It has been ten years since the developer of Volition first introduced their amazing GeoMod technology in the original Red Faction. During this period, a series of games passed from a shooter, from a first-person to adventures in the open world, and now, together with the new version, to a third-person shooter. With each new campaign, players get to know new personalities and learn more about the Martian colony. Passage in Red Faction: Armageddon is attractive because it is a dynamic genre with a fast-paced plot. In addition, network battles with completely destructible locations are also available.
System requirements
To pass Red Faction: Armageddon you need a productive PC.
Minimum Requirements:
- CPU 2 cores of 2 GHz.
- RAM 2 GB.
- 512 MB video card.
- Hard disk space 8 GB.
In order to run the game at maximum quality settings, you will need:
- CPU 4 cores of 3 GHz.
- RAM from 4 GB.
- 10 GB hard drive.
- 1 GB video card.
Where does the plot begin
Passage of Red Faction: Armageddon begins with a small reference to the last part. In connection with this latest coup, the action will begin 50 years after the events of the 2009 game of the Partizan series. Users get acquainted with Darius Mason, a soldier of the Red Faction and grandson of Alec Mason, a hero of partisans and, obviously, just one of a long series of people whose last name forced them to save the Martian colonies with an electric hammer.
When passing through Red Faction: Armageddon, you can notice a lot of references to the previous parts. They are represented by short video stories about the Martian colony. Half a century is enough time to change almost everything, and at a short introductory level, players will find out how Darius was caught by the leader of the Voodoo cult during a terrorist attack. They destroy the terraformers, keeping the Martian atmosphere stable, and everyone is forced to go and live underground like Wombs.
A little bit about the main character
Passage of game Red Faction: Armageddon is directly related to the life of the main character. Darius is a slightly strange fighter, another hero with a storyline that contains a lot of humor. He does not obey orders and tries to do everything his own way. Senior comrades cannot influence him. In the first missions, users see this clearly and understand that beyond the fighter’s ventures they will drag in not always good adventures.
From this starting point, the walkthrough of Red Faction: Armageddon deviates slightly from the expected path. Armageddon is perhaps the most anonymous and common title, called the Red Faction, with virtually no new ideas that can be called shared.
Receiving assignments
All tasks are given by a girl named AI or a rude sergeant. Audio magazines offer fragments of history or very scary messages left by devoured colonists in agony for study.
Fantastic creatures and monsters in the series a large number. This time, the developers of the game Red Faction: Armageddon decided to focus on monsters of alien races, and not on weapons. New hostile factions appear. Tasks are taken only from your clan. However, it is required to conduct reconnaissance sabotage in enemy territories. This leads to an increase in the level of threat, and from the first missions the hero begins to get into trouble.
Location Overview
According to users, the most unpleasant thing in the game Red Faction: Armageddon is the decision to move the action underground, which, in fact, is considered the only distinguishing feature in the new part. Series The Partisan War version was calmer and struggled to fill its vast Martian landscapes with a passing process, but its revolutionary history at least created a situation where the destruction of buildings was logical and even interesting.
In tunnels, this is not so. The mechanics of Red Faction: Armageddon are much different from the previous part. There are times when you need to use your arsenal to destroy structures or the Nano Forge device, to restore and repair damaged stairs so that players can return to the necessary site. But Armageddon is just another shooter with one large location. Arrange the destruction, as in the last part, will not work here.
By the end of the game there are no whole rooms left that could be restored. The mechanics in Red Faction: Armageddon, as well as the concept of the series itself, shows that the vehicle section leads directly into the underground river channel through winding tunnels, where there is absolutely no landscape that can be destroyed, even for pleasure. Everything has been revised. Due to a change in location, going up is only possible when certain missions are completed.
Common features
In Red Faction: Armageddon and DLC, destructible playgrounds return, but this time they surprise from a completely different perspective. Fans of the previous game will notice that this time the camera is located on the right side of the hero, immediately behind his shoulder. Many will find this similar to the Gears of War series.
