Red Faction: Armageddon Review
Red Faction: Armageddon picks the story up where the last game, Red Faction: Guerrilla and the made for TV movie Red Faction: Origins left off. You'll be playing the part of an outsider that can help stop an enemy that is awaking the monsters that sleep inside the ground of Mars. Will you be able to do enough to stop Mars' destruction, only time will tell.
Graphically this game is on par with its predecessor. The big change is the landscape, yes it is still on Mars, but gone is the open-world-ness of the game, instead you get to see detailed levels that run you from point A to point B. I do appreciate the enemies that you'll be facing throughout the game. The monsters from below the surface definitely have more variety than the humans you'll have to mow down, and there will be some attacks that look amazing, but will end your life quite swiftly.
The music and sounds of the game were passable, I'm not going to say that I muted the TV while I played (that would royally suck because of some of the more sneaky enemies you face), but at the same time I wasn't trying to blast what I was hearing throughout my house either.
The controls take a bit to get used to, but seem pretty solid. Sure there are sometimes where you don't feel that crispness necessary for 3rd person shooters, but at the same time its not too far off.
Having never seen the made for TV movie I have to say it took me a bit of time to get used to the "inside jokes", but overall I have to say that I was impressed with the overall story. There were a couple of times where it kind of dragged, or it felt as if they just added something unnecessary just to make the game a bit longer. You'll get to drive a couple of vehicles through the game as well. I have to say that that was by far my favorite part. It might have had to do with the fact that you have infinite ammo, but who's to really say. In a way I liked the fact that they basically changed the core gameplay and forced you to just do the missions, and not allow you to walk through endless seas of red dirt, but at the same time I feel like this narrowed the game to the point that everyone could see the flaws of the game as they showed up. You'll be able to get a ton of different weapons through out the game, and you'll be getting about that many different skill upgrades to pimp out your character. I personally went with some very devastating weapons, the only problem was that I ran out of ammo constantly, but I guess that's the sacrifice you have to be willing to make.
If you're looking for a more laid back version of Guerrilla, a game in which you can not only destroy practically everything, but build it right back up, then this is probably the game for you. I was never truly hooked on this game, and so I got kind of lost if I took a couple days off. This isn't a perfect game, by far, but it might be worth a rental. This game gets a 7.4 out of 10.
