Red Faction 2
Score: 70% ESRB: Mature Publisher: THQ Developer: Volition Media: GCD/1 Players: 1 - 4 Genre: First Person Shooter
Graphics & Sound: When a graphical process is one of the key gameplay elements of a game, you know that graphics are going to be a priority. This is the case with Red Faction 2's Geo-Mod process, which allows for realistic deformation and destruction of objects such as walls. As a bullet point on the press release, this sounds like a cool idea. However, it's not until you get into the game that you realize just how limiting the process really is. Yes, you can destroy walls, but as you play through the game, it becomes rather clear that you are extremely limited in what you can and can't destroy. Stow away those ideas of blasting through walls and never needing keys because that simply doesn't happen in the game. Instead, Geo-Mod is used as something of a gimmick for getting around certain puzzles, like plowing through cubicles in an office to get past a motion sensor equipped machine-gun. There are a few places in the game where Geo-Mod is used to interesting effect, such as making hallways look like that office building in The Matrix (yeah, you know what I'm talkin' bout Willis). Everything non-destructible looks okay - but they are nothing system pushing. Enemy soldiers look good, but tend to all look the same, and this goes for everything else in the game as well. Enemy death effects are terrible and depending on the weapon, tend to either show someone fall to the ground or explode in an 8-bit style splash of blood. Most of your missions take place in urban areas, so get used to looking at dark, cement-filled areas. Except for the Geo-Mod, the game is skimpy on the special effects. One of the worst aspects is the night-vision effect, which comes off as a cheese-filled green distortion filter. I've been watching night-vision shots for at least the past month on Fox News, and what's given in the game isn't it. Sound is about as good as everything else in the game - okay, but not all that wonderful. The voice work is great, and helps to give the game atmosphere. I really enjoyed the 'chatter' that went on during the game such as the Geraldo-looking newscaster who was reporting on your team storming the compound. This got even better when I saw that his chatter responded to what I was doing ('The rather unattractive terrorist is pointing a gun at my head, but I doubt he has the guts to pull the trigger and kill me in cold blood').
Gameplay: By now, I'm sure a majority of us are familiar with the concept of the FPS, so I won't waste much time on it. Red Faction 2 is the follow-up to last year's stellar game of the same name on the PS2. Having played the original isn't a requirement for understanding this one, however. You take on the role of a member of an elite mercenary team of super soldiers who were created and then betrayed by an evil dictator. Of course, having your 'race' hunted down and destroyed is reason enough to seek revenge, so you set out to assassinate the dictator and topple his regime by forging an uneasy alliance with the Red Faction - a local rebel group. As previously mentioned, the big gameplay element is the Geo-Mod engine, which allows for destructible environments. But, as I also mentioned - the engine is used mostly for cosmetic effect and a few random puzzles. Most of Red Faction 2 tends to stay on rails and features very few puzzles to solve. During the times when the game doesn't show you where to go, it tends to become bogged down by confusing level design where your only exit is about as hard to find as an Oscar on Scott Baio's mantle. In between the FPS moments, you'll be able to drive (or co-pilot) vehicles like jeeps. You'll also man the guns on a helicopter-looking-plane as you fly down city streets taking out other ships and enemy troops.
Difficulty: I'm not going to dodge the issue - this game is hard. Gameplay-wise it's your typical corridor running FPS. It's once you begin to shoot people that the problems become apparent, namely that it takes about a clip or two to take down enemies, even at point blank range. There is also a tendency for enemies to appear out of nowhere - even while slinking through the sewers under the city. This only helps to compound the frustration level as you're looking for an exit.
Game Mechanics: In recent months, I've been coming to terms with my dislike of the GameCube controller. Red Faction 2 only served to reinforce that dislike though. The problem isn't necessarily with the layout or control - but rather the controller itself. First and Secondary firing is handled with the shoulder buttons. The problem comes in with the fact that the shoulder buttons aren't really 'made' to handle the quick gun-slinging action the game requires. This is doable when using one gun, but when you get into using the dual machine-guns or pistols, it's hard to pull off. The lack of an Auto-Aim feature also hurts the game in this respect. The menu and save system is handled pretty nicely, and I feel warrants some mention. The only real issue I had was that setting up a profile and starting a new game are in two completely different areas. The norm is to have the game set up a profile the first time you start it. Red Faction 2 instead allows you to play the game without setting up a profile. The problem is that you can't save without a profile and the game gives you no warning beforehand of this requirement. To make matters worse, the game still offers a save feature without setting up a profile - which means someone (a-hem!) could play through the game without setting up a profile, save and then return to it later, only to have to start from the beginning. Bottom line - Red Faction 2 is an okay game and helps to fill the void left in the GameCube's waning 3rd party support. It's a good FPS for fans of the genre, but don't expect anything big from the title.
-Starscream, GameVortex Communications AKA Ricky Tucker
(Disney's) PK: Out of the Shadows Rocky