't particularly good looking, though the one played when Alias finally catches up to Sopot is memorable. The original game's settings mostly consisted of bland tunnels and sterile laboratories, while the sequel's rundown urban environments and sophisticated military installations tend to be a little more colorful. Enemy characters are brought to life using motion-captured animations, and not only do these animations look good, but you also won't notice much repetition in them as you keep shooting down bad guys. The weapon models are diverse and look appropriately hefty and high tech. The game also sports some pretty nice explosions--as well it should, for a game starring a demolitions expert. Plus, the vehicles are portrayed convincingly.

It could have looked better, but Red Faction II is still fun.

Red Faction II's audio holds up better than the graphics in translation. Though the cries of enemy soldiers repeat a bit too often, and some of their lines are pointlessly profane, the sounds of all your various weapons and explosions are loud, clear, and effective. A high-tempo electronic music score pumps in the background beneath the near-constant roar of your firearms and helps maintain the game's high intensity level. The quality of the voice acting is mostly good, with the highlight being Molov, the squad leader of Alias' unit, who is voiced by Lance Henriksen (Aliens).

Red Faction II is a good shooter overall, offering up a short but sweet single-player campaign and a solid multiplayer mode for the long run. It's not long on looks, but it's got no shortage of action.