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Not nearly as great as its made out to be

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 4
Date: July 22, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Looking at all the positive reviews here, I doubt that a more or less negative one such as this will even be posted. But I'm submitting it just in case.

Red Faction is a classic example of just how much can go wrong when something is overhyped. Were this just any run of the mill first person shooter that was released for the PS2 with minimal advertising and hype, I'd be less critical of it. However, Red Faction was advertised at websites, magazines, commercials, stores, etc. ad naseum, and was touted to have new and interesting features that would set it apart from other FPS games, and presumably make for a much getter gaming experience. So, I'm not going to let it off the hook that easily. The flaws, the flaws, where do I start?

First, this FPS is definately the easiest one I have ever played (and I've played many). There is very little in here that must be figured out - don't expect to be searching here and there for clues, keys, switches, secret passages or other stuff like in Quake, Doom, Turok and other such games. Red Faction constist, with few exceptions, of run n' gun tactics: just keep going foward, blast this or that enemy, and move on. A couple parts require you to stop and think, but they are few and far between. The enemies also have poor AI - run straight at you, shoot a lot, and get killed really fast. Even the few 'bosses' (mostly giant robots of some sort) follow this simplistic strategy. This style of gameplay becomes tremendously boring after a few hours. The only exception comes towards the end of the game, where things get so difficult that you will end up getting killed the first 20-30 times going through the same few rooms or passages. This is very irritating, though since its only at the very end, even it doesn't hold you up for too long.

Second, the environments have little diversity. The Geo-Mod technology has been greatly exagerated. There is actually little in the game that can be blown up, and that which can, usually doesn't need to be. Most of the time, you DO have to get that door open, not just blast your own path. Everything pretty much looks the same, too. There is some diversity in level design, but overall the only two significant environments you have are either brownish-red, cramped mines, or else grey, dark industrial-looking areas.

Save for scant few killer robots and strangely mutated creatures, the enemies are all the same (ie normal humans who merely have different types of firearms) until the end, when you go against the very tough to beat 'mercs'. None of them have interesting deaths, unlike other games of this variety (goldeneye, for example). The end boss of the entire game is particularly embarassing. I won't spoil things by telling you what it/he/she is, other than telling you that you will be let down if you expected something interesting.

Third, there are some miscelaneous gameplay features that leave a lot to be desired.

Saving can be done anywhere, there are no 'save points'. This may sound good at first, but it just doesn't work out - at least save points are safe. Save anywhere, and you may think you're safe...only to turn around the next corner and be blown away by a tank.

The random loading is very annoying. Except for a few parts in which you are transported to some other location, there are no real 'levels' in this game, it just progresses on and on, like one big level. While this was an interesting idea, it is burdened by the fact that the game must randomly 'load' new sections that you are going to. There is no marker, checkpoint or anything that says when it will load, it just does. Many times this happens in the heat of combat, and leads to glitches (For example; you just killed an enemy, but a new part loads, then after that, he is gone and you cannot get his weapon).

Weapons are ok, but not done well in certain cases. The flamethrower uses up fuel so fast and has such a short range that its next to useless (which is too bad, since its effects on enemies are pretty cool). The heavy machine gun, while powerful, is so innacurate that it only comes in useful at very close range. The sniper rifle was a waste of memory, since opportunities to make use of it are so scarce that, provided you can shoot accurately, you will probably only use about 2 clips (12 rounds) from it in the entire game.

The story is awful. There is little FMV, the closeups of the characters in the diologue cut scenes show people with rigid, polygon-riddled face textures. And the ending is so brief and uninteresting that one wonders why they even bothered to include it at all.

However, Red Faction isn't without its positive merits.

The ability to drive vehicles was very interesting. flying a jet figher around and blasting enemies from the sky, or running over them with a tank, is an experience no other console FPS has ever taken advantage of to the degree that Red Faction has.

The controls are outstandingly good, some of the best ever in a game of this genre.

The multiplayer is also fun and interesting, with a diverse number of levels, weapons, and settings to throw in. I've sat down and played this for hours with other people and not grown tired of it.

Overall, Red Faction is ok if you want a good weekend rental, or if you see it for ... used. But shelling out anymore than ... dollars for it would be a bad decision. Its generally boring, repetitive, and has no real replay value outside of the multiplayer experience.

old

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 4
Date: April 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game was very good when it came out, but it can't hold up to timesplitters 2, frontline, nightfire, or a lot of shooters for other systems. The graphics and A. I. aren't very good. Blowing everything up is just a gimmick. I rarely used it and there are a lot of limitations on what you can blow up. There is a good weapon selection,a good length, and not much else.

Eh. It's "okay".

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 5
Date: September 28, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I dunno. Maybe I'm just used to using a mouse for FPS games, but my first impression of Red Faction was that the controls are kinda klunky. Changing the direction you're facing is frustratingly slow. Thankfully, you can take a fair amount of damage, so it seems that they tuned the game to take this into account.

This isn't a bad game, it's just not a great game. The story is a bit weak in the beginning - the miners are volunteers, but there are guards? Looks more like a prison to me. I'm willing to suspend disbelief for a little while tho.

One caveat for this review - I did not finish the game in its entirety, so the story may get a lot deeper. My general impression of the gameplay is that if you're a die-hard Half-Life fan, you might be disappointed.

