Rather red than dead
( SPOILER ALERT! )
Before reading this review i want you to notice that below ( last two lines) are a short brief through the main story of the game.
Red Faction created by Volition takes place on Mars in the 22nd century. Parker, a miner who helps lead a rebellion against the Ultor Corporation. The premiere feature of the game is its "Geo-Mod" technology, short for "geometry modification", which provided destructible environments, allowing the player to destroy certain sections of the scenery in the game. For example, instead of opening a door, a player could blast through the wall. The game also offered a little various of vehicles. like a submarine, a jeep giant gunships and a giant drill tank. Red Faction was called the Half-Life killer, it was a new engine and another fps game that offered a great story and gameplay. Red faction was maybe the first games that used the "geometry modification" technique.
Other games had take this to there advantage, games like Bad Company for example. The PC version of Red Faction included a online multiplayer wish the ps2 version did not have, but instead offers split screen and up to 6 computer controlled bots for the players to battle with. The PC version adds 32-player multiplayer support.
Most of the game is straightforward action were the gun is the main character. You encounter enemies with a pretty good AI .You will have various weapons at your disposal, all from automatic shotgun, remote mines, rocket launchers, riot shield, flamethrowers, sniper rifles and machine guns to fight the blue army. Many weapons also have a secondary firing modes.
You will find out that weapons is quite necessary to defeat the enemies you will encounter on your way. The game's artificial intelligence was better than Monolith's NO One Lives Forever. Enemies take cover and hide behind objects, provide cover fire and take advantage of the surroundings. But Red faction is more like a tactic shooter so you have to think your attacks through.It's not like Soldiers Of Fortune were you just shoot everything that moves. So blasting through a level like Rambo or John McClane mostly results that you have to load the last save.
Even though Red Faction is similar to many other first-person shooters . Its Geo-Mod technology lets you destroy the environment but not as mush as you would like. But using this in a fire fight is just amazing. Thinking about destroying the wall next to a jammed door or just blow a hole in the ceiling and watch debris fall over your enemies, they must have been surprised.
For the PS2 the game's graphics are not as sharp as in the PC version or other console first-person shooters at the time when this game cam out. Shooters like unreal tournament for the Sega Dreamcast or any other game of the same genre on the very PS2, but they are for the most quite impressive.
The games music and voice acting is maybe the only problem in this game. Some are excellent but there is really no variety and you can sometimes here the same voice actor speak different parts of another character. The sound effects however are on top.
Im not judge Red Faction against other first-person shooters. It brought Half-Life style gameplay. Red faction maybe take inspiration from other shooters but it's still a classic PC game that deserves sitting on a shelf next to Half-Life. It's one a kind with it's story, gameplay and Geo-Mod" technology.
Red Faction is one of the only oroginal first-person shooters for the Playstation 2. Red Faction Impressed the gamers and it should do the same for you.
Viva Redolucion!
( Here are a short brief of the storyline in Red Faction. read at own risk )
Planet Mars around the year 2158. Earth's minerals are being depleted and humans need more of them to survive. The vast Ultor Corporation runs the mining operation on Mars. The conditions are deplorable, Parker, a downtrodden miner, came to Mars to make a new start in his life. After a routine day in the mine he witnesses the spark that starts a rebellion when a security guard kills him. Parker takes up arms, with the help of Hendrix, Hendrix tries to get Parker to join up with a group of miners who are about to steal a supply shuttle and escape the complex. Parker arrives too late. The shuttle takes off but is destroyed by missiles.
Parker travels through the Ultor complex, eliminating any resistance Ultor throws at him, and even kidnapping a high-ranking Ultor administrator, Gryphon, for Eos, leader of the Red Faction. Parker learns from Gryphon about Dr. Capek, who created "The Plague". Capek has been experimenting with nanotechnology, and the Plague is a side-effect of injections at the miners' annual medical checkup. Hendrix directs Parker to Capek's secret underground laboratory, where he and Eos meet up and take down Capek. Before Capek dies, he tells Eos how to cure the Plague.After sending a distress call to the Earth Defense Force, Parker stows away on a shuttle to an Ultor space station in Martian orbit to deactivate a laser defense system.
After destroying the space station, Parker lands back on Mars through an escape pod, Hendrix tells Parker that the mercenaries have orders to destroy the mining complex, covering up any proof of Ultor's wrongdoing, Hendrix is killed soon after this by the mercenaries. After fighting his way through the mercenary base, Parker confronts Masako, the mercenary leader. After he kills Masako, Parker sees that Eos is tied up and sitting on the floor next to the bomb. After deactivating it, the Earth Defense Force arrives just in time to save Parker and Eos. Eos tells Parker that an antidote for the Plague has been made. She also tells him she is leaving Mars, and that Parker should enjoy his new status as a hero.