Red Faction II

"A great game that ended all too quickly"

Red Faction 2 is a great First Person Shooter (FPS) that is made by the folks over at Volition. It's key advantage that puts it head and shoulders above the competition is it's unique Geo-mod system.

The Geo-Mod system is a revolutionary part of Red Faction's game engine. What does it do? It lets you shoot through walls, blow up walls, and interact in many other unprecedented ways with the environment. In fact, some of the Single-Player missions require you to geo-mod through some walls and floors.

Now, to break Red Faction into reviewable categories...

Graphics -- 10/10. They are simply phenomenal. In my humble opinion, they are the best First Person Shooter graphics out there. Probably some of the best Graphics on Playstation 2 in any category.

The only game that even comes close is Timesplitters 2. Even then the explosions in Red Faction 2 are more realistic.

Sound/Audio -- 9/10. The music is pretty nice, the voice-overs add a nice touch to the game. Also, the voice-overs are very nicely done, and convincing.
The only reason I don't give a 10/10 on this category is because there was nothing that truly caught my ears. However, It's not like you're going to turn on this game JUST to hear the music, right?

Controls -- 10/10. Can't get any better than this folks. Red Faction 2 has a great control scheme. Of course, most FPS's do by now but hey, let's not take that for granted now!

Replayability -- ?. This one depends on you. Even though I personally loved this game, and I'm sure you will too, there's no guarantee. While there are multiple endings that you can fight for, they're all almost the exact same. There's not too much to go for except that. The only other reason I can see anyone playing this game again is just for the sheer fun of it.

The run-and-gun type gameplay has me hooked.

Fun Factor -- 10/10. This one will keep you hooked (while it lasts). And even if you do finish the Single Player Campaign, there's nothing more than having a couple of friends over and playing multi-player. If this isn't possible either, you can simply play with the computer on any one of Red Faction's many multiplayer modes.

Misc. -- This game is short. No getting around it. I, personally, finished this game in a couple of days. And that was without playing it constantly. If you wanted to, you could finish this game in a day, no problem. Maybe not on HARD difficulty, but easily on medium or easy.

One of the other reasons I give this game a 9 instead of a 10 is because of it's endings. All of them are dull and boring. And they're so... predictable! I was expecting something big to happen... but it was not so. Anyways, I'll let you see those for yourself as
YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY BUY THIS GAME.
The only reason to rent is because you can beat it in less than 5 days.

Conclusion: This game rocks!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/30/02, Updated 12/03/02