Red Faction for Playstation 2 Review

First person shooter games have been in need of a serious kick in the pants. Although countless numbers of these titles have been developed over the past few years since the Doom revolution, very few of them have evolved in areas other than graphics. Red Faction has changed that with several new features that raise it above the hordes of shooters with its revolutionary Geo-Mod technology, along with a driving storyline in the same vein as the critically acclaimed Half-Life. In Red Faction you are Parker, a young man who decided to go to Mars to find work at the Ultor corporation. Ultor conducts science experiments and mining facilities on Mars. What Parker did not know, however, is that Ultor mistreats the miners with cruel security guards and terrible living conditions. Worse, a plague has broken out among the miners, with Ultor as the suspect behind it. A mysterious woman named Eos has started an armed insurrection against Ultor, and Parker unexpectedly finds himself involved when one of his miner friends and a guard kill each other in an argument. Soon enough, Parker finds himself under fire from the other guards, with a pistol in his hand. Now he is a rebel too and must help the other miners rise up against Ultor.

In many games you equipped giant rocket launchers and explosives that blew enemies to pieces, yet they could only manage to leave a darkened spot on the walls and floors. Red Faction's Geo-Mod technology changes this by allowing the player to blow chunks out of the environment. Have you come to a door and cannot find the key? Take out your grenades and knock a hole through the wall instead. Can't find a good place to snipe opponents during a multiplayer game? Shoot a few rockets into the wall and carve a niche for yourself to hide in. You can even find secret items and passages by shooting through walls. Red Faction not only benefits from the destructive nature of the environments, but also benefits from the variety of weapons and their functions as well. The rocket launcher has a miniature infrared display that shows your enemies using its heat-seeking capability. The railgun is nearly identical to the weapon from the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, Eraser: it has an x-ray vision scope that allows you to see and shoot enemies through walls. The flame-thrower's fuel canister can be thrown as an incendiary bomb. In addition to the standard weapons, you can drive several vehicles such as tanks, fighter planes, submarines, jeeps and a rock crusher directly from the movie Total Recall. Using the weapons is only half of the play, however. The combat in Red Faction heavily emphasizes taking cover behind obstacles and assessing your balance of offense and defense, rather than encouraging wild random shooting, which will get you killed quickly. At times it feels as if you are in the middle of an action movie as you duck behind a desk and see enemy bullets zipping past your head, shattering glass windows behind you. Although Red Faction's core gameplay is similar to all first person shooters, these new elements of gameplay make it a refreshing change.

Red Faction's graphics are very well done, with detailed textures and complex environments. The player models are medium in detail, with a few pointy edges and flat lines, but are satisfactory overall. Volition has employed a custom graphics filter that alleviates several problems with next-generation games: jagged edges, shimmering textures and TV interlace flicker. Red Faction's only glaring flaw in graphics is its frame rate. Although at most times it runs at a steady 30 frames per second, doubling it to 60 FPS would have helped greatly. It would probably have taken a lot more time to get Red Faction at 60 frames, but Quake 3 Revolution and Timesplitters on PS2 run at 60 FPS, so it was possible for Volition. A little slowdown and stuttering occurs during heavy firefights, making it difficult to aim at times.

Aiming is very difficult, in fact. Although there is an Auto-Aim option, it always targets the enemies' chests rather than their heads. Aiming at the heads of enemies is important in shooter games in order to conserve ammunition. However, without the auto-aim option on, using the analog pads is so difficult that you would probably waste more ammo by missing than if you simply auto-aimed a few extra bullets at the enemies' chests. Volition should have included USB mouse and keyboard support in Red Faction; every PS2 has the USB ports, so why did they not include this option?

In the tradition of its excellent Freespace series, Volition has used top-notch voice actors in Red Faction. The actors and actresses deliver convincing performances filled with emotion. The female leader of Red Faction, Eos, is fiery and short tempered, vigilant in her cause. The evil scientist Capek is sinister and creepy with his sly taunts. The mercenary leader Masako is arrogant and eager to destroy the resistance. Hendrix, a computer hacker, calmly helps Parker with his reassuring words and technical knowledge. Weapon sound effects in Red Faction are awesome with heavy hitting blasts, gunfire and strong bass. A frantic multiplayer game has bullets and explosives blazing across the battlefield; it sounds like a real war-zone. Music is sparse but effective when it comes into play, usually occurring on key events in the storyline.

Multiplayer is also fun, if limited. The only option is the basic free-for-all deathmatch with up to six computer controller bots with one player or two players with five bots. It's a shame that the vehicles were not included in multiplayer, for they present intriguing gameplay possibilities. The frame rate problem rears its ugly head in multiplayer, especially in two player mode. Even though the multiplayer feels a little tacked-on and incomplete, it is still enjoyable, and your friends will enjoy playing it.

Red Faction is a great game, but just short of being a triple-A masterpiece. If Volition had worked on the framerate, provided USB control and more extensive multiplayer options, it would have been nearly perfect. Despite these problems, Red Faction is an enjoyable experience and should not be missed by any shooter fans.

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