Red Faction

Played the hell out of the PS2 demo when I was younger and then the full game when it finally came out. It's really nice to jump back into Red Faction after all these years. I installed the Dash Faction patch before playing and everything is running perfectly well on my modern PC! Didn't test it without the patch, but I assume based on some of the other reviews that there would have been trouble getting it to work, so I'd definitely reccommend installing that patch if you want a good experience with the game!

Red Faction was a fairly decently working game in its day and quite fun to wade through, but despite its talk about destruction and adventure, the plot and path are quite linear and there is nothing much to do except wade forward in the preset plot.

If you want proper gaming experience, challenging. This game is for you. I mean this game is brutal, and i love it.

First of all, if you want to get this running properly on a modern system, make sure to install the latest version of the Dash Faction patch, which fixes many bugs and issues otherwise preventing the game from working properly. Built from the scraps of what was supposed to be Descent 4, Red Faction is the definition of a decent FPS. On paper, Red Faction had several innovative features, but in practice, these don't leave much of an impression. Most notably, the much-touted GeoMod engine with its destructible environments is largely underused, as the destruction only makes sense, and often is only possible, in designated spots, which typically are required for progression. Creativity is neither intended nor possible—for instance, there was a part where two bridges were separated by a chasm, and I thought it would be possible to destroy the steel beams holding the bridge on the other side, so that I could jump over. It wasn't possible, and the bridge didn't even have a scratch after multiple rocket hits. The vehicle sections are functional, but rather short and not too exciting, and the final APC section controls horribly. There is also a stealth section, but it's very short and far from interesting mechanically. The gunplay is somewhat hampered by the fact that guns are terribly inaccurate. Coupled with enemies strafing heavily, it's not uncommon to have one's crosshair locked onto an enemy, yet miss every single bullet in a mag. Later on, one is given more precise and powerful weaponry at last, which is sorely needed due to opposition being much fiercer during the last third of the game. On hard difficulty, the game is definitely challenging, which is a good thing, since the game is seriously short at less than five hours. All these issues aside, I still found myself entertained playing Red Faction. The level design is fairly creative, the setting original, and the pacing of the plot never slows down until the very end. Worth it on sale.

I used to love both the PS2 and PC versions of Red Faction back in the day. Playing again is still really fun but it's showing it's age and it's pretty buggy. There were two incidents where I had to completely restart the game because of two different bugs which completely blocked the story from continuing. One was with the sub that you're supposed to get into for a water section. Well the sub blew up randomly before I could get in it and I couldn't get past the water section without it. The other time was with the giant machine that you're supposed to lure into a trap. Well the stupid thing wouldn't follow me out of the room I was in so it could not be destroyed and I couldn't proceed with the story. Other than those bugs and and the weird and sometimes cheap AI, it's a great game. I think it's aged better on the PS2 though.