Yes, I'm writing about an older game. I had the opportunity to play the multiplayer beta test for this game back in early 2009 so I bought the game in June of that year and somehow never ended up playing it. With the new release of Red Faction: Armageddon I felt I should play the older one first, just in case the story carries over in some way. Even if it doesn't, this is a decent game, even two years later.
You play Alec Mason, in a third-person role, of a miner looking for work on Mars. In the space of one cut scene you lose your brother and get caught up in the Red Faction, a group of freedom fighters who resist the generic totalitarian regime of Earth. The story ain't the strongest but it has all the elements you want in science fiction, which definitely comes off as a future western. Even down to the Native American analog of The Marauders. I wish the history of the colonization of Mars was covered better, because there are already ruins of the previous industrial antagonists, The Ultor Corporation, and "natives" living in them. I'm sure this was already covered in Red Faction (2001) and Red Faction II (2002), but I didn't play them much. There is also the threat of a space battle ship from Earth that can vaporize targets from orbit on its way to Mars, the idea being the insurrection you are heading needs to succeed before its arrival. Unfortunately, since these parts of the game are scripted, you never feel like you're really under the gun.
There is a lot to like here; an open world Mars to help liberate. There are six sectors to liberate, by kicking the EDF out, and a gauge to show you how much control they still have. You need to get that down to zero to move onto the next sector by doing story missions, guerrilla missions (which you pick the ones to do) and random building destruction. Here is where the game is strongest, destroying buildings. But not just any building, but specially highlighted buildings, or any on your RADAR in red. You can just walk across Mars with a machine gun, remote charges and a sledge hammer, destroying any EDF structure you want. This is the hands-off approach to gaming I like. It's up to the player how to tackle the situation. There are a total of 20 story missions to do but there is still freedom in tackling them and how to accomplish the goal. This reminds me a lot of Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction (2005) in that respect, where you had a lot to do but it was up to you when and how to do it.
This is definitely a physics game; and glorious to watch, especially blowing up smoke stacks. Put a charge on one side, detonate it, then watch the whole thing topple over destroying what ever is under it. Everything can be destroyed so the game is tracking the structure as you damage it to see when it collapses. None of this is pre-rendered, it all happens on the fly and is very rewarding. The game is also quite forgiving when you get caught in the destruction. I blew up a building with EDF soldiers around me; they got crushed and I got up again to collect some scrap. Scrap is the in-game money which is left behind by wreckage or earned through various Guerrilla missions. You will use this to buy weapons and upgrades, like a better sledgehammer, a rocket launcher, or a jet pack. There are even vehicles to drive around which have their own mass to destroy obstacles. All in all a very satisfying experience.
For achievement completionists there are several things to collect from the environment, which can be done after the game, so no worries if you miss anything. There are 300 ore rocks growing out of the ground you can mine (i.e. smack it with your sledge hammer) for scrap which barely show up on your RADAR as small, dark red squares. The EDF keeps blue supply crates everywhere and there are more than 250 of them. Very faintly on RADAR you will see a green glowing dot which is one of 36 radio beacons to collect. And finally, there are big billboards advertising Earth propaganda of which you can find 50.
I found game play decent, but frame rate tended to drop when a lot was happening. Sadly when a lot is happening (destroying a building while being attacked from air and ground by a dozen troops) is when it hurts the most. However, this didn't happen enough to ruin the game at all. Shooting the enemy becomes routine, and never really that exciting, but blowing dudes up with charges and rockets, or hitting them with your sledgehammer is incredibly satisfying. All the missions are fairly well balanced except the final one which felt more like a Kobayashi Maru mission which you aren't expected to win. There are multiple difficulty settings but no benefit to choosing any but Casual, which near the end was hard enough. I'm not really covering the multi-player because I was far more interested in playing the story.
I hope the themes of revolution and independence from Earth play into Red Faction: Armageddon. I want these games to be connected somehow. I don't want them to feel separate even though they take place 100 years or so apart. But then again, SyFy put out the Red Factions: Origins made-for-TV movie to bridge the gap in between.
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