Reviewed: June 14, 2003
Reviewed by: Mark Smith
Publisher
THQ
Developer
Outrage
Volition, Inc.
Released: April 7, 2003
Genre: FPS
Players: 1
ESRB: Mature
7
6
8
6
7.1
System Requirements
Recommended System
When I first saw, Red Faction II at the 2003 E3 show I was "assured" that it would be a PS2 exclusive release and naturally I was disappointed that I wouldn't be getting to play one of my favorite FPS games on my PC. Apparently in the world of marketing "exclusive" also means that a game gets an exclusive run on a particular system before it makes the port to other systems. So after six month of extra development time we finally get to experience the Red Faction sequel on the system that all FPS games are meant to be played on.
I had already played and reviewed the PS2 and Xbox versions of Red Faction II when the released and while I enjoyed them both immensely I never felt comfortable playing with a gamepad. The PS2 version did support USB mouse and keyboard control which I more than readily exploited. I was more than ready to play RF2 on the PC.
Volition and Outrage had an extra six months to retool this release for the PC but I’d be hard pressed to tell you what they did during this time other than strip away the multiplayer component entirely. While the new and “improved” graphics engine was indeed quite remarkable on the PS2 it started to show its age on the Xbox and it certainly looks antiquated on the PC. With stiff FPS competition from new and upcoming games Painkiller, Halo, Kreed and even online games like Planetside Red Faction 2 slips into an already overflowing pool of FPS titles.
Red Faction II offers these new features:
- Revamped Geo-Mod engine - the only FPS with real-time, arbitrary geometry modification
- All-new storyline & characters - fight as a member of an elite squad of six
- Enhanced graphics and pre-rendered cutscenes for a completely immersive experience
- Utilize four varied vehicles in combat, including a tank, a hover flyer, mobile armor, and a submarine
- Acquire superior firepower from multiple boss battles
- 14 specialized weapons of mass destruction, including dual-handed pistols and machine guns
- All-new inventory of useful items - health kits, night vision goggles, numerous grenades and more
- Stealth, puzzle solving and action-oriented objectives
- Advanced AI behavior - AI works in squads and reacts realistically to events
- High replay value due to multiple endings based on player actions
The first Red Faction had you fighting alongside a rebel mining force, but your interaction with these men was never clearly defined and not that integral to the plot. In RF2 you will fight alongside several soldiers who are controlled with some surprisingly intelligent AI. Along with these unique personalities are plenty of NPC’s to interact with on varying levels.
The mini-sub was undoubtedly one of my favorite parts of Red Faction so I was excited to learn that vehicles were back in RF2. The S-271 mini-sub is back along with a devastating new battle armor that are both fully controllable, but the new tank and AHC-36 Gunship are on rails giving you control only over the turret, much like the jeep level in the original game. These rail shooters are still a blast and offer plenty of destructive fun.
Let’s talk about controls. Playing Red Faction II with a mouse and keyboard was like coming home again. Even though I had used the same combo on the PS2 it was much easier to config on the PC and it just felt right. One word of warning; RF2 has a lot of commands and unless you have a 4+ button mouse you might have trouble finding a good configuration.
This is partly due to the innovative feature that lets you wield dual weapons and fire them independently. There’s no real tactical advantage to this since you can’t target two enemies, but you can fire one weapon until it’s empty then fire the other while reloading the empty one. You also have an independent fire button for grenades. This is a great idea and one that should have been implemented long ago. The only other game I know that does this is Halo. It’s very helpful to be able to toss one of the many types of EPM, frag, or incendiary grenades without having to cycle through long lists of weapons and swap out your normal firearm.
The single-player game is heavily story-driven with plenty of scripted events that keep you moving from checkpoint to checkpoint and mission to mission. There were only a few areas in the game where I actually got “stuck” for any substantial length of time. I had to do some serious recon to figure out where to go next. I certainly don’t like to be led around by the hand, but getting totally lost is not much better, especially when you are under a constant barrage of enemy fire, which seemed to be the case every time I did find myself pulling over for directions.
The enemy AI varies with the type of enemy you are fighting and the skill level you have chosen. The human opponents offer a challenging resistance. They will take cover and try to flank you. Later on you will encounter robotic enemies like spider bots and android soldiers. These aren’t as intelligent, so they are easier to target but take substantially more damage before going down. It’s all a fair and somewhat realistic tradeoff making for some intense battle sequences that will have you bonding with your AI comrades.
Geo-Mod is back and certainly better than before but still not implemented as well as I would have hoped. You are required to blast through wall at least a dozen times in the game, but knowing when, where and what architecture can be “modified” is guesswork. Often you will find yourself stuck in a dead-end for several minutes before you spot that explosive barrel next to the wall that will blast a hole into the interior.
