Ivan gropes Red Faction.
Posted: May 21, 2001 @ 11:36PM - By: ivan

The first thing that hits you is how the Red Faction booth is setup, which is pretty cool, unlike the THQ booth that houses it. So let’s say you’re on your way to see some Nintendo, Sega and Sony stuff. Just before the entrances to the massive hall that houses the big three you notice a banner to the right that reads something like THQ Getting Warmer --> So, you turn and follow the banner into a fairly non-descript looking entryway. This was kind of odd, because most of the players at the show had open booths on the floor in various halls, but THQ had their own little enclosed area comparable to a good sized store in an indoor shopping mall; I figured that this was because WWF superstars Lita and Kurt “Go back to Russia” Angle were signing autographs, randomly hitting people with chairs, and whatnot. Anyway, before the Spanish announce table, and directly to the left of entrance was the RF booth, or cave as it were. The banner above the entrance had the standard Red Faction logo stamped on it and mentioned something about being prepared to show your ID, which was kind of odd since everyone there is over eighteen anyway. Even stranger, every time I walked through the door to the THQ booth (which was quite often) the guard lady questioned me about my age. Now, I know my youthful exuberance and strikingly good looks go a long way to making seem younger than I am, but having to tell the broad twenty every time I walked in became a little tiresome, especially since there were those who looked far younger than me going in and out without a peep coming out of her. She was probably just hot for me, or more likely teasing me, as practically all females in my life so relentlessly do. Anyway, the demo area was made out like a Martian mine straight out of the game and was roofed off. Because of this, it felt like the inside of a volcano on the first day, one littered with crusty molemen. Apparently, only about a third of the some forty people that crammed in there the first day understood the basic principles of showering regularly. Add to the fact that the A/C wasn’t working and it became rather hellish. Thankfully everything got better as the show progressed. Inside there were two PS2 stations and four PC ones, all of which were playable. Begin the fun…

The PS2 final is without a doubt far superior to the demo. The recently released demo was actually made months ago and shouldn’t be used to judge the final version at all. The final version has a smooth, consistent framerate, and seems to have a generally more responsive, solid feel to it. There is nothing that would immediately stand out to you if you saw a screenshot of both side-by-side, but the way they play and feel are what differentiate the two. The improved, consistent framerate makes moving and shooting a far less cumbersome task and subsequently ups the game’s fun factor considerably. The E3 demo also didn’t appear to be in any kind of low-gore mode as characters splattered blood all over the place and reacted generally well to being shot, seemingly displaying a wider range of animations. The controllers are much more configurable this time around, although I didn’t play around with it much. Multiplayer support is really cool and will prove to add a lot of longevity to the game as will the addition of bots. Split screen multi can get a little slow at times, especially with a lot of bots and some heavy fusion and rocket launcher going on, but it’s generally quick and responsive and should prove to be a very good time (you just can’t beat face-to-face gloating). With its shortcomings you should remember that the multiplayer component is there to compliment the single player game and not replace it entirely. I was a bit caught up in the PC version, so I didn’t go as in depth with the PS2 game as I would have liked to, but even with my short play it was at its absolute worst very impressive and is easily one the best PS2 games yet.

Even cooler than the PS2 version was its PC brethren. Controlling via a mouse and keyboard is really something that we take for granted and switching over to it from the PS2’s control pad really made the game stand out. The feel and scope of everything can truly be appreciated on the PC. Ducking behind crates and strafing in and out trying to hold back those two guards while also looking for that damn ceiling mounted turret is really a joy without the inherent constraints of the PS2 dual-shock. The aim and movement are quick and responsive enough where that collapsing a ceiling onto your foes or digging a side pocket in an actual intense firefight becomes a tactic that can now be easily employed even in the thickest of engagements. The graphical resolution has gotten a big improvement and now runs at 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, or 1280x1024. Texture detail will be higher but not significantly upgraded, it certainly looks better, but it’s not the best out there; however, there will be detail texturing, which is something you see in a lot of Unreal Tournament engine based games where if you walk close enough to a wall the texture changes to a more detailed image like cracks in the granite or whatever. It adds a lot in those games and is said to really bring everything together here in RF. It was unfortunately not present in the E3 build, but was said to be about 80% implemented. They are looking to add other improvements to the PC version, but I’m an idiot and didn’t really bother to hound them about it.

Versions aside, the game itself really kicks ass. Pretty much all the weapons are cool, with the assault rifle, rail gun, precision rifle, and shotgun being my favorites. All have a distinct feel and are modeled very well and appropriately. I previously complained about the rail-gun’s apparent thickness with its blast, but you don’t even notice it in use and it is just way too cool peaking through walls dusting people before they even knew what hit them. It