RF: Armageddon is loud, chaotic, action packed, and worthy of the Red Faction name.
Red Faction Armageddon throws you into the shoes of Darius Mason, a combat engine who is part of the Red Faction crew. You start out in a basic mission to stop an evil villain from destroying the Teraformer, but of course things don't go according to plan. Darius is a likable character who might have the typical bald space marine look going on, but he has much more personality than that. He might not be everyones type of character to play as, but his jokes and banter with other characters are great.
The best thing about playing as Mason are the weapons he can use. The gameplay is all about destruction and you are more than well equipped throughout most of the game to deal out total chaos. From weapons like the magnet gun, to the blackhole gun that literally creates a blackhole and sucks all enemies into it. Every weapon in the game has a lot of "umph" to it which makes it hell of a lot of fun to blast the enemies to pieces, making them regret ever messing with you, but enemies aren't the only thing you can tear to shreds.
You see a building you want to destroy? Do it. Wanna destroy it without too much of a mess? Use the magnet gun. Want to completely obliterate it? Use the rocket launcher. This is what games the destruction so much fun, it's up to you how you want to destroy it. Weapon variety is what makes Red Faction Armageddon a step above most other third person shooters. Mason has more than just weapons up his sleeve, though. If you destroy something that you shouldn't have you can always repair it. Volition knew what they were doing when the implemented this into the game and did it in a very successful way.
Another gameplay element that is great is upgrading Mason's abilities. You get what is basically money or credits throughout the game to upgrade a few set of skills that range from health, shockwave abilities, guns, and more. You can play the entire game without upgrading anything at all if you want, but messing with all of these skills is half the fun.
Red Faction Armageddon isn't without it's flaws, sadly. The game has a framerate problems when things get to chaotic for the game engine to keep up. At first I thought this was just my PC, but a few friends were having the issues as well. It's never that distracting up until the final stage when there's up to over 40 enemies on the screen trying to kill you. It's forgivable, but it is definitely an annoyance.
Another thing is repetition. The game essentially has you to do the same thing over and over again in a few levels that drag on a bit longer than they should. One level made me flip switches, repair parts, and kill hordes of enemies for what felt like a century. I was rewarded with a EXO mech suit towards the very end of the level which was a ton of fun, but the mech should have been there much sooner.
All in all Red Faction Armageddon is a fast paced, over the top third person shooter that fans of the genre will definitely like and should give it a try. If not buy it then at least rent it for the 10 hour campaign that you might just want to play through again.