Red Faction
Could THQ's upcoming first person shooter be the best of all time? Check out how it's shaping up with our hands-on preview.
Published: May 14, 2001
In recent years, the gaming public has been treated to many new first person shooter titles. More specifically games like Unreal Tournament and Quake 3: Arena. But this has to leave a person wondering, "What can Red Faction offer that these and the other assortment of titles on the market can't?" The answer to that question is simple, fully interactive environments.
Don't be fooled however, as the interactive environments are just the icing on the cake when it comes to the game itself. Because it features over 60 levels of gameplay! Some of which will require and hi-jacking 5 fully armed land, sea, and air vehicles. And if that isn't enough, Red Faction features 15 different weapons (including a flame thrower) to use.
The plot itself is very involving, which is one of the major differences between this and every other FPS on the market. Most other titles of the genre just have a plot (or story line if you want to go that far) that is thrown together to make the game a game (all games must have a background story of some kind). The plot in Red Faction has been well thought out and is very captivating. It is as follows:
Far beneath the surface of Mars is Parker (which whom the player plays as), a worker in mines that are run by the Ultor Corporation. The miners there are laid victim to horrible living conditions and a strange disease dubbed the Plague that is slowly infecting them. Thus their anger and resentment are understandably at a breaking point and Parker provides the "spark" that starts a rebellion against Ultor. The player's goal is to stay alive long enough to bring down the corporation and find out the mystery of the Plague.
Very recently, I had the chance to play the preview version of the game. And let me say this, if the environments are even close to the level of detail that was displayed in the demo, we are all in for an incredible treat. Volition has taken the first person shooter genre to a new level not just because of their new Geo-Mod Technology (which allows for the environments to be altered or destroyed in real-time), but by paying attention to all aspects of gameplay rather than just a select few. For one, the control is absolutely phenomenal. If the analog sticks are pressed in a direction even the slightest bit, the functions that they perform will react appropriately on-screen. When shooting at a pane of glass with a pistol (other weapons will have their own appropriate effect), the glass cracks outwards from the bullets point of contact until finally shattering. When blowing up a wall with a remote mine or rocket launcher, a realistically sized crater is formed, and if it is blown up again in the same spot, the crater gets larger and deeper. I could go on and on about the detail that has went into the creation of this game, but the list is just to extensive.
One of the only things that needs to be dealt with before the game itself arrives on store shelves is the frame rate. At times, mostly when there are several enemies on the screen at once and a huge gun battle is raging, the frame rate drops slightly. This makes it difficult to try and get an accurate shot on an opponent. The drop only lasts at most for a few seconds and then returns to normal. I'm sure that Volition has rectified this problem since the demo was released, but I still thought it to be important enough to mention.
Also, I haven't really figured out how this happens, but it seems that when re-loading a weapon, no matter how much ammo is already in the weapon, the equivalent of a full reload is always deducted from the total amount of ammo that is not in the weapon. This is hard to comprehend, I know, but it is an absolute must for Volition to correct this glitch, or else it could prove as a serious con to what could have been on of the greatest first person shooters of all time.
Make sure to read our in-depth review of the game when it arrives in stores in a few weeks to see how it turns out. But as Laurence Fishburne says from The Matrix, "You have to see it for yourself."
Don't be fooled however, as the interactive environments are just the icing on the cake when it comes to the game itself. Because it features over 60 levels of gameplay! Some of which will require and hi-jacking 5 fully armed land, sea, and air vehicles. And if that isn't enough, Red Faction features 15 different weapons (including a flame thrower) to use.
The plot itself is very involving, which is one of the major differences between this and every other FPS on the market. Most other titles of the genre just have a plot (or story line if you want to go that far) that is thrown together to make the game a game (all games must have a background story of some kind). The plot in Red Faction has been well thought out and is very captivating. It is as follows:
Far beneath the surface of Mars is Parker (which whom the player plays as), a worker in mines that are run by the Ultor Corporation. The miners there are laid victim to horrible living conditions and a strange disease dubbed the Plague that is slowly infecting them. Thus their anger and resentment are understandably at a breaking point and Parker provides the "spark" that starts a rebellion against Ultor. The player's goal is to stay alive long enough to bring down the corporation and find out the mystery of the Plague.
Very recently, I had the chance to play the preview version of the game. And let me say this, if the environments are even close to the level of detail that was displayed in the demo, we are all in for an incredible treat. Volition has taken the first person shooter genre to a new level not just because of their new Geo-Mod Technology (which allows for the environments to be altered or destroyed in real-time), but by paying attention to all aspects of gameplay rather than just a select few. For one, the control is absolutely phenomenal. If the analog sticks are pressed in a direction even the slightest bit, the functions that they perform will react appropriately on-screen. When shooting at a pane of glass with a pistol (other weapons will have their own appropriate effect), the glass cracks outwards from the bullets point of contact until finally shattering. When blowing up a wall with a remote mine or rocket launcher, a realistically sized crater is formed, and if it is blown up again in the same spot, the crater gets larger and deeper. I could go on and on about the detail that has went into the creation of this game, but the list is just to extensive.
One of the only things that needs to be dealt with before the game itself arrives on store shelves is the frame rate. At times, mostly when there are several enemies on the screen at once and a huge gun battle is raging, the frame rate drops slightly. This makes it difficult to try and get an accurate shot on an opponent. The drop only lasts at most for a few seconds and then returns to normal. I'm sure that Volition has rectified this problem since the demo was released, but I still thought it to be important enough to mention.
Also, I haven't really figured out how this happens, but it seems that when re-loading a weapon, no matter how much ammo is already in the weapon, the equivalent of a full reload is always deducted from the total amount of ammo that is not in the weapon. This is hard to comprehend, I know, but it is an absolute must for Volition to correct this glitch, or else it could prove as a serious con to what could have been on of the greatest first person shooters of all time.
Make sure to read our in-depth review of the game when it arrives in stores in a few weeks to see how it turns out. But as Laurence Fishburne says from The Matrix, "You have to see it for yourself."
