Red Faction: Armageddon

Red Faction: Armageddon
Developer(s)	Volition, Inc.
Publisher(s)	THQ SyFy Games
Engine	Geo-Mod engine 2.5
Release date(s)	June 7, 2011
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, OnLive
Genre(s)	Third-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer
Media	DVD-ROM, Blu-ray Disc

Red Faction: Armageddon is a third-person shooter developed by Volition, Inc and published by THQ. It is the fourth and final installment in the Red Faction series, released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 in various countries around the world between June 7th and June 10th, 2011.

Setting and Plot

Like the first and third games of the series, the game takes place on the planet of Mars. The storyline occurs in the year 2170, almost a half a century after the events of Red Faction: Guerrilla. At the beginning of the game, the surface of the planet becomes uninhabitable after the massive terraformer on Mars which supplied it with its Earth-like air and weather has been destroyed, causing the atmosphere to turn to chaos with super-tornadoes and lightning storms engulfing the planet. In order to survive, the Colonists are forced to flee to the underground mines of Mars, building a network of habitable caves under the surface of the planet.

The main playing line game begins five years after the relocation underground (the tutorial takes place immediately before the destruction of the terraformer, which the MC had a direct *albeit unintentional* hand in) and follows the story of Darius Mason, grandson of Martian Revolution heroes, Alec Mason and Samanya who were the main characters of Red Faction: Guerrilla, who runs a lucrative series of businesses based in Bastion, the underground hub of Colonist activity, including mining, scavenging and mercenary-work. Only a few sane people venture to the now-ravaged surface of Mars, apart from contractors like Darius and smugglers who smuggle goods between settlements. Darius is tricked into re-opening a mysterious seal in an old Marauder temple which releases a long-dormant evil race of aliens known as the Plague causing an Armageddon on/in Mars. The Plague are related to the first Red Faction game and were first discovered by Ultor. Axel Capek was driven insane by his studies of the creatures, but he was able to confine them to the cave system which Darius uncovered before completely losing his mind. (Note: The Creeper aliens look quite similar to the 'dog' aliens of the first game, first encountered in Capek's caves. There are differences, the ones in the first game do not glow, and have less spikes, but this could be due to the graphical design generation gap.) Colonist and Marauder settlements alike are torn apart by the new enemies with Darius and the Red Faction having to save the Martian population once again.

The game takes place in the underground regions of Tharsis, as a sign saying 'Welcome to Dust' can be seen in the game's debut trailer as well as one of the levels.

Development

The game was announced in the form of a short teaser on June 4th, 2010 on GameTrailers TV. The game was also showcased at the E3 2010 from June 15th to 17th, 2010. During Comic-Con in San Diego, 2010, a promotional comic titled Red Faction: Armageddon 0# was presented as a free giveaway. A downloadable vehicle-based multiplayer game called Red Faction: Battlegrounds was released in April 2011. Additionally, the SyFy network produced a direct-to-television film that bridges the story gap between Guerrilla and Armageddon, titled Red Faction: Origins. It was released on June 7th, 2011.

A playable demo for the game was announced in April, and was released on May, 3rd, 2011 for the Xbox 360. The playable demo for the PlayStation 3 was released on June 2nd, 2011.

Downloadable content entitled "Path to War" has been released for the game. It features four new single-player missions, new weapons and achievements.

Reception

Red Faction: Armageddon received mostly positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings' and Metacritic gave the PC version 75.93% and 75/100, the Xbox 360 version 73.78% and 71/100 and the PlayStation version 73.76 and 71/100. GameSpot gave the game a 8.0 out of 10, saying "Red Faction: Armageddon returns to the linear roots of the series with great success. Thanks to an enjoyable powerful arsenal and remarkably thorough destructibility, tearing your way through the alien-annihilating adventure is a blast. The campaign and infestation mode offer a good amount of content, and the arrival of the magnet gun should be celebrated by everyone with a hankering for havoc. It's one of the most powerful, inspiring, and downright hilarious gameplay machanics to come along in a while, and it makes Red Faction: Armageddon immensely appealing." While IGN gave it a 7.0, saying, "Despite it's forgettable story and pacing issues with the campaign, Red Faction: Armageddon is good fun for letting out your inner destructive child." Joystiq scored the game with a 2.5/5 rating. GameZone gave the game an 8.5 our of 10, stating "I was'nt sure whether I would like the game's change from Guerrillas open world formula to a more linear mission-based one. However, this was'nt the case. The storyline is gripping, if at a bit times a bit cliche; the controls are spot on; and leveling all that's around you never gets old. Red Faction: Armageddon is a blast to play through."

GameSpy gave Armageddon a 2.5 stars out of 5, stating that "The main campaign has gone from an open-ended, Grand Theft Auto-style game to a strictly linear, close-quarters, and poorly plotted mess" and describes the 'ruin mode' as "...incredibly fun in short bursts, but without any overarching goals or real sense of awards, it's really more of a time-waster than an honest-to-goodness game in its own right." However, it did praise the new weapons available, saying, "...you got some pretty nifty gear with which to do said dealing."

Despite the games positive reviews, it failed to meet THQ's sales expectations and resulted in them dropping the franchise, 20 days after the games release. In Giant Bomb's review, they stated "Because the developers ignored the phenomenal success of the previous entry, Guerrilla, and chose not to follow up on it's winning combination of open-world gameplay and utter destruction."

Weapons & Vehicles

These are the known weapons for RF:A as it currently stands, though it is highly likely there are more - a THQ person interviewed mentioned a figure of about 30. So far the tally stands at 20-ish with several weeks of Armory updates still left.

• Arc Welder (DLC Only)
• Assault Rifle
• Convergence Laser (Cheat Weapon)
• EDF Enforcer (Requires Level 20 in Red Faction: Battlegrounds) - Same as the one in Guerrilla
• Dual Wield Banshee Pistols
• Dual Wield Laser Pistols (DLC Only) - Sustained beam pistols which do damage over time but are prone to overheating. They knock off enemies with the cliche sci-fi disintegration.
• Dual Wield Pistols
• Lava Barge Turrent (Cheat Weapon)
• L.E.O. Machine Gun (Cheat Weapon)
• L.E.O. Rocket Launcher (Cheat Weapon)
• Magnet Gun
• Maul
• Mr. Toots - Acts the same as the Plasma Beam but with different effects. (Can be obtained in an easter egg and upon beating the game)
• Nano Rifle
• Napalm Laser (Cheat Weapon)
• Plasma Cannon
• Plasma Beam
• Plasma Thrower (DLC Only) - Like a flame-thrower but powerful against buildings.
• Pulse Grenade Launcher - Timed explosive which destroys organics with minimal structural effects.
• Rail Driver
• Charge Launcher
• Rocket Launcher
• Singularity Cannon
• Shotgun
• XNG-5000 (DLC Only) - A type of Nanite Grenade Launcher

Vehicles known to date include the following:

• Mining Exo
• L.E.O Exosuit
• Marauder Scout Walker
• Mantis Heavy Walker
• Marauder Inferno GX Flyer

Trivia

• It should be known that unlike the previous games, Armageddon does not involve a revolutionary socialist undertone. Instead, it is a more linear experience, largely moving through corridors and caverns from objective to objective, which features an alien invasion. The dropping of the revolutionary undertone has possibly gained negative feedback.
• The tag-line, "Go Beneath" can be seen on images that were released before the game's official release.

Gallery

Nanoforge device in action

Gameplay screenshot

External links

• http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-red-faction/100960
• http://www.gamenews.org.uk/999578-red-faction-armageddon-announced
• http://www.redfaction.com/#/story