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Red FactionScore: 8.5 / 10 Red Faction is one of the more anticipated First Person Shooter games to be released for the Playstation 2 system. Taking place in the future when the human race has begun to colonize Mars, the Ultor corporation has implemented an extensive mining operation. This operation turns people into nothing more than property to be used – the conditions are horrendous and the fatalities are high. Needless to say, the population is outraged and scared thanks to a plague that is rampaging through the minor classes. It is time to fight back, and with an unexpected spark starting in front of you, the battle has begun! Using the violence as a ignition, Red Faction (the name of the rebellious movement, not the game) led by the enigmatic Eos begins to organize the counter-attack against the Ultor corporation, and you've been conscripted.
The game is really linear… unless you suffer from a really traumatic short-term memory paired with Attention Deficit Disorder, you aren't going to have a real hard time figuring out where you are going or supposed to be going. At some points in the game you are practically led around by your nose from objective to objective which is all fine and dandy but I prefer a little more of a thinking man's FPS. Some of these levels, while open and spacious, don't really provide you much of an opportunity to go searching around and look at the areas. You get a distinct feeling of being funneled towards something at all times. That's not true of all levels however, there are some good infiltration levels in the game but with the defenses in some of them you get the feeling that it would have been more worthwhile to just blow a variety of holes into any one that gets in your way (damn pacifist rebellions). |
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Starting off with a simple baton, you can move up to more serious weaponry and hardware quickly, ranging from pistols and high powered rifles to shotguns and all sorts of explosives. Most importantly, the explosives are more important in this game than most – they actually blow holes into your surroundings. If you need a foxhole, all you have to do is place a charge on the ground then, once the smoke clears, you are the proud owner of a hole. (I'm sure that all of the existentialists out there will have difficulty with the concept of ownership |
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of a void.) Needless to say, the use of explosives can help you out if you don't feel like finding a key-card, just blow out the walls surrounding the door or burrow underneath it whatever you prefer. Even cooler is the addition of playable machines. Sure they've been in tons of FPSs in recent memory, but not this versatile. You can use mini-submarines to fighters to army style jeeps with a saw-back turret. (makes my mouth water thinking of all the destruction that I could wreak with those.) The visuals are pretty darn good and the PS2 really allows this game to hum along nicely. In order to create the really crypt-like visuals, the lighting has been massively turned down making for some nice ambush situations and general freak-outs whenever someone just hops out in front of you. The sound? It's there… music blends alright, nothing really stood out enough for me to really notice unless the music was particularly annoying. It really gave you the feel of a moody techno beat – everyone’s favorite gaming music these days.
I would be lax if I forgot to mention my favorite feature of Red Faction, the multiplayer options. The multiplayer is absolutely great, unfortunately it only has basic frag matches. But it does provide the opportunity to play with a large number of bots and players (provided that you have the multi-taps and controllers) and it does so rather smoothly I might add. The major difficulty in playing in multiplayer (besides having your screen shrunken down) is that the computer controlled targeting that exists in single player doesn't work in multiplayer. It will definitely take a while for most people to get the hang of moving and aiming, especially with the high-explosive weapons where you only get one shot. It's a good idea to improve your fighting skills in the multiplayer arenas before you go and tackle the single player game (not to mention the fact that you get to humiliate your friends). All in all, this is a good FPS for the PS2 but it does have it's limitations. - Tazman (July 31, 2001) "Brannigan's Law is like Brannigan's Love. Fast and hard." |
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