It may be a bit low on substance, but it's high on style.
User Rating: 8.5 | Red Faction: Armageddon PC
With RF:A Volition has still retained "blow shit up" vibe. Only they have axed RF:Guerrila'sopen world approach for a linear one. While this hurts to a certain extent, this game is still a satisfying action game. RFA again takes place on Mars 50 years after its predeccessor. The story revolves around Darius Mason, grandson of Guerrila hero Alex Mason. He somehow gets tricked into summoning a horde of hostile aliens on the planet, and now must do whatever it takes to get them back to their holes. The game occasionally tries to do a survival horror approach, though it misses more often. Unless you get scared by dimly lit corridors and alien bugs. Destruction is no longer RFA's USP, as a new repair mechanic has been added, thanks to a cool device called Nano Forge. It allows you to repair structures that you break intentionally or otherwise in a matter of seconds, addind a whole new dimension to gameplay. It's unfortunately a dual-edged sword of sorts, as you will spend a lot of time repairing buildings you may have accidently destroyed and now you need them to get across an area. Enemies consist of ancient Martian creepy crawlies, that are pretty generic. On one hand you have the weaker but fast moving grunts, thye tougher but slower behemoths, and some projectile spewing ones that are a huge pain in the ass. Dispatching them howewer ain't a problem due te gratuitious arsenal the game provides. Besides the run of the mill Shotgun, rifles,pistols orrocket launchers some pretty innovative weapons, the most awesome being the magnet gun. It allows you to fire 2 powerful magnets one after another on any surface. The magnetic force between them allows them to pull anything towards each other no matter what. In this way, the game offers many ways to tackle enemies keeing the gameplay fresh, even though the level design is repetitive. As much as i enjoyed slamming houses or buildings on bugs, the game kinda ran out of steam towards the end. I just kept getting plummeted by enemies towards the last hour, making it more tedious than intense. Being a linear game that it is, RFA is shorter than Guerrila and on normal mode, It got finished in less than 8 hours. Multiplayer was axed in favor of a horde mode called Infestation. Up to 4 players can join together to take on a waves of enemy who get tougher. Can't find a server online, don't worry, you can create a LAN server or tackle it yourself. All the salvage you earn gets transferred to the single-player campaign and vice versa. Besides Infestation, you can satisfy your craving for wanton destruction in another mode called Ruin. That mode allows players to blow stuff in a certain area. You can either blow things at your own leisure or go against the clock. Beat the require score and you can unlock newer maps. These 2 modes may not be a proper replacement for multiplayer but they are fun regardless.
When it comes to graphics, RFA doesn't deserves any awards, but it ain't a bad looking one either. Besides who has the time to marvel at the visuals, when you will be busy blowing things up or avoiding getting eaten by aliens. The frame rates holds up well, thank god. RFA is not a perfect game, but just like the ones that came before it, this ain't a story driven game. If you want your bugs big, Your actionn frantic and cool, and destruction OVER THE TOP, RFA is exactly what you need.
PROS:
1. Still as destructive as it was before.
2. Magnet gun is the coolest weapon ever.
3. Solid gameplay.
4. Infestation mode is superb.
CONS:
1. Repetitive level designing.
2. Axing the open world approach was not really a good idea.
