Greetings gamers and welcome back to Mars! I hope you have your hammers ready for this new installment to the “Red Faction” franchise as Darius Mason, who is the grandson of the previous hero of this story…..jeez talk about cleaning up what your family started. I find it interesting that Mars has become such a great place for battles, but I digress, let us venture out to this planet and see what “Red Faction Armageddon” has to offer!
The game begins with enemies taking out the tera-former which renders Mars service uninhabitable and that forces the residents to seek shelter underground. It is at this time for you to be the hero, as Darius Mason you are right slapped in the middle of all the chaos and the game becomes even more deadly when a cult leader unleashes dormant creatures. In simple terms, this guy opened up a hole in Mars and unleashed super roaches that are basically tearing everything and anyone up! It is now up to you to grab everything and anything to stop this infestation from happening and that is pretty much making you a fully functional maintenance man… and that’s turning a frown upside down.
The gameplay is comparable to the first game except for one difference. It does not have the open world element as the previous game, but lacking that gives it more of a linear path full of destruction and not worrying too much where to find the next objective. The game gives you a nifty A.I unit called Situation Awareness Module or S.A.M, which gives you a GPS to lead you to your next objective and can nag the hell out of you when you linger too long searching for items. I like the fact that everything and anything can be destroyed. Another new feature is the nano-forge, which can reconstruct anything you’ve previously destroyed. It is like being a little kid building blocks and then smashing them over and over again, got to love it. This feature helps you build up a better strategy in terms of reconstructing cover or bringing the house down on enemies. I guess the developers thought it would be nice to give you the option of cleaning up after yourselves.
The weaponry is always a fan favorite when it comes to science fiction and you will choose your favorites. It goes down to heavy armament’s such as Plasma Cannon, Grenade Launcher to Assault rifles, Nano-rifle (my favorite) and of course your up close and end it quick shot gun, which leads off to small arms dual wield pistols. That is all good and dandy but the interesting weapons that caught my eye is the Magnet Gun which is such an awesome item to have and I recommend keeping it, this gun basically does as the name says, you shoot once on an object and then shoot another bring them both together in pure delight/destruction! Oh and how could I forget your trusty hammer, which is convenient to get up close and personal but the nano-forge pulse blast does enough damage by itself, however it takes a few seconds to recharge. There is a badass area in the game and just to clarify when I say “badass area” I mean the game gives you something nasty to play with, for example the Exo suit with infinite machine guns and infinite lock on missiles, plus a charge feature to go through structures. There is a melee feature as well where you grab enemies and stomped them to the ground…..I named the suit ravage, because that is the perfect name for its destructive power! The other weapons involve mounted turrets
The RPG element of the game comes into play when you collect salvage that you acquire during your destruction or optional areas you check out to find hidden goodies. The upgrades are pretty useful at times and show your completion of the game. I would advise you spending as much time looking for salvage because you will need as much upgrades as possible to take on many of these destructive enemies.
The multiplayer is a bit limited, you only will be able to join other players in “Infestation” mode. In “Infestation” mode, you will be on a team and take on the bug baddies, which seems to be the normal thing now in multiplayer similar to horde mode. It is fun for awhile with all the destructive mayhem, but gets old quickly. I would say the most fun will I had was with “Ruin” mode, where you go try to cause as much damage as possible within a given amount of time. I found it to be a great stress reliever.
The bad news with Red Faction Armageddon is the story sucks, where they tried to fill it with a heart felt drama and love interest elements. However you kind of see right through it and just say it is plan B.S. If you finish the campaign, you will be able to play through the other difficulties with all the unlocks and plus the bonus features are pretty cool, especially the unicorn weapon that shoots a rainbow pulse blast from its butt. Really guys, you really added that? I WILL ALLOW IT!
The final verdict is a “RENT”. All right hear me out on this one because even though it is a decent game, but it doesn’t wow me enough to buy it. The story line is lacking and uninteresting, the multiplayer is a nice touch but gets old really quick. The only thing interesting is the destruction and I do like that you can keep what you earned and play it over, but after that you are pretty much done. The controls as in aiming become a bit annoying at times, but when enemies swarm just use your pulse wave to knock them back. I say try it out and wait for the price to drop a bit. Red Faction Armageddon drops June 7th for the PC, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360.