Red Faction: Armageddon and the DLC definitely benefit from both change and comparison. The crushing of aliens is pretty much the only adventure of Darius. He is busy with work, as he fights with enemies to protect the people of Mars from an external threat.
However, the main character himself becomes the cause of many problems at the settlement. In most cases, the only thing that stands between the hero and the next checkpoint is a small army of slave creatures. Players can meet only a few alien "types", but they have enough variations, not to mention the zones of military operations themselves. Many of them were pleasant to users.
The big difference between the action in Red Faction: Armageddon 4 and in the Gears of War series is the lack of cover mechanics from attacks. Darius is certainly able to hide behind the nearest drawer, and sometimes he is even forced to do so. By and large, the user is required to constantly run and shoot. There are several opponents of the tank type (an opponent with a high level of health and armor), but for the most part they will fall from several well-aimed shots to the head. You can fight enemies with the help of an electromagnetic hammer.
Weapons and ammunition
The hammer as a weapon in Red Faction: Armageddon is presented as a source item, but users will quickly find that the arsenal of the game offers much more opportunities for battles. Magnetic gun is the main automatic weapon. It is useful throughout the game.
Nano Rifle also returns to the series, breaking into pieces the environment (or aliens) simply destroying everything to the ground. Such weapons appear later in the game. The system requirements in Red Faction: Armageddon are high because the special effects from the shots and their consequences are well-designed.
Remote charges are replaced by a remote-detonating grenade launcher, and it’s much more convenient to control them. There is a Singularity Cannon gun, which allows you to essentially shoot mini-black holes. This is a great way to get out of a circular attack when enemies begin to dominate the number. When winning the game at the very end, the user opens up new types of weapons, more powerful and faster. It will be possible to use them only at an increased level of difficulty.
Enhancements and Secrets
Passage also opens another level of the game, somewhat similar to the fourth and fifth series of Resident Evil. The user transfers all the achievements of his character (improvements, weapons and everything else) to the New Game Plus mode. He can optionally purchase cheats and codes in Red Faction: Armageddon. They are more expensive than standard improvements.
However, they are much larger, and they provide the opportunity to get an unlimited number of ammunition for a particular type of weapon. The action takes place dynamically at the initial stage of the passage, but the addition of unlimited cartridges increases the speed of battles. The more weapons and ammunition, the more enemies there are. Users also note that if Red Faction: Armageddon crashes, then it is worth lowering the graphics quality settings. A large number of opponents heavily load the system, and this leads to internal failures.
Community cards
The multiplayer campaign is a collaborative online mode for 1-4 players called Infestation. The requirements in Red Faction: Armageddon for the system remain the same as for a single mission. The mode actually has two varieties. Players either fight the increasingly strong waves of attacking aliens, or defend one building from the same increasingly complex waves. In this case, the user is limited to a set of weapons, although the choice increases as the player gets to higher rounds (in the infection match there is a maximum of 30 rounds).
“Defense” matches also require players to use their recovery beam - a device that is used to rebuild any damaged structure or object. In such a round, the place of appearance (and the building that users must protect) shifts at each level, requiring constant tactical awareness and the ability to adapt. In Red Faction: Armageddon on PS3, co-op is not available.
Tournaments with infection become more complex due to the fact that game statistics are transferred between modes. Any improvements that are bought in each of the modes apply to the character profile as a whole. Because of this, it makes no difference in which mode they rank. This will apply to all episodes of the game.
The codes in Red Faction: Armageddon will help make the joint game more fun. Apart from Infestation is the Ruin mode, which can be downloaded for free (using the gift code) along with new purchases in the game. Players can also purchase it separately as a DLC. In Ruins, the hero is charged with destroying everything for which you can get points. There is no real benefit to this. However, as users themselves note in their reviews, the mode is interesting in group battles. This is like hunting and competition, where the winner is the one who get the most points.
