Red Faction

Great game, mechanics, atmosphere, etc, but got stuck at a boss fight where it won't budge (and thus you cannot go forward in the game)! It seems to be fairly common judging by the amount of Google results, so yeah it really sucks!

A distant relative of Descent, Red Faction is a straightforward 3rd-person shooter packed with state-of-the-art features for its time. Unfortunately, there are many rough edges, and the game always feels more like a tech demo than a living world. You can blast holes in rocks and walls, but only where allowed, and it rarely offers more than a shortcut. You can drive vehicles, but they're little more than rail shooters. Stealth sequences drag on without adding much. Enemies can spawn without warning behind you. When enemies see you, they start dancing from side to side while facing you. It's hard to predict and makes them look like robots. Late in the game, one-shot kills from rail guns and rockets are too common. Voice acting is on par with Freespace, mostly competent but flat. Guards sound annoyed. The story's okay, but the delivery falls short. Nonetheless, it's a long game with enough variety to stand out from the crowd. More interesting for the technology than the game inside.

This game is still great and the community is still doing amazing things. Come stop by the RedFaction4You discord channel and meet some of the original players, mappers and modders from the community! https://discord.gg/ajKhW8pH

This review is based on the single-player campaign only. The story is not very deep and complex, but engaging and interesting throughout. A good sci-fi story that you'll remember, and that bears occasional replays. It could be a bit longer though. You could play through it in a night, unless you get completely stuck on one of the puzzles or more challenging parts. Weapons are varied and interesting, and some of them are extremely satisfying and fun to use. There is even one that can shoot through walls. And a few that can blow holes in walls. That was a pretty innovative feature at the time. Enemies could be more varied, but remain challenging throughout. There are some cool monsters you'll encounter along the way, and a memorable antagonist. The landscape and areas are immersive, and pretty much what you'll expect from a sci-fi game set on an industrialised and dystopian Mars. The graphics are pretty good for its time (2001). In between Half Life 1 and 2, graphically. Not at all an issue unless you are all too spoiled by contemporary graphics. The pacing is pretty good. You'll be thrown straight into action after a short and ok tutorial. There are no particularly dull or tiresome moments, and you'll be shifting locations a lot. There are also sequences where you ride different vehicles for a bit. The cutscenes are not too frequent or long. There are puzzles of different kinds, but not overly many. You'll probably encounter a few bugs and glitches when playing this on a modern system. A well-known one is a submarine that explodes when the crane holding it drops it into the water. This is potentially game-breaking, as you're supposed to use this sub to get to a new location. While it might be possible to fix this using technical means (it probably has something to do with framerate being too high or similar), I found that it is possible to fix it by running straight out towards the sub, jumping up and giving it a good push forward while it is falling.

I had a demo of this game as a kid and played the heck out of it and over the years I have attempted to come back to it but mostly been hindered by technical issues due to the games age. These issues remain frankly; there's a weird hitch sometimes (Red Faction 2 also has this problem), the sound will begin to have issues where some effects come and go or just disappear completely, there's some pretty weird bugs like me falling through the tram or the submarine exploding before it can be lowered into the water. There is a community patch, but in my experience it introduced as many problems as it fixed. These things aside this PC playthrough is hot off me completing the PS2 version. I can unequivocally say FUCK the PS2 version. Even on medium difficulty (the same difficulty I have finished this PC version on) the last quarter is horrendous. Hit-scanning mercs with rail-guns and barely any health drops leading to the final boss in corridors with mercs firing nukes. The thing is the PC version still has this issue but to a lesser degree. Even with the aim-assist present on consoles it’s a frustrating mess. On a PC with mouse it isn’t so bad at all but there will be plenty of deaths that feel frustrating and cheap, especially on a first playthrough. I will never touch the PS2 version ever again for as long as I live. However, I’m not sure the game in general warrants your return. The only interesting part of the game is frankly the environment destruction gimmick. It isn’t nearly as useful as you would think it is. It isn’t required as much as you would think it is. There are times where you can use it to create alternate paths or to reach secret areas but outside of this the game does not impress at all. Not in terms of story or gunplay, not anything. This one note gimmick is the one and only consistent through line with the entire franchise. It's only sell is RF’s gimmick, and for me personally, the rose tinted glasses don’t fit like they used to.