Red Faction: Armageddon

Red Faction: Armageddon – 1 Hour Demo Impressions

Red Faction: Armageddon is an action game that takes place 50 years after Red Faction: Guerrilla. Red Faction and myself go back a long time ago. Red Faction back in the Playstation 2 early days to be exact. I was able to spend a full hour with Red Faction: Armageddon due to my Playstation + membership. Volition Inc and THQ are behind this sci-fi adventure game. Red Faction Armageddon released June 7, 2011 for the PC, Playstation 3and Xbox 360.

The main menu screen has New Game, Manage Save Data, Downloadable Content, Infestation, Ruin Mode, Options and Extras. The controls via Duel Shock 3: Select-GPS, D-pad-select weapon, LS-move/sprint, L1-zoom/snap to target, L2-repair, R1-attack, R2-use nano forge, Triangle-crouch,, O-dodge, Square-reload/interact, X-jump, RS-aim/melee. Although the crouch button got some getting used to the rest of the controls were good. Locking onto enemies with your weapons was easy. Rebuilding objects with the Nano-Forge took some getting used to but was fun to use and effective when fighting EXOs/Mechs.

Red Faction: Armageddon has a really good sci-fi presentation. The only thing i can complain about was the cheesy writing during some cutscenes. The protagonist of Red Faction: Armageddon is  Engineer Darius Mason and Adam Hale (badguy) is the leader of a army who wants to destroy Mars. The opening moments shows a cutscene with Mason in a land vehicle heading towards a Terraformer gets blown up. Mason lives despite the attack. Its apparent very early in the game’s opening moments Red Faction: Armageddon holds true to its roots. That being real-time destruction. The Plasma Cannon i was equipt with took out huge towers in the distance creating big smoke clouds.

You also come equipped with an assault rifle that i used to take groups of Adam Hale’s soldiers. Locking-on was easy and effective, As you made your way towards the Terraformer you run into a big mech inside a garage. There you learn the importance of using your Nano Forge tool to recreate destroyed objects. In the case of the mech you rebuild cover that it destroys so your protected from future attacks. Enough hits with the Plasma Cannon and it (mech) will explode. The Nano Forge rebuilds practically everything else that has been destroyed like walkways, bridges, stairs etc. Since almost everything can be destroyed in this game you will be using it alote.

Collectibles are scattered throughout the game such as audio logs and Salvage. Salvage is used to upgrade the Nano Forge which can be important in the future. After the prologue and the destruction of the Terraformer the story picks up a few years later. The game starts out in an underground area called Bastian. Cara, a Marauder was about to get into a fight till Mason took them out. Mason is hired to do a job which led him to an ancient tomb underground with Adam Jenson at the bottom controlling aliens. I know sounds weird but it was delivered well and had a really good sci-fi vibe. Red Faction: Aramageddon totally reminds me of Total Recall (pun intended) because of the Mars setting.

After spending just over an half hour on the story campaign i came away impressed. I really like the single player side of Red Faction: Armageddon. The story is delivered well with nice CGI cutscenes as well in-game cinematics. The sci-fi atmosphere is thick with creative weapons and aliens. The shooting is fun and the gadgets even more fun. This game has alote of good imagination put behind it. The visuals are good as well along with the sound design. You can operate EXO suits or Mechs (i like to call them). When you add it all up its a solid, fun single player campaign. I wasn’t expecting to like it as much as i did.

Infestation – Infestation is an online co-op (1-4) players where you take on waves of ever increasingly tough aliens. Think Horde mode from Gears of War. There are a few ways to play Infestation. Either Online, LAN or Offline. For Online you can start matchmaking and host a room to play in. The maps are called Missions which included: Black Market, Trapped, Heretic, Extermination, Meltdown, Pressure, Dust to Dust and Harvest. I chose Black Market and my character was Snake. Snake came equipt with two Pistols a shotgun,  Maul Hammer and a Magnet Gun. At the start you run to a waypoint marked on the map where aliens start attacking you from multiple angles. I played alone and was able to complete a few waves before playing the next gamemode. Infestation is ok i’m sure its more fun when playing with others.

Ruin Mode – Ruin Mode is a free form destruction mode where scoring as many points as possible is paramount. At this point i had barely ten minutes of gametime left. I played on Junction which was the only map unlocked. There are others but you have to unlock them by reaching the specified score on Junction first (which i didn’t). It may seem easy, just destroy as much as possible in the time limit but it isn’t. You can pick and choose which four weapons to carry before starting Ruin Mode. Available are: Charge Launcher, Plasma Launcher, Plasma Beam, Plasma Cannon, Magnet Gun, Nano Rifle, Singularity Cannon and Rocket Launcher. I tried a few combinations of weapons but still failed. There must be a technique or  certain combo of weapons to use to get that 14,000,000 score on Junction.

I can say for certain Red Faction: Armageddon has a good single player campaign. The multiplayer seems tacked on however. If you buy this game make sure its for the story campaign and not multiplayer. Thanks for reading.