Red Faction II

Additional Screenshots

Once again, an FPS where you kill some random bad guy… But wait, this is Red Faction! Ok, don't laugh, I know that wasn't very convincing but something about it really makes it a step above a category that was once topped by Half Life and Battlefield (ah the good old days). So what exactly is this “thing” that makes Red Faction so awesome? Read on and learn, oh unwise one.

Bot Mode is Brought Back

Well, first of all Red Faction brings back the awesome function of Bot wars to the FPS scene. Most games these days have outlawed this feature, opting rather to have online gameplay. But wow, was I impressed by this section. It really reminded me of games like Quake III for PS2 and the like, but it was on a computer! Map types like CTF, bagman and deathmatch were all present, with an infinite number of actual maps to choose from. Gamers create their own bot to use, complete with stats to look at, including kills, accuracy, favorite weapon, etc.

Varied Weapon Selection

What else that was good about this part of the game was the plethora of weapons to choose from. Ranging from pistols to anti-personelles, players can find almost any gun for any situation. What's best of all is defiantly the ability to carry more than one main gun! I mean, come on, how many times have you been in a game and you go “damn, if only I had that gun now.” FINALLY, we can carry snipers, shotguns, rocket launchers, machine guns, and dual pistols all at the same time. Yea, it's somewhat unrealistic, but it makes the game so much more fun.

The Plot of the Campaign

Anyway, getting to the real part of the game: the campaign. You are Alias: A hero with a mission (real descriptive eh?), who is out to kill the evil reign of Sopot the dictator. Same mumbo-jumbo as most games, but still fun at the core. Trained with nanotechnology, brought to Earth from Mars, you and some two thousand soldiers have become stronger, faster, and better than everyone else (kind of like Halo). So this Sopot dude is all happy about this and then realizes that you and the others are a little too powerful and that you all must die. Oh, how touching. So naturally, you escape along with 5 others and have banded together to stop this Sopot. Yea, yea nice and all… lets play some Red Faction!

All in All, a Good Campaign

Cinematics are, well, rather nonexistent. Tiny screens of your allies and their progress periodically show up, and once in a while, very short clips are shown of men running and the like. Graphics are fine, nothing real special but nothing too horrible either. And the difficulty… yay challenge! Sometimes, actual brains are required to figure some little itty bitty secret out, and therefore has earned a title slightly above meathead shoot-em ups. Enemies tend to get stronger, and the need for varying firearms is ever present, so clicking 1-2-6-4-2-5 is not uncommon. Having to fire a grenade at a blank wall seems so remedial, yet it's something that no one ever puts because kids are too stupid to figure out what to do. Oh yea, and some allies show up in the middle of battles to help your cause, making the game exciting and unpredictable. In fact, I thought I was dead when Repta, the big guns guy comes along and blows off some robot's head.

Every Game has its Downsides

Yea, the game is awesome…but does it have any bad points? Sadly, yes. First of all, what happened to the multiplayer function?! The bots are great, but couldn't THQ at least throw in some Internet gameplay? Everything is perfect, the weapons, graphics, but it just is lacking if you can't play with friends. In today's world, it's all about Internet speed and the ability to use it in games. Also, the bots are a slight bit too easy over time. Hard difficulty enemies sometimes stop in the middle of an arena, and never seem to be good at spraying areas with bullets. Rather, they shoot only when they know they'll hit. And in the campaign….wait, no, that's challenging even on easy difficulty.

Overall

If you like releasing violence through computer games with guns, this game is for you. Close range rocket launchers rule. If you like good campaigns, this is for you. If you like strategy and FPS, this is also for you. If you like Internet gameplay, Halo review is two links over.