Red Faction II

Ahhh, Red Faction II......for followers of the first Red Faction, this game was sure to make you insane with anticipation. Hell, I had only WATCHED someone play the game, and from that point on I was impressed enough to care about the sequel. For wasn't Red Faction the first game to have a fully-destructable environment to wreak havoc upon? Wasn't Red Faction the game that had tons of operable vehicles? Wasn't Red Faction the game with the amazing graphics, storyline, and cache of weaponry? You're damn right it was! These facts and more led the designers of Red Faction II to realize, 'Hey, people are diggin' the original, let's see if we can make the sequel on video game consoles too!' Consequently, with the release of the game upon the Xbox and Playstation 2 consoles as well as keeping a PC version available, Red Faction II has become a pretty easy game to find. A few months ago actually, I rented the game from Blockbuster, a week or so after it came out. Giddy with anticipation, I proceeded into the basement for the next 5 days, intent on breaking down every bit of Red Faction II. Well, the first thing I noticed about the game was that 5 seconds after you turn it on, the main screen automatically is plastered with a 3-D character randomly flexing his muscles while a voice repeats "Go with Chancellor Sopot! He is your destiny, your rightful cause to exist!" All this is thrown at you as soon as you turn on the game, and you are also flooded with a ton of options immediately. This I found disappointing. Where was my awesome introductory cutscene that actually gives the plot and some info for the game? I don't know about you, but a game NEEDS to have that. Otherwise, you are just thrown into it headfirst with no understanding of what's going on. Well, after finding the 'campaign' mode (which I correctly took for single player mode) I was finally shown some cutscene action. However, it was brief, more intent on eye candy, and only confused me further. Because after the cutscene ends, you are randomly trying to break into a security complex as soon as you gain control of your character. This begins the game's communistic approach to your gaming satisfaction: don't ask why, or you will get shot and killed. After that short introductory level, you get a little more background info about what's going on; you are a member of a group of elite super-soldiers, working for the benefit of mankind to rid the planet of Victor Sopot. Wow, now I know what I'm doing. Great! The beginning of the game is spectacular visually, the the HUGE problem is that you jump into it without knowing who you are, what you are doing, or why you are here. No I am not an idiot you guys, the designers didn't do that on purpose. Could it be that the designers just forgot to put in the actual beginning of the game? That has got to be it. Anyways, as the game progresses, the story DOES make more sense. All I gotta say is that what lacks as a story is totally blow away by the gameplay and graphics. There is one point early in the game where you are waging a rooftop battle on top of dilapidated skyscrapers, and it seriously looks like Chicago after a nuclear blast. You can look down and see bands of people duking it out below, that is if you don't expose your head too much for the snipers trying to blow your top off. And the sniper rifle you get.....I just gotta say this level alone is worth the rental fee I payed. Another example of major eye candy is when you are finding a route through the sewer system. My god, I felt like I had accidentally lifted up a manhole in the street and had fallen through to the seedy bowls of the sewer myself. That level will creep you out as well as amaze you. Finally, one more very sweet part is when you are in a subway and you have to dodge trains while trying to get out of a tunnel. To avoid the trains behind you, you have to shoot the walls on either side, gouge out enough room, and duck inside so the train misses at the last second. Game right there folks. In conclusion, the game retains most of the weapons from the original Red Faction, plus some news ones, and there are still some sweet vehicles to parade around in (plus you gotta love the destructive environment which still keeps things interesting). Overall, except for the hyper intro to the game, I'd give it high grades for awesomeness. However, if you can somehow avoid paying 50 bucks for it, you should be happier with what you have. I wouldn't spend a whole 50, but if you can find a used copy for 30 bucks, hurry up and grab it. It's at least worth that much.