Much to my surprise and disappointment was the total lack of multiplayer support. Even the PS2 and Xbox versions had multiplayer modes even if they were offline and split-screen. Even the original Red Faction for the PC had online support. Rather than take the time to integrate some network code so you could play RF2 over the Internet the developers simply removed all traces of multiplayer gaming. Sure, you have the traditional bot battles that exist outside the story mode, but it’s not even close to being multiplayer. Just another example of the high-price gamers pay for PC ports of console titles.
Creating bots is almost an RPG-like experience. You give them names and pick their "look" (skin) then you start dishing out the attribute points to mold them to the skills and profession of your choosing. You control their health, their weapon proficiency, their aggressiveness; do they charge into battle or hide in safety and wait for the enemy to come to them.
The PC version suffers terribly from being an obvious “port” of a console game. You can tell Red Faction II was built for the PS2, even the Xbox couldn’t hide that fact, but the PC version looks way too primitive to be considered any serious competition for other current FPS titles. Sure, you can crank the resolution up to 2-3 times that of the console version and it will look nice and crisp with no jaggies, but the architecture and textures are just very plain, clearly designed for the PS2. This is the curse of a console to PC port where developers seldom create high-res textures or complex textures beyond the scope of the original format. I’m not saying RF2 is a bad looking game. It merely looks like a PS2 game being played on your PC, perhaps at a higher resolution. My system easily exceeds the recommended specs for this title but I was limited to playing at 1024x768x32 to keep the framerate playable and there were still several places where the framerate dipped dangerously low. Level design in the sequel is much more advanced than the original Red Faction. They are huge and much more “alive” than those claustrophobic mining shafts, tunnels, and narrow passages of the original game. Much of the game is played outdoors or in vast cities, but when you do venture indoors the maps are suitably detailed and full of enough destructible goodies to empty all your weapons of their precious ammo. As simple as the textures are there is some impressive detail including animated textures like computer screens and video monitors.
The use of special effects like particle effects, fog, and real-time lighting is really good. There are plenty of ingenious weapons and their primary and secondary effects all produce satisfying visual results. These weapons also look good in their handheld rendered form as they bob in front of your character and reflect the various lighting conditions. Several long-range weapons feature unique scopes with various vision enhancement modes.
Character models are all really good and the animation is excellent for the most part, especially for the carbon-based life forms (humans, that is). Your men will run around and act and react to their environment and the death animations are excellent. It’s really easy to get caught up in all the distracting excitement, explosions, and AI activity that’s happening in your peripheral vision. The lip-synch is way off during game-engine cutscenes but you learn to ignore it.
After hearing the TV commercials featuring “White Rabbit” I was anxious to hear what the soundtrack had to offer. What I found was surprisingly subdued, almost like an orchestra film score. Normally, FPS games deliver a thumping rock or techno library of tunes, but the music in RF2 was there more for ambiance than to setup a rhythm for pressing the fire button.
The sound effects are excellent with each weapon offering incredibly powerful sounds, both when fired and the end results of that fire. There are plenty of realistic level and environmental effects that bring the mission maps to life.
The dialog is campy in substance, but the actors did a good job with the material they had. There were some truly hilarious moments throughout the game. I was laughing hysterically when I capped one solider and another cries out, “That was my brother’s cousin! You’ll pay for that!” The main actors are all pretty good - Lance Henriksen lends his voice to the project - and the NPC’s are acted out surprisingly well considering their limited roles. It all comes together quite nicely.
The console versions didn’t feature any surround sound options and neither does the PC, but if you have a good 4-speaker system you will get some surprisingly good sound effects from this game. It could have been better.
A typical trip through the single-player game can take you anywhere from 10-15 hours depending on your skill level. There are three difficulty levels to choose from and you can lower the skill level if things get too tough, but in an interesting twist, once you lower it you can never take it back up. I got stuck on one boss about 75% through the game and changed to Easy and was forced to play the rest of the game on this setting.
The single-player game ended a bit too soon for my liking, but then I realized I had failed to complete many of the secondary goals, so a second trip may be in order. The designers even allow you to return to sections of the game using the chapter menu. This is a great way to pick up on those missing objectives without starting a fresh game.
There is also a Karma rating based on how many “friendlies” you kill vs. hostile targets. This supposedly changes the outcome of the game, but after completing this title on the PS2, Xbox, and now the PC, I have gotten the same exact ending all three times. Perhaps I’m just a consistent soldier.
With no multiplayer component, there isn’t much to keep you coming back to Red Faction II unless you like pointless bot matches. These are the same type matches we all played in Unreal Tournament to practice for the “real thing” online. At least RF2 is only $29 for the PC, so even though you are getting less of a game than the console versions, you’re paying substantially less.
Red Faction II is a good game that could have been a great FPS title for the PC if just a little effort had gone into porting this over from the consoles. While we all sit around waiting for HALO, DOOM 3, Painkiller, and a slew of other FPS titles headed out way THQ is offering us a fine FPS title to keep us in practice.
Red Faction II might not transcend the genre, but it does improve on an existing franchise and proven technology. And even if it is a stripped down port of a console game there is still a great story and plenty of action that makes Red Faction II worthy of a permanent addition to your software library.