Difficulty Level Goes Much Too High.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 5
Date: June 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I had fun with this game for a while, but later on in the game the difficulty level zooms (in normal mode;easy mode is to easy for beginning of the game). It's ridiculous. I reached one point that was impossible to get through - game over. This just ruined the whole experience for me.

a great PS2 game to have

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: June 19, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Red faction takes the stuff you wants and even packs it up with more! It's a great action game with a good story line, awsome gameplay, and new geo-mod technology to let you blast your way through the 20 giant levels. With a wide veriaty of enemies and weapons, you may never get bored.

Great Game , Cool Graphics!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 4
Date: June 13, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game is awesome, I highly recommend it!!!!!!

Almost perfect, but...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: June 21, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game sets the standards for FPS on consoles. This game is nearly flawless, but the few flaws it does have tend to make this game a near miss.

The flaws are this: Way too short, first of all. I played this game thoroughly and religiously, taking in each scene, exploring and of course, kicking butt. I still was able to beat this game with about 20 hours or so of game play. Mind you that was on the easiest difficulty, but I don't feel compelled to go to the harder settings because there is simply no reward or reason for doing so. That brings me to the second flaw.

The second flaw is a pathetic let down and super quick, anticlimactic ending. There is no ending, it's as simple as that. There isn't even a trick like some other games where if you win at a higher difficulty then you see a better ending. This is a trend that keeps showing up. Game programmers, please give us players the closure and fulfillment to your games. When I beat this game - (and I was shocked that I had already come to the end.... That alludes to the third flaw. Way too short. At the higher difficulties it takes longer because of course hits hurt you more and you are given less ammo. Really, I have seen plenty of PS1 games that are longer than this....

This game wins you over right away when you are allowed to customize the controls to a tee. It's little details like that and the addition of the training room that showed me that the creators really put a lot of love and care into this game. That's why I was so stunned at the lack of ending and shortness of the game. The graphics and sounds and game play are fluid and top notch. This is the kind of game the PS2 needs more of, in any genre. Crank this thing on 5.1 and you will literally start to sweat because it sounds so real! The Multiplayer is fun but a bit limited. The multiplayer levels certainly are not Goldeneye or Perfect Dark, but are adequate enough for a quick tussle. Even with the above misgivings, I still can recommend that anyone purchase this game without hesitation. That's how good it still is. This game is a few steps away from being a classic. It's too bad they didn't give themselves another couple of months or so to polish this thing off a touch more. I can't wait to see what comes in the wake of this game.

Excellent engine, great story, though still lacking.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: June 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

As the second game and first 1st-Person Shooter I purchased for my PS2, I was immediately thrilled with its sharp graphics, intense gameplay, and most of all, the Geo-Mod technology of which THQ so proudly brags (and RIGHTLY SO!).

The game's storyline was excellent, very similar to one of my all-time favorite movies, "Total Recall." Set in the mines of the planet Mars, you must fight your way to freedom to stop a plague that's terrorizing the miners. The story does, however, shift often and becomes somewhat difficult to follow (though the jist of the entire story is just as easy as what I've written).

The game took a great amount of time to play, and I only played on Easy (I know, I'm a panzy!). Packed onto this DVD-Rom are tons of levels, set everywhere from mines, to office buildings, to the surface of mars, even in orbital satellites where the makers at THQ have taken every detail to heart, including the differing gravity! You may save anywhere anytime, which is great, though I found myself worrying a bit too much about saving every five minutes.

The only thing that I disliked about Red Faction is that, much like Duke Nukem and Half-Life, it is strictly based around the storyline. As a veteran GoldenEye and Perfect Dark Player, after beating the game, I prefer to have new objectives that may earn me new levels, or new mulitplayer characters. I also prefer to be allowed to enter any level (in order to play those exceptional levels that I just can't get enough of!). Unfortunately, in Red Faction, once you beat it, you've beaten it.. end of story. The multiplayer lacks as well, as you are only allowed to have 4 bots at a time, and the only mode of play is Deathmatch.

Though I still prefer more from a title so renowned as this one, Red Faction is still a great game. Any fan of first-person shooters should love it. I believe it will lead the way with Geo-mod technology.

A Great PS2 Tilte

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: June 29, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I own six PS2 titles and this one is by far my favorite (Obviously you have to be a 1st person shooter fan). Red Factor has me looking forward to future PS2 titles if they even come close to this one.

The Greatest Game I've Ever Played!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: July 15, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I'm a huge FPS fan. I have Unreal Tournament for PS2 (a great game) and GoldenEye for N64, which was my all-time favorite game. Now, I don't own Red Faction. I rented it, but I am definitely buying it. The second I turned the game on, I customized the controls so that they were similar to the configuration I use for Unreal Tournament. This only took about 30 seconds. I started off with the multiplayer, which is also similar to Unreal, and therefore great. That, however, is nothing compared to the story, which is long and complex.

The graphics are absolutely incredible; the best I've ever seen in a FPS. The action is fast-paced and up close and personal at times. The Geo-Mod is probably my favorite part of the game. I came up to a locked door and put a remote charge on the wall next to it, blowing a hole in the wall that was large enough to let me get into the next room. It's an invention that should definitely be used in the future.

The weapons in Red Faction are even better than those in GoldenEye, in terms of realism and power. When you fire full automatic on the assault rifle, the recoil makes the screen bounce all over the place.

To sum it up, the second I played Red Faction, I was completely blown away. It is the best game I have ever played! If you love shoooters, GET THIS GAME!!!

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