Red Faction
August 1, 2000
Red faction has set the standard for FPS games on the PS2. It has only one problem, and we all know that is the Keyboard and mouse disappearance. Explosions, blood, giant vehicles of doom! It all comes together in this game, see why and read on my fellow gamers. You’ll find just as I did that Red Faction is well worth your $50 clams!
When you first start up Red Faction you’ll notice that there is a practice or “training” mode. This is helpful if you’re not a hardcore FPS person and just want to know how the game runs. It shows that Valve took their time and thought of logical Ideas for the game it self.
In the very beginning of the game you realize that Red Faction takes a part of Half-life with its story telling methods. It features a pop-up window on the top of the screen that shows you who is talking and what they’re saying in text. Not to mention that Red Faction has very good dialogue, it also has fairly thought out character designs. The story is pretty damn compelling and makes you want to blow away the “evil” Ultor empire!
I’m not going to speak much on the story because it’s actually worth witnessing first hand. The basic idea is that you’re a miner who came to mars searching for something new and exciting. In the long run you realize how much Ultor tortures their miners and there is some plague going around killing off miners. One evening while leaving to go back to your tiny little bunker a mutiny begins and “you” get caught in the middle of a gigantic mutiny against Ultor the “evil mining corporation” and become the savior in the end.
The graphics are for the most part everything you would expect from a current PS2 game. They are amazingly sharp and smooth, the only thing I wish is that it ran at a constant 60 frames per second, this would make the game much more enjoyable. All of the animations are superb and the weapons are some of the best I have ever seen in a game. Now when you take in to consideration that Red Faction sports a brand new type of graphics engine that lets you blow up just about anything in the game, you start to realize that while blowing up the bad guys is fun. Blowing up everything else including the bad guys is MUCH more fun. Yes Geo-mod is one of the PFS creations that will go down in history.
Sound, well every damn sound has been fleshed out and mixed into the game, making the music must of been a fairly long experience because you know when you hear this whom ever made the music must have taken their time. It’s totally fitting for every part of the game!
The only real downfall, and maybe this isn’t a downfall more than it is a disappointment. Where is the missing keyboard and mouse interface we were all promised and never got? If Red Faction had been given the mouse and Keyboard function it would have taken it to the next level of gameplay. Oh well that’s just how the dice roll sometimes. I just hope that developers will get the idea of using the two tiny little holes in the front of my PS2 for a better gaming experience SOONER or later…
CVG Report CardRed Faction
Developer: Volition
Publisher: THQ
1 to 2 Player Game
Genre: First Person Shooter
Rating: B-
Platform: PlayStation 2
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