Fun albeit linear and repetitive shooter that lacks many things that made Guerrilla good.
Buildings can be brought down just as they could in the open world Guerrilla. Most of these buildings are located in large cavernous areas under the Martian surface or in tunnels. Without Geomod the cave walls are static like the landscapes in Guerrilla. Less care is required to identify structural members or weak points in buildings. There is never any need to demolish efficiently because buildings are destroyed easily. The destruction almost always comes in conjunction with action and not before it. There is less satisfaction when destroying buildings because once they fall there is no permanent outcome for your actions. All the destruction really gives you is more salvage to upgrade abilities. Destruction plays second fiddle to shooting aliens.
Most of the action consists of you against a large number of aliens of various sizes with some destructible buildings strewn about. Some aliens will hang from the ceiling and launch projectiles toward you. Others will rush in and explode when they are about to die. Larger foes will appear from the ground and provide health bonuses to aliens in the area until they are killed. Alien sacs will continue to spawn baddies and walls will split open sending a handful of enemies toward you. Thankfully the weaponry is capable of handling this high volume of aliens.
Standard weapons include machine gun, rocket launcher, grenade launcher and shotgun. A Singularity weapon sucks enemies towards the projectile then explodes with considerable power. A particle beam will send out a stream to vaporize anything in its path. The fun Magnet gun attempts to join two objects together, be they alien or building, resulting in much destruction. Unfortunately low ammo counts and clip sizes force Darius to use all of his four equipped weapons instead of those based on a specific use. Once the battle ends you restock and go at it again in the adjacent cave. The offensive capabilities aren't just limited to weapons.
Darius can use his Nano forge powers to destroy or repair. With upgrades he can send out forward shockwaves, create a shield, lift enemies from the surface or just go berserk and deal high damage for a short time. You do need to wait for a recharge but these powers come in handy when the action gets heated and enemies close in. Sometimes objects will need to be repaired in order to continue. After removing various bugs from an area, the surrounding structures will be significantly damaged. Repairing stairs and bridges will allow you to proceed along the highlighted path.
In between the constant shooting of aliens on foot you have more constant shooting in vehicles. These take place in Exo suits or larger spider like walkers. Vehicle sections remain excruciatingly linear for the few minutes they last. All you do is kill critters or cultists along a very confined path. Holding primary fire and then using secondary fire each time it recharges. There is even less brain work needed during these sections than while Darius is on-foot.
While the shooting and general action of Armageddon is fun enough things come crashing down when there is nothing else to the game. The story is thin and told through pre-rendered cut scenes that have more video compression artifacts per second than the game has bald male characters. The game is highly linear with only a few side caves to explore for ammo and salvage. Upgrading Darius feels relatively shallow and some upgrades have minimal bonuses. The computer aid, SAM, will occasionally work in contrast with Darius in order to create some fairly basic jokes. Sadly even multiplayer can't salvage the game from implosion.
Competitive multiplayer has been completely removed in Armageddon. You are now restricted to four player Infestation (horde mode) and Ruin mode. Infestation soon becomes pretty stale on the same map even if it gets very chaotic as the waves get harder. Ruin mode allows you to take down some buildings in levels your saw through the campaign. If you enjoyed the competitive nature of building demolition in the previous game then you will be bitterly disappointed with the offering this time. There is just less stuff to do in the game world compared to its predecessor. With only a seven hour campaign and no human competition the value comes into question.
Instead of taking the working formula of Guerrilla and melding a new tale of destruction, Volition has taken a few steps backward. The shooting is definitely fun and often insane but also highly repetitive in rigid spaces. The last few hours in particular would be more at home in a Starship Troopers game because of the high volume of 'bugs' and little else. There is no substance to the story or the lacklustre missions you are sent to perform. There is no player choice, no way to just take a vehicle and cause mayhem anywhere you like and run away when the EDF chase after you. The repetitive shooting of creatures is all the game has and it suffers for it. Guerrilla was far from perfect but it was a step in the right direction for the franchise. Armageddon is a disappointment because it lacks the strong foundations shooters build themselves around.