Red Faction: Armageddon Review

Few video games have had a more fitting title than Red Faction: Armageddon. This highly destructible, third-person sci-fi shooter ramps up the action and chaos thanks to developer Volition's Geo-Mod 2.0 engine, which allows the player to reduce nearly all structures in the game to rubble. But after the dust settles, is this a situation of style over substance?

The sequel to 2009's Red Faction Guerrilla, Armageddon, available on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and PC, takes place 50 years after Guerrilla's protagonist, Alec Mason, brought peace to the inhabitants of Mars. You play as Mason's grandson, Darius, a demolitions expert. Mason, like the people of Mars, was forced underground after Adam Hale, a heinous figure, destroyed the Terraformer, which sustained life on the surface of Mars.

With that as the backdrop, most of Red Faction: Armageddon takes place underground. This leads to sections that are played with little or no light. These sequences add a little tension, which was a pleasant surprise. The dark backdrop also really accentuates the enemy's color palette. These creatures have parts on their body that glow and when they leap from one structure to another, they leave a vapor trail.

Volition provides a lot of explosive and creative weapons to combat these creatures -- and show off the game's impressive destruction engine. The usual assault rifle, shotgun, handgun and rocket launcher are available. But it's the over-the-top weapons that really give Red Faction its personality. The magnet gun shoots one pellet that acts like a magnet and another that is an anchor, which attracts the magnet at blazing speed. The nano rifle fires ammo that dissolves anything, including structures. The singularity cannon emits a small black hole that sucks in enemies then explodes. This is just a small glimpse of what Volition has brought to the table.

But it's not just the guns that cause mayhem. The Marauder Heavy Walker is a fortified vehicle that's equipped with heat-seeking missiles and a napalm laser. The Exo is a mech-like suit that sports a shoulder-mounted cannon and can run through structures. Volition has done a great job interspersing these vehicles and more throughout the 8- to 10-hour campaign. For third-person shooter veterans, it's best to increase the difficulty level for more of a challenge since these weapons can feel a little overpowered.

With this amount of damage, destroying important paths of the campaign could be a concern but Volition thought of that with the addition of the Nano Forge. This power allows Darius to recreate any destroyed structure or pathway by holding the left bumper. It also has alternate powers like impact (a wave of energy that launches nearby enemies) and shell (a protective force field that stops all attacks for a limited time)

There are also a number of upgrades (increased health, improved accuracy, etc.) that can be purchased by acquiring salvage, the currency on Mars that's scattered all over the planet. These upgrades provide some replay value because after you beat the campaign you have the option to replay it with all of your upgrades and weapons.

Volition has also added two multiplayer modes: Infestation and Ruin. Infestation is a cooperative-based mode that pits you and three other players against wave after wave of increasingly difficult enemies. The goal is not only to survive but also to protect certain designated structures before the creatures level them. Ruin is an arcade-style mode that tasks you to destroy as many structures as possible in the allotted time to gain a high score. There are leaderboards available to see how you stack up and new maps to unlock if you achieve certain thresholds.

Volition has done a great job showcasing its destruction engine in Red Faction: Armageddon. Watching structures crumble rarely gets old and the story of Darius Mason is solid while offering an action-packed campaign that is an explosive ride.