Red Faction II

"%100 action"

The original Red Faction was a compelling adventure in which you, a miner breaking the bondage of corporate neo feudalism, must blast your way out of the underground caverns which were the games trademark. It is important to understand that Red Faction 2 is as good, if not better, than the original. Yet it does lack the ingenious premise of a group of miners fighting for freedom, and the cool level design which accompanies that. But Red Faction 2's level design is pretty cool too, don't get me wrong. In RF2 you have a diverse cast of NPC comrades in your spec op squad. You are the demolitions expert and yes, you do some demolishing in this game. Fighting against a fascist dictator, the story is really nothing special, or all that thought out. But, the scripted interactions with your NPC's and various twists in the story do inject the action with a little drama which makes continuing your quest engaging and most of all-- this game is a lot of fun.--

The sequel offers a great variety of missions, and it feels more like pure action than a sweeping adventure. I say this game is %100 action because it never lets up. Subtlety is not something you will find here. The enemy Ai, improved from the original, still doesn't lead one to the strategic combat offered in Halo.These enemies will hide behind pillars and play a little cat and mouse, but they never get sneaky or throw you for a loop. Also, this game doesn't have Halo's quiet intensity; there are no moments where your sneaking up on a unique formation of enemies and must figure out an effective approach(at least not often). This is straight ahead shoot 'em all and don't ask any questions gameplay. The levels are designed so your closed in with the enemies. No where to run, and no where to hide. The geo mod adds an element of depth though, since from time to time you will have to figure out a way to make your own path if you want to advance and as well it's just fun destroying the different game environments this game offers.

The graphics don't raise the bar for a ps2 game, by any stretch of the imagination, but some of the game environments are breathtaking. I am starting to notice the ps2 is aging a bit now with so many next gen shooters on pc and xbox having more impressive visuals. But still, even as an experienced Halo veteran this game offered a lot of intense action and combat, and I enjoyed the heck out of it. The voice acting is not embarrasing, but not quite kingdom hearts either. The controls are totally configurable, and you can use a USB mouse/keyboard. With the addition of grenades in this sequel you have one more button to keep track of, and the controller configuration you end up at might be different from what you used for RF1 accordingly. The music was rife with thrilling ambient and industrail goodies. This isn't exactly Stravinsky, but it did get a couple faux Bill and Ted 'Woah's' out of me when the action was intense. Multi player is good here. Not as good as Timesplitters 2, but an improvement. Up to four players can play in a split screen mode with 40 maps to chose from.

A fan of the original Red Faction, or an action junky should buy this game. Even after you have beaten the single player missions there will be a lot of replay with successive difficulty levels and multi player, which is greatly improved upon. I enjoyed this game from beginning to end, it wasn't exactly a defining gaming experience but so what. RF2 pulls no punches. It is a nice fixing of meat and potatoes for those craving non stop action. If you are not a fan of the series this might only be a rental type of game though; the single player mission can be beaten fairly quickly. Also, if you seldom buy a game and want a single player experience to cherish for the ages, perhaps you should look elsewhere. For the rest of us though RF2 is definately a cool game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/17/02, Updated 11/17/02