Hi,
I\'ve played this game for a full two days now and im at the end of the game. So I think I have enough merit to do a review.
About: Ok its Red Faction, its a FPS by Violation and THQ, which features "GEO MOD" technology. Unless your eyes have been closed you will know that Geo-Mod is this "technology" (hardly) which allows you to destroy your surrounds. Its a FPS which has gained quite a bit of hype on this feature alone.
Gameplay: You play Parker, a miner who wanted a change in direction in life so he joined Ultor minining corporation on Mars. Unlike the promises of adventures and wealth, the conditions are harsh, with bed sharing, miner beatings and long hours. Red Faction is born, a rebelion group led by the mystorious Eos.
Like in Half Life you start the game finishing the mining shift, a normal day for Parker, just like Gorden Freeman in Half Life. Soon things get crazy as you see a fellow miner caught up in a beating and its either fight or die. From then onwards your given onscreen instructions by a undercover security officier Hendrix.
The whole game takes the same sort of formular half life uses, completing individual small tasks which add to overall story, like destroying a power plant to cause hysteria amoung the miners. This is fine but the most part it makes you feel your just playing the game to complete the mini task and move onto the next task. This sort of gameplay seems to detract from a overal goal, which doesn\'t help the game run along smoothly.
The locations are a bit predictable after a while. You will notice that you go from mine area, to lab area, back to mine area and so on. This for the most part is fine, and I disagree with some reviers that say the mine areas are boring, I liked them.
The Geomod to me was never anything more than a fancy feature, infact I would go as far to say that I never used it. I had a quick go when I first got the game to see what the fuss was about, but after that I was playing the game as a FPS, not really paying particular attention to creating holes or searching for secrets. Instantly noticable is how little the Geomod is used, I would say most places (outside of the mines) aren\'t distructable, this becomes more apparent later on. Its like they programmed the game with Geomod after creating the levels, so the first mines and labs are geomodable, but later on it seems they got lazy.
At first you will find the game fairly easy, cruising through it but enjoying it all the same. Infact I was beginning to worry I was going to complete it. I kept thinking I must be about half way through the game already. The apparently jump in hardness, mentioned in many reviews does happen, but not as clear as the reviews make it out to be. The guards do become harder but not just going from one type to another.
There is one major snipe I have at the game and that is the rail driver weapon. A rail gun which can shoot through walls. Ok its a nice idea but its basically a pain in the backside when you say get shot and require reloading.
Loading times aren\'t too bad, at first I thought they were fine, then they started to bug me, they seemed to be loading times closer together, and towards the end of the game I didn\'t mind them once again.
The AI isn\'t as bad as magazines make out.
Overall the game is pretty decent in the gameplay deparent. Places are split up with vehicle and stealth sections which to my supprise worked well, I expected driving a vehicle in a FPS would be dreadful, but it works! Theres nothing really new in terms of gameplay as the Geomod although a nice idea doesn\'t play a big part in the game. The game took me two days to beat, I played it pretty much solid but two days for £45 is still questionable.
Graphics: The graphics are decent. Very PC FPS like. Textures are a bit blurry, but unlike a lot of magazines I found the character design to be decent. When its all placed together it works well.
The framerate isn\'t anything to shout about. You will instantly notice that the frame rate isn\'t too great, its obvious that 60fps is better than 30fps when you play this game. Worse still it slows slightly when turning in some sections, slighty when entering some of the detail caves and every single time the geomod kicks into action. This isn\'t what I call a "locked" frame rate. In short though you actually do get used to it, and the battles (with rocket launches using geomod) are playable, just a bit jerky from time to time. Im very picky when framerate is concerned and I was able to enjoy the game with slowdown, you will too.
Sound: The sound is great. The music tracks are pretty average but there not anonying. The SFX is where the sound excels. Everything is captured. You hear the footsteps, the fences rattle and the screams of miners. A lot of reviewers said the shout outs became anonying, I personally found them fine. Also the voice of Hendrix is very good, whilst Eos and Parkers are acceptable.
Multiplayer: Simply put is rubbish. Im sure good times could be had but playing with the bots is boring. Basically the key problem is level design. They are poor, seemed to have been made in someones lunch time to add the multiplayer feature to Red Faction.
Good Points
Very typical PC type FPS, if your a fan of Half Life, Kingpin and to some extent Quake you should like this.
Its fun to play.
Works well.
Bad Points
GeoMod - It has to be said, if you want this game for Geomod dont bother, also Geomod causes slowdown, I dont hate geomod, i like it, but in Red Faction personally it aint a good point.
Rail Driver - It doesn\'t ruin the game but expect to be reloading the game frequently when you get killed, slows the game down a lot towards the end.
Frame rate: Yep it could have been improved. It isn\'t perfect but its playable.
Story: You basically take orders and just go through the game completing one bit, going to the next etc, theres no feel of a overal goal.
Originality: Nothing new here.
Conclusion: Ok a lot of bad points listed, but I still like this game, it is good! The framerate is livable, what game is original on PS2 so far ? Rail driver i only towards the end of the game etc. Meaning your left with a pretty decent FPS.
- Its not wonderful, it isn\'t the amazing Red Faction everybody expected but its a fine example of PC type FPS on the PS2.
8/10.
Topic: Rich\'s Final Red Faction Review. (Read 912 times)