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Red Faction is a first-person shooter and the debut of the Geo-Mod technology which was actually pretty impressive for its time. The game allows players to alter or modify parts of the environments with explosive weapons. In other words, destructible environments. Unfortunately, I felt the technology was underutilized in the campaign but luckily it has more going for it than just that. It’s a fun action game and solid shooter that takes you on a cool adventure around Mars. Although, I do think it becomes a little frustrating in the third act or so. It was successful enough that a sequel was developed. A sequel that nobody seems to talk about. Red Faction II seems to be an outcast in the series. It received average to good reviews and the community surrounding it doesn’t seem to be as big as that of the first game. Developed by Volition and published by THQ, Red Faction II was released for PlayStation 2 in October, 2002, and GameCube, Xbox, and PC in April, 2003. For this review, I played the Xbox version on a Series X. If you’re wondering why I didn’t play the PC version, it’s because this is one of the few games that doesn’t record correctly and I’m too stubborn to try different software.
Set on Earth, the player assumes the role of an explosives expert codenamed “Alias” who is part of a squad that embarks on a special operations mission to retrieve research data on nanotechnology for the military state known as The Commonwealth. The Chancellor uses the data to create nano-enhanced supersoldiers and then deems the squad too dangerous and orders them to be hunted down and executed. But the squad fights back with the aid of the Red Faction who oppose the rule of The Commonwealth.
I think the story is okay and some of the characters here feel more cartoonish than those in the first game. The cast is comprised of some notable talent including Lance Henriksen, Jason Statham, and Julie Claire and, overall, I think the performances are solid considering what the actors have to work with. There are some connections to the events in the first game but I don’t feel you need to play it to really grasp what’s going on here. There are some twists and turns and multiple endings. One thing I really enjoyed about this game is the tone and atmosphere. It does feel different than the first game, conveying a more what I’ll call badass hi-tech action-oriented experience and grittier b-movie like tone. I like the idea of being part of some elite squad and navigating through futuristic urban and war-torn environments.
Much like the first game, Red Faction II is a first-person shooter with a cool arsenal, solid gunplay, and partially destructible environments. However, this time there seems to be less focus on destroying shit which is interesting because I feel the first game didn’t focus on it enough and yet I felt like it was supposed to be the game’s selling point. You can blow through walls and certain parts of the environments in Red Faction II but once again, not everything is destructible. The game centers very much on the action and set pieces.
Red Faction II is a pretty straightforward first-person shooter but does change up some things from the first game. You are given multiple health bars (so to speak) and once all three are drained, you die. Health does regenerate if you stay out of danger for a while and health kits will immediately replenish a bar. One of the more notable aspects of the game is the Heroism system. You increase your heroics meter by completing bonus objectives and lower it by killing innocent people and your heroism determines what ending you see. I think this is actually an interesting system that could have been fleshed out more like different paths through the campaign depending on how heroic you are.
Red Faction II features a good variety of enemies and a lot of cool weapons to shoot them with, some of which can be dual wielded. You’ll blow away soldiers, Spider Bombs, enemies in battle armor, and nanotech enhanced foes towards the end of the game among others. I do think the gameplay feels less frustrating than that of the first game. It can offer a challenge and death does set you back to the beginning of the current level or what you may call a checkpoint but these checkpoints are frequent enough so that a death doesn’t result in a way too long re-trek. For the most part, I would say the difficulty ramps up rather well on the Medium difficulty and the biggest challenge for me was the final boss who can be a real bitch.
The run and gun stuff is pretty typical for the genre. You run around the environments and shoot enemies while trying not to die. You are given primary objectives to complete and bonus objectives will appear as you progress and are optional. There is no forced stealth sequences but the action is often broken up by action-packed set pieces. You’ll get to use battle armor to mow down foes, gun down foes from an aircraft and tank, and use a submarine to engage enemy submarines. I do think some of these go on for a bit too long, specifically the rail shooter sequences but they are fun and make for nice breaks from the run and gun stuff.
You’ll shoot your way through a great a variety of environments and I really enjoyed the urban settings. The environments are linear and you will be required to blow through walls and floors at certain points. The Geo-Mod technology isn’t utilized very often to the benefit of the player but it is cool when gunfire results in glass breaking and explosions destroy things during firefights. My only complaint with the environments is that despite the linearity, sometimes it’s not clear where to go and I found myself running around in circles for a while looking for the path I missed while engaging enemies that don’t seem to stop coming.
Red Faction II does feature some unlockable content including concept art and a multiplayer game type. The game does feature local multiplayer with a good amount of game types and you can play with bots. One cool aspect about the bots is that you can create your own and even set their traits like health, accuracy, and aggressiveness. Not only that, their stats are tracked as they are used in matches and they acquire more points that you can use to further increase their traits. I didn’t get a chance to play with actual people but I admit I was somewhat impressed with the bot stuff. As far as I can tell, the game types aren’t anything we haven’t seen before, especially in today’s world, and the multiplayer comes with a good selection of maps.
Visually, I do think Red Faction II does look better than its predecessor. It definitely has better environmental variety and the character and weapon models look pretty good. Nevertheless, playing now, the game does show its age and I did notice some blurry textures here and there and low quality backgrounds. I do think the Geo-Mod stuff is presented better in the first game simply because it feels even more restricted here. As for the audio, overall the action sounds pretty good but I definitely wish some weapons sounded more punchy or powerful. The action is accompanied by a soundtrack consisting of moody and intense tunes that fit the futuristic and hi-tech themes the game is going for but there is one song that sticks out to me as pretty damn good. On the technical side, I cannot say I encountered any issues.
I like Red Faction II but in a way, I feel it’s less unique than the first game and that is definitely because of the Geo-Mod stuff. Not that the first game takes full advantage of it all the time but there’s definitely less focus on it in Red Faction II. And as a result, it feels like just another shooter. But I think it’s a good shooter. It actually showcases some pretty cool stuff. The Heroism system is interesting but I feel it could definitely have been fleshed out more and the Bot Management stuff is pretty cool. I only wish more shooters implemented this kind of thing. The bots certainly don’t behave like actual players but it does allow solo players to enjoy the multiplayer content and gives you incentives to come back solo. In the end, I think Red Faction II is a lot like the first game. It’s a solid shooter that I feel just doesn’t reach its full potential. But it is fun for what it is. It doesn’t really expand on anything that made the first game unique. In fact, it changes the the setting, arsenal, atmosphere, and tone and offers a lot of action. It’s basically a run and gun shooter that lets you destroy shit every now and again.
I would recommend Red Faction II because it is fun. I can’t say it’s great but it is fun and action-packed. I do think the first game is better simply because it felt a little more unique and I can see why some may think Red Faction II feels a little average. It does showcase some neat ideas but it doesn’t do anything super impressive with the Geo-Mod technology nor does it do anything with the gameplay that we haven’t seen before. Ultimately, it’s not a bad game and if you’re a shooter junkie, you should at least check it out.