Red Faction: Armageddon Review
Volition takes a gamble and loses by returning this destructive series to its linear roots
Infestation is a 1-4 player co-operative survival mode where you must survive against increasingly difficult waves of enemies. It is fun for a couple of hours, and the fact that upgrades to your character carry over from the singleplayer campaign add an element of character progress, but this factor is only present if you start playing Infestation before you finish the campaign. The great destruction mechanics would have lent themselves very well to a competitive multiplayer mode, so the lack of one is a bit disappointing.
Areas that offer some freedom and lots of buildings are the best in the game
The other mode dubbed "ruin" will allow you to revel in the games destructible environments, putting you into a medium sized level with 4 choice weapons and unlimited ammunition at your disposal for destruction. You can opt to either free roam in these areas, or try a 1 minute challenge where you have to cause as much destruction as you can for a high score. There are leader boards, but the fact that the most effective way to score highly is to spam a single weapon means that the creative element is mostly absent from this part of Ruin mode. If you want to just have fun with the game's destruction physics and weapons you can opt to free-roam in these environs, but this grows old quickly and adds only a couple hours total to your time with the game.
The Mechs in Armageddon go beyond their 2-legged archetypes
The upside of the game's linearity is that the visual quality and fidelity has seen a significant boost. Textures, lighting , shadows and animations all look great and the game runs very well, with the frame rate dipping only when large amounts of destruction are occurring on screen. The game even supports Direct X 10 and 11, easily making it the best port Volition has done so far on the PC. Sadly the game is mostly occupied by drab brown-gray environments that don't do the engine justice. The audio quality is also very good, with weapons sounding great and structures creaking ominously before collapsing entirely. The soundtrack in the game is also decent, with some good creepy ambient music in some underground parts. The voice acting and writing is also competent enough, but does little to help the flat characters and bland, generic plot.
If you are in the market for a linear third person shooter, Red Faction: Armageddon might be the game you are looking for thanks to solid shooting mechanics and a decent amount of content across its 3 modes. Sadly, if you were looking for a sequel to 2008's excellent Red Faction: Guerrilla, you will be terribly disappointed as the destruction takes a back seat to a dull generic story and often repetitive firefights.
Our ratings for Red Faction: Armageddon on PC out of 100 (Ratings FAQ)
Performance
(Show PC Specs)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo e7200 @ 3.1ghz
GPU: Powercolor Radeon HD 5850 PCS+
RAM: 4GB DDR2
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
GPU: Powercolor Radeon HD 5850 PCS+
RAM: 4GB DDR2
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
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Jun 24, 2011 11:50:51 (Jun 24, 2011 11:50)