From the choice of weapons, only one item really stands out. The magnetic gun is an excellent building tool that Darius owns as a weapon. Using cheats in Red Faction: Armageddon, you can get it right away. The first shot puts a magnet, the second - an anchor attracting an object. The first item is then jerkily torn in the second. It is simple, but it is fun when the hero throws enemies into stone walls or pushes them against each other. This trick is done with a hook in Just Cause and the Half Life gravity pistol.
Of course, Darius has other tools. The nano-smithy can emit a shock wave, repelling enemies with a powerful impulse. Similarly, a shockwave effect can slowly lift enemies into the air, making them easy targets. But no matter how effective it is, slow motion and anti-gravity are hardly new additions to the shooter's arsenal. This is all the Russian voice acting in Red Faction: Armageddon, as the hero amusingly comments on almost every action.
There is also an energy shield, weapons such as a nano-rifle and a Guerilla singular bomb. Upgrades for all types of devices can be purchased using the collected junk and revealing four levels of quite useful improvements.
Battle tactics
When it comes to battles, there are very few differences between the pistols offered. They are all divided into weapons that kill enemies and weapons that destroy them to dust. Nano-rifle practically does not differ from the listed types in practice, so hiding in the trenches and firing back is not always profitable and correct. It is worth noting that the voice acting in Red Faction: Armageddon weapons and effects is at a high level.
Without grace or nuances in the required tactics, there is little incentive to experiment with existing types of equipment. Standard rockets and bullets are quite sufficient to destroy groups of enemies, so any destruction that users leave in their path is literally a side damage - just an additional effect, and not the basic concept of the gameplay.
For the most part, players will jog and shoot like in any other game of this genre. The dynamics in the game makes it possible to apply various combinations and techniques on the go. In the reviews, users say that the created battle system is addictive from the first round.
A review of Red Faction: Armageddon shows that shooting from the hips is a bad idea, as running aliens are too fast for such tricks. Therefore, a reliable aiming system is the best way to progress. There is no shelter system besides the ability to squat, but since almost everything can be smashed, this is clearly for the best.
A point of view over your shoulder may be a bit uncomfortable, while being unable to see your legs means it's sometimes easy to get caught in the rubble of buildings. But when the game mixes the enemies and the environment correctly, it’s easy to forgive the lack of personality.
Campaign Scale
There are many chances to tighten the passage of the plot due to the long history of the single player game. In any case, the campaign lasts too long, supplementing itself with missions in which the hero is sent back and forth along the roads of the intersection to search for some vital machine, only to send it back to find the generator necessary for its operation. After the battle with the bosses, the game continues to develop, lasting about an hour. All this time, the user will be attacked by waves of terrible alien monsters.
In total, as the users themselves say, the passage of the entire storyline company takes no more than 12 hours, along with all the cinematic scenes and the search for pieces of the map. If you use the full modernization of the main character using cheat codes, the game time is reduced to 5 hours. The developers tried to interest gamers more, so they opened access to the rapid development of the character for a more dynamic game.
Multiplayer and survival mode
Multiplayer is effective and rarely contains innovations. Two modes are waiting for the game - one is free for everyone, and the other is blocked for the download code for buyers of mods and add-ons at the official store. The Infection mode is the best. All users can play it, regardless of which country the episode of the series was purchased in.
This is a survival mode for four players placed on eight maps, each of which includes 30 waves of enemies. Weapons and improvements earned in a single player game become available as you progress through the waves.
With thoughtless alien opponents there is no need to fight in any tactically interesting layouts, so each series of tests is, in fact, a crowded maze with many points where users can take up defenses against the wall and wait until hordes of enemies appear on the horizon. It's simple and very easy, compared to similar modes in other games, but with four players it is quite fun.
The Bust mode, on the other hand, is the only competitive type of battle. Almost identical to Guerilla’s Wrecking Crew, it’s a demolition battle for the time when gamers do as much damage as possible in closed arenas, hoping to break the record.
