Red Faction

"Shooter Fan Says: Sooo Bad!!"

I've reviewed my share of shooters; some of them good, most of them not. This review will add to the ever-growing list of Bad Shooters I've had the misfortune to play. Lets get started.

OH MAN, SO BAD...
-ACCURACY-
This has to be mentioned first, simply because it ruins the entire game. Okay, so pop quiz: What's the most important aspect of games where the goal is to hit your targets? For the weapon you are shooting with to actually land hits where you intend them to go!! Accuracy!! That's what I'm talking about!! From the first gun you pick up in the game (The Handgun, of course), you'll be appalled at the inconsistency of the bullets. I swear, and I say without hyperbole, that I would empty an entire clip at close range, with my crosshairs dead-on in the enemy's belly, and hit nothing but floor and walls. It's crazy! The handgun is bad, but the worst is the heavy machine gun. It holds 99 bullets per clip, but the percentage chance of you hitting an enemy with any of those bullets is about 10%. It's that bad. I was so excited when I got the gun because I saw how good the enemies are with them, but could never use it because of its abysmal accuracy, or lack thereof!!

Now, I'm not saying I need guns to be 100% accurate (i.e. Resident Evil 4 *drool*) to enjoy a game. I find that it can add a slight bit of challenge and realism to enhance the gameplay. And sure, it's consistent with the character you play as, seeing as he's just a miner and not a marksman, but tell me that when I'm at point-blank range, firing past the enemy's head. And I highly doubt this game was going for realism. Half way through the game, you have this guy following you around, no space suit, just a tux, breathing comfortably on the surface of Mars. Should be more like Total Recall.

-GRAPHICS AND GLITCHES-
This game was released in 2001, but I still must complain that the graphics just suck. I usually don't mention the lack of good-quality graphics in my reviews, but that's because the game usually has some redeeming features to make up for it. THQ seems to have just gotten lazy. Heavily polygoned with bland, dull color schemes, this game looks more like a late PS1 release than an early PS2. The characters look like blocks and unrealistic in every way. All the empty space and plain colors make the game seem like it wasn't finished, like the developers just went, "Ehh, forget it, they won't notice." And glitches? You bet! When I was fighting the large robot thing, it got stuck in between a pillar, the wall, and the ceiling, stuck permanently, all due to shotty programming. They shouldn't have made the robot so big and the room so cramped that something like this could happen. And I wouldn't complain except for the fact that I'd saved while he was stuck, so there's no way to continue through the game! By the way, I have beaten this game, but this was a most recent incident, so I had to mention it.

Oh, and the characters just look ugly. The leader chick, Eos, is a skinny, 10-polygon, one-eyed, old-lady-spandex-wearing-Linda Hamilton -Terminator 1...lady. There's just no appeal whatsoever. Couldn't it have been an attractive female character with a sexy voice to beckon you to the end of the game? Not some blocky-haired beast you find at Waffle House with a voice that will make your ears bleed? I guess they didn't have the graphics capabilities to make an attractive girl character.

-GAMEPLAY-
All in all, playing the game isn't a horrible pain, and sometimes is actually kind of fun at times, but there are many things to say about its faults. First of all, the stealth missions. There are two of them, and they both suck and are done badly. The first one has you posing as a corporate suit to kidnap another corporate suit. This one isn't too tough if you know how to work it, but what I hate the most about these missions is that you can't go anywhere near an enemy or surveillance camera without being spotted. The enemies also have a multi-planar perspective, as the guy on the floor above you will spot you if you're under him, which makes it frustrating to no end. Oh, get caught and you're dead. You're given a pistol (bad accuracy and all) with one extra clip. That's all. Oh, and forget about taking enemies out with that. Even if you micro-aim (a badly done function that's hard to use) at their heads, they'll usually survive and instantly alert all guards. What a load of crap! Not have damage points is so primitive, even for 2001. The second stealth mission has you posing as a doctor, doing various pointless deeds for some end or another. This one is near impossible because there are guards everywhere, on multiple planes, which as I said, makes it that much harder not to be spotted. Now I'm all about difficulty adding dimensions to a game, but not when the difficulty is based on bad programming! Urghh! If you can make it without being spotted, you still have to blast through heavily armed guards with your pistol at some point.

THQ concentrated heavily on the geo-physics aspect of the game. In Red Faction, you're able to blast through many destructible walls with explosive weapons, which is supposed to make some parts open-ended, with multiple routes around many segments. However, they didn't even do this right!! Most of the environment is solid and can't be broken. Most of the destructible environment includes the walls and floors that you don't bother with. So why have the feature in the game at all? I found maybe a handful of uses in the entire game, accidentally coming upon a secret place or shortcut. And it's not smooth at all. Every time you destroy anything in the environment, the game freezes for a quarter-second before the effect is visible, resulting in choppy and clunky gameplay.

