Review: Red Faction II (PS2)

Commonwealth Chancellor Sopot has a problem. Besides being an ego-maniac and having a dress sense influenced by Adolph Hitler, George Michael and M. Bison there is a popular uprising called the Red Faction running amok in his fascist state demanding annoying things like elections. The Solution? Create an army of geno-enhanced super soldiers to crush these rebels.

Having produced his perfect army however Sopot becomes fearful of his creations and decides to have them all killed and replaced with mindless zombie like creatures. They smell bad but at least they don’t think for themselves….

Alias and his five pals are not pleased. They are the last of the Commonwealth’s super soldiers. Having witnessed the slaughter of their comrades by Sopot’s death squads they want revenge. To this end they ally themselves with the Red Faction, load up with some serious arsenal and go Dictator hunting. That’s where the player comes in taking control of Alias and helping his squad mates to take on the might of the commonwealth military machine.

Those of you who played the first Red Faction will know what to expect. For those that didn’t Red Faction was a first person shooter with vehicles and all the trimmings plus one novel idea; the Geo-Mod engine. This allowed the player to destroy much of the scenery such as walls and doors and provided a feeling of freedom new to the genre.
 
This, the sequel, sees further use made of the Geo-Mod engine, more vehicles, bigger guns and the addition of a multiplayer mode. This is no lazy update from THQ and the improvements are instantly noticeable. From the title screen to the end sequence(s) it’s a highly polished affair with that solid feel that comes from a great game engine. From start to finish there is not the merest hint of slowdown, the impressive visuals and lighting effects (for the PS2 anyway) are maintained throughout, the only side effect being some lengthy load times.

Simple, well balanced controls lead the player straight into hectic gunfights and pitched armoured battles. The controls are some of the best I have come across in a fps console game and I was able to pull off moves with the PS2 controller normally only possible with a keyboard and mouse. Still if you really want the pro set up the keyboard and mouse peripherals are supported as in the original.

The first mission kicks off in wondrous style making great use of the destructible environment and showing the potential of the Geo-Mod engine. Enemies blast trough walls, floors, ceilings and literally come at you from all sides. But this also works to your advantage: can’t find where to go? Blast a hole in the wall. Enemies behind cover? Blow it up! OK so it’s not exactly rocket science but this is a shoot em up so the more stuff you can destroy the better.

A massive array of weapons is at your disposal, most of them featuring a secondary fire option. Machine guns, rocket launchers and sniper rifles are available, each with varying effectiveness depending on the situation/ enemy being faced. Most of the smaller weapons allow you to carry one in each hand for increased firepower. Crisp weapon sounds make the killing all the more enjoyable and combined with good use of the vibration function the arsenal is most satisfying.

In addition to fighting on foot Alias will often need some added firepower. This comes in the shape of battle armour (small mechs), submarines, tanks, stationary guns and more. Pleasantly the action flows seamlessly from on the ground to vehicle based combat and back again, these sections keep the gameplay varied and enjoyable. It’s just a pity none of the vehicles feature in multiplayer.
 
Bringing the story alive is some excellent voice acting, especially that of Sopot who will haunt you right the way through the game. Chatter and orders from your team is entertaining and even features a few British accents! Hurrah! Surely the days of high pitched annoying voice acting like that of prince what’s his face in Star Fox Adventures are numbered? We can but hope.

The only real criticism I can level at the single player experience is that it is relatively short, and easy. Perhaps Volition has taken onboard peoples complaints about the originals steep difficulty level but they may have tipped the balance somewhat too far.

Happily when done with the single player story the multiplayer still awaits featuring plenty of maps, seven play modes, four way split screen and even customisable bots. The great controls and weaponry see to it that this is an accomplished frag fest despite a few ropey arenas. The bots have pretty good A.I. and provide a good training ground in preparation for fragging your mates. Unreal Tournament style announcements inform others of your prowess during play. This revolves around getting a certain number of kills in a row without being splatted yourself. Get five in a row and a “killing spree” is what you are on, get some more and you will be labelled a “butcher” and so on.  Dictator mode stands out as the most fun of all the as you can chose to have the dictator unarmed. This basically turns out to be a hilarious version of catch the pigeon with guns.

Red Faction II is a quality gaming experience. It’s just a pity that the experience is so short lived. Online support would have extended this titles life infinitely. No matter how much fun four way split screen DM is it is no substitute for the online multiplayer that could have been. There are different endings to entice you back for a second try and three difficulty levels to attempt but the logic of providing mouse and keyboard support and yet no online play eludes me.

Overall a lot of fun and well worth some of your time. The Geo-Mod engine is still a refreshing addition to the genre two years on. This is definitely one of the better fps games on the PS2 at the moment, so go on and join the Red Faction comrades

Rating: 8 / 10

Words by Tom Knowles