This is a good distraction, but it's a shame that Deathmatch and flag capture modes, such as Siege and Anarchy, were not added in the new part. Of course, they will not make Armageddon more original, but if there is one area in which the project can really stand out, it is these traditional multi-user modes where the uncertainty that offers unlimited destruction of the territory can surpass even the most difficult task of interest.
Game dynamics
Despite such a long list of complaints from users, Armageddon may appeal to those who are looking for a standard shooter for a free evening. The career is dynamic and not overloaded with side tasks, and the completion of all missions opens up more pleasant moments to seduce the user to the second walkthrough of the game with the same weapons and improvements. Variants of endless ammunition for any weapon in the game are added to the system store along with portable versions of heavy-duty automobile weapons.
"Armageddon", therefore, is one of those games that adheres closely enough to the familiar template to provide adequate entertainment in the short term, but is unlikely to inspire any long and measured arcade game. Due to the abundance of battles, the plot goes unnoticed. Many people purchase the game specifically for online battles.
Halfway through, users will receive all weapons, abilities and meet a powerful enemy. Therefore, instead of reaching the end of the storyline campaign, players begin to organize joint battles at the already completed stages.
What is the attraction
The Red Faction series has always been widely known for almost destroying the entire location. Doors, walls, vehicles, and entire structures were destroyed intentionally (as the goal of many missions) or users could simply destroy everything around for the sake of pleasure.
In its new chapter, Armageddon, the series retains most of its mechanics, that is, you can still destroy almost everything that is visible, but there is a limitation, even if the main focus of the plot is on the main mission.
Innovations begin with the main character, this time, users control the grandson of Alex Mason (the protagonist of the previous game), Darius Mason, a disappointed miner who needs to save a colony of people from an alien attack. Despite the cliche of the Hollywood film, the plot can develop in a convincing way throughout the game, fueling the feelings of the most impressionable players.
An exciting and linear adventure
Despite the convincing and lively storyline, during the game Red Faction: Armageddon leaves much to be desired due to its uniformity. It's easy enough to shoot and destroy alien opponents. Sometimes a different task arises, but, in addition to simplicity, they are very noticeable, in other words, the player has a dotted path that leads to the destination. There is no free world where the hero himself would find missions for himself.
In career mode, you can develop your character with the help of several abilities ranging from increasing the energy bar that powers most devices, and ending with causing damage to certain weapons. However, the development of these abilities requires a lot of time, not to mention the fact that in order to get points that serve for this evolution, it is necessary to destroy walls and other structures.
Special Effects and Tricks
As mentioned above, the game has a diverse arsenal to destroy the alien threat. However, the most spectacular special effects are offered to players using an electromagnetic hammer. Throughout the campaign, it can be used, with the exception of the final part, where there are more enemies in the air, so a powerful hammer is not a good option for their destruction.
Tricks with a tool attract attention. Substituted over 40 possible combinations in which the player can commit the killing of even a strong enemy. For this, weapons and tools available in the series are used. Additionally, it is possible to use transport. However, if necessary, weapons can be removed from equipment and used against enemies.
Image quality
Curiously, most of the game runs at 60 frames per second. This is a pretty good indicator. However, if you run the game on the console, the picture quality is noticeably reduced. The series requires powerful components. The developers themselves did not place much emphasis on the realism and elaboration of the plot, so you can often find details, upon closer examination, which consist of “cubes”.
There are many dark places in the game. Users like this, because there is an effect of surprise. There are many enemies lurking there. However, out of habit, this type of linear game can be very annoying at first because the user has not yet mastered the controls.
Aliens have been worked out. However, there are not many species. In total, users in the game have no more than 8 types, not counting the main bosses. Units do not differ much in quick wit and mainly take in numbers. Therefore, for the battle it is always necessary to have a large supply of weapons and armor.
Total
At the very beginning, the game series raises many questions and contradictions. This is due to the high expectations of fans of the series from the update. The developers did not re-create the plot and introduce new elements into it. Instead, they continued the story and added several new modes for online battles. The dynamics and speed of the plot is attractive. If you need to pass the evening and fight hordes of enemies, this game will be the best choice.