Red Faction

The Good
The game has a couple of areas where it shines. One area is the sound production, which is tightly done. The control system is well thought out, especially vehicle control. Although most of the weapons in the game are not unique to previous games, they are distinctive (and the Riot Shield is inspired). I like the space station level. The graphics are ok. And, uh, that's it. ... Yeah. coughs

The Bad
Red Faction is terribly dull. It feels like a tech demo with some weapons and moving targets thrown in. The level design is illogical. The first area is obviously a mine, but from the said mine we move on to a metal, hi-tech type facility that (I suppose) serves some logical purpose. And then we go into an office building or two and shoot some people with a silenced pistol. And so on. All the various parts of the Mars mining complex are, of course, conveniently interconnected though a complex series of ducts.

Plot? Go up against the big bad space based corporation-type-thing and kill stuff. Sounds like a great B movie script (that's been done 5 million times). It's not helped by voice actors, who drag this game down from B movie levels all the way to direct-to-video. The guards shout out imaginative lines like "Scummmmm!" and "Give up while you still can, miner!". Gee, is it just me or is the theater empty for some reason? And I love the (abrupt) ending. On the subject of sound, I must quickly say (before I move on to something totally unrelated) that the musical score is unremarkable.

One final note is the on the AI, which (in the most polite way possible) I can only say is poor. Or, perhaps, it's too good. The AI seems to know exactly where you are for no apparent reason. The (apparently psychic) guards also seem to have telekinetic powers, as their shots (even with inaccurate weapons) almost always hit. They infuriate, but not enough for one to stop playing the game.

The Bottom Line
I can't really even be bothered to write an lengthly, interesting review. What a dull game. It might be worth $5 or so in a "bargain bin" outlet, but certainly isn't worth anymore than that.

The Good
The weaponry, by a long shot. Blowing holes in walls with explosives is great, but for the most part appears to be more about showing off technological innovation rather than constructively contributing to gameplay. Likewise, the rail driver gun is great fun as well. There are some good examples of good artwork too, like environmental artwork. I personally like repetitive gameplay, so it wasn't much of a problem for me.

The Bad
The incompetent programming that left the game riddled with bugs, some of which should've been weeded out during play testing. The largely talentless voice acting, much of which resembles somebody trying to fake a rape claim. The largely crappy artwork, which could've easily been knocked up in Photoshop within a couple of minutes.

The Bottom Line
Worth buying, but download a patch first, otherwise you WILL have problems.

The Good
In Red Faction, you are a miner on Mars thrust into the heart of a revolution. That's basically the story. There are a few twists involving a mysterious disease and mercenary troops, but for the most part you follow a linear path shooting people and things while oohing and aahing over the GeoMod engine.

The GeoMod engine allows you to deform terrain, meaning that you can create craters with explosives, "tunnel" through certain areas and shoot through walls. Red Faction comes with a demo level titled "Glass House" where you can experiment with the GeoMod engine and shoot-up a glass house. This gets a bit old after a while.

There are a several weapons available under four different categories, including two sniper rifles and two rocket launchers. Apparently the mine owners knew they were dealing with a tough crowd. There are also several vehicles. Surprisingly only one can drill through walls. You only encounter this once in the game, early on. Sadly, the vehicles are only good to get from one section to another. Expanded use of the vehicles would have been much more fun.

The AI is fair. Enemy units try to kill you and respond to gunfire with scripted phrases (perhaps three scripted phrases). They try convince you that they are either unarmed or on your side while shooting at you. You also have some fellow miners and revolutionaries who either contact you in a style reminiscent of Deus Ex or serve as cannon fodder. I was actually confused by the cannon fodder bit, because I thought it might possible to save them. Nope.

Let's see the sound and music was not egregious. The graphics were quite good. And the game was very stable.

The Bad
Red Faction is neither very good nor very bad. It is actually quite average and unremarkable. Most of the ads focus on the GeoMod technology, but that is such a small portion of the game and so tied in to puzzle-solving that it becomes unimpressive.

Some people have commented that the story in Red Faction is good. It isn't bad and would probably make a good movie (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone). My complaint is that your character doesn't experience the story so much as he is told it from fellow revolutionaries. I prefer games like Deus Ex where you create the story, ones where your character's activities have impact. At no time in Red Faction does the story branch or even hint at branching.

This game seems unbalanced as well. The first two-thirds are pretty easy and the final third is extraordinarily difficult. The game actually ends with a puzzle that reveals the game's platform origins.

The Bottom Line
Red Faction is your typical FPS. No more, no less.