Like many good shooters, this game allows you to save anywhere. However, there is no quick-save feature, so you have to take about 30 seconds each time you want to save. What's worse is that there isn't a "Restart Last Checkpoint" feature, like in many games. So if you save in a tight spot or there's, I dunno, a glitch!? Then you're screwed! Start all over from the beginning.

A miscellaneous note: The medics. You'll seldom find a medic wandering around some complex or the other with an unlimited amount of health to give away. All you need to do is press the action button in front of him and he'll fill your health to 100. The only problem is that he's a complete coward and will run away at the sight of your weapon. Realistic, sure, whatever, but even after you holster your gun, he still runs away for about a minute as you're pressing action repeatedly, shouting, "Dude!! Just do it!!".

-DIFFICULTY-
Being terribly inconsistent in your games' difficulty is one way to incur this gamers' wrath. As I've mentioned, the accuracy makes the game agonizing to play, adding unneccessary difficulty to fundamental gameplay. In the first stages, you'll find yourself up against a room full of guards and no way to hit them with your pea shooter. However, they made sure to throw in a bunch of health powerups, as if they were saying, "We're sorry." Once you get the assault rifle, things get considerably easier, since it fires in 3-round Accurate (!!) bursts, which is usually enough to kill anyone. Then, of course, you'll get stuck on the stealth missions, them being frustratingly hard to get through. Then, you'll pick up the Precision Rifle, easily the most powerful weapon in the game. It has an attached scope, has perfect accuracy, great range, and can fire so quickly, but it usually just takes about 2 bullets to take out any foe. Oh, and bullets are littered everywhere in this game. You'll rarely have to settle for anything other than your finest weapon. Oh, but shortly after, you'll encounter one of the worst parts of the game: The Rail Gun.

Near the end of the game when the plot dies and you're wandering around aimlessly trying to kill someone you just heard about, the enemies are suddenly equipped with a Rail Gun. Using the Geo-Physics ability, THQ threw in the Rail Gun so that you can peer through walls, infrared-like, and blast orange enemy-like figures. Kinda cool, but certainly not worth the pain you'll experience on the enemies' behalf. Since they use the same rail guns, and since it kills everything in one hit, you'll be walking around then Boom! You're dead. Doesn't matter how fast you're moving or how much health you have, you're dead. What the hell? How is that fair? That means that you have to save every other minute to keep from backtracking constantly. And the enemies are quite accuracy most of the time. It just takes luck, really. Oh, and they're everywhere, so don't think it's just once or twice.

GOOD THINGS?
+MUSIC+
One thing this gamer does like is some good music in his shooters. Red Faction has a good soundtrack with memorable music throughout the game. Half Life also had some good tunes, but didn't use them. Red Faction has music through most of the game. I guess they figured the game is boring enough that they needed some kind of sound to keep you going. Oh, and sort of a miscellaneous note: The Voice Actors. There's only one actor for all the miners' voices. He does a fine job, but when he's talking to you and is suddenly interrupted by...himself, it's pretty hilarious. The actor for Hendrix is funny to me, because he just talks so proper and manages to say your name in every conversation he has with you, Parker.

+PLOT+
One of the driving points of this game is the plot. Though nothing spectacular or even dramatic in any way, I enjoy feeling like I'm the only person to have made it out of the mines and is single-handedly taking down the corporate Ultor machine. This device would later be used in Killzone as well as Half Life 2, both fine games. Still, the ending just blows. It's like they forgot to finish the game and just had the characters say, "So, what's next?" "I dunno."

+THAT MULTIPLAYER LEVEL/TRAINING+
There's one stage in multiplayer mode that I will pick up this game to play with a friend. It's the Canyon level, I think, and it has each character in a small fortress, complete with weapons and multiple floors, on either side of this canyon. The fortresses are completely destructible and can be slowly deteriorated with rockets and such. I love the feeling of blowing away my friend's house with rockets from afar. Good times. The rest of the multiplayer stages are just okay, nothing spectacular, and kind of boring. The training mode is well done and is rather fun to go through, like Half Life's training mode.

=TO CONCLUDE=
I used to like this game more, which makes me believe that it hasn't aged well. As better shooters are released into the world, this game is left in the dust with nothing to keep it alive. Other games now have better physics and the Geo-Mod effect. Even Red Faction 2 sucked bad. In fact, it may be worse. I'll get to that one someday. Till then, avoid this game like the plague and pick up Killzone instead.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 12/18/07

Game Release: Red Faction (US, 05/21/01)