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Game Type: FPS (First Person Shooter)
System Requirements: Windows 95/98/ME with Direct X8, Pentium II 400 MHz, 3D Graphics Accelerator Card (8MB VRAM), 64 MB RAM, 4X CD ROM, Direct X Certified Soundcard
Game Homepage: RedFaction.com
Order Now: Red Faction PC
Game Notes:
  Volition's Red Faction is an Action story driven FPS that allows for some great game play in both single and multiplayer modes as you play Parker, a miner who's had enough and rises to the call when a revolution begins on mars. Lured to Mars by the Ultor Corporation's promise of a better life, thousands have come to seek their fortune and work for the massive mining company. But all is not as it seems. A deadly plague is sweeping through the barracks, and miners suffer daily abuse at the hands of the Ultor guards. Red Faction revolutionizes gaming with Geo-Mod technology, the ability to completely alter and destroy the environment in real-time. Featuring 5 controllable vehicles, 15 weapons of mass destruction, unparalleled multiplayer action, and a setting on Mars in the midst of a deadly plague and rebellion. Red Faction might well be the gold standard in Multiplayer gaming today.
Gameplay:
Red Faction is one of the most long awaited action games because of the many specific game play options it has. In single player, you assume control of Parker, a miner who works on mars, however while he came to find a better life, all he finds is death and oppression. One day at the change of shift, an all out revolution breaks out between the miners and Ultor (the mining corporation they work for) Parker rises to the call to assist the Red Faction and their leader, Eos, by going on a series of missions to free them selves and get back to earth.
????Now, right from the story this game appears to be a breath of fresh air as not many action games choose to go into a story of this depth. Well during the course of the game you'll go onto to wield many weapons, Machine guns, flame throwers, silence pistols, rocket launchers and such. The weapons may not seem totally inspired but their effects are done very well and are fun to use. Also, you’ll go on to control many vehicles, such as subs, jeeps, a mobile fortress, an attack aircraft and others. While the vehicles each make for a fun ride and help to keep the action from getting stale, the sequences to play with the vehicles really aren't long enough, just when you start to have fun with a vehicle, you have to get out, it’s a real bummer. Add that along with the fact you can't have them in multiplayer and you may be asking yourself, what was the point of putting them in? Another big perk of the game is the famed geomod technology. For the first time ever you can change your environment on the fly by blowing holes in walls. Now while this may seem like a gimmick, I assure you, it’s a lot more then that. While you can have fun in single player and it may be necessary to use it, this feature is 10x more useful in multiplayer. No longer are you restricted to a set path to get and return the flag to your base in CTF but you can make your own exits and entrances in most parts of the level. The technology does add to the game, it will be even more interesting to see how it’s used by the mod community.
????Red Faction's AI is its biggest down fall, the AI for most of the regular troops you meet in the game is just... stupid. As you move on in the game you will find smarter elite guards but the regular troops are in 70% of the game and act like morons. For example you may nearly kill them, they will scream "O please don't kill me I'm unarmed" and then run straight back at you guns blazing. What it does lack in AI, it makes up for in scripted events, and you’ll come to many junctures in the game where it takes a half-lifeian approach to some bosses. The game's multiplayer is done fairly well and offers a low lag experience with a lot of levels to play through, even though it may seem short changed with only 3 modes of play (deathmatch, team deathmatch, and Capture the Flag).
????On the gameplay side, Red Faction is a lot of fun. It will probably give the hard core gamer 7-10 hours of game play, where as it may take you much longer if your not normally an FPS player. Unfortunately, Red Faction did ship with some level change and cut scene bugs, but hopefully they will be fixed in a patch.
Gameplay gets 4 stars out of 5
Graphics:
????Red Faction's graphics are good. Don't even try to compare it to the Quake 3 engine or any next Generation game, it will lose. But the graphics, for the most part, are good. Explosions in the game are handled very well with light, smoke, and partial effects and the geomod technology runs flawlessly and looks great. The weapon and player models are low poly, but they do look good and didn't bother me at all, they are a slight step up from half-life's low poly graphics, so if you like the graphics in Half-life, Red Faction should please you. One major improvement over half-life is the faces of the characters. They do look realistic and are even lip synched.
????My only two problems with the graphics were that the textures on some of the characters looked muddied and blurry on some of the characters, and it was really hard to look around when you have a character who's suit looks like it was painted on... especially a cut scene and that sometimes you had generic guards with the same faces over and over again. Graphically , Red Faction won't win any awards but it does get the job done and looks fairly well.
Graphics gets 4 out of 5 stars
Sound & Music:
????The sound and music is done well in Red Faction. Each weapon sounds different and has its own ricochet, firing, and reloading noises, all of which sound different. Also I found I never got tired of hearing my own weapons fired, it was just fun in some places. The music on the other hand was ok at best, its got many up beat and other worldly music, mostly ambient stuff, however It was easy to get caught up in the action and not even notice the music. It’s done well but really isn't memorable.
Sound & Music gets 3 and 1/2 out of 5 stars
Overall:
????In the end, if you liked Half-life, I'd wager to say that you'll have no problem getting into Red Faction. It’s a lot of fun, if you can get around the dense AI and a few of the showstopper bugs. Red Faction also is not very gory, yes, their is blood, but its no where near the extent of Solider of Fortune. If you’re looking for something to hold your interest a little longer then Max Payne, try the Red Faction demo, you may find that with its well scripted levels and its fairly good multiplayer warrant a retail purchase.
Overall Red Faction PC gets 4 out of 5 stars
ScreenShots: (Click To Enlarge)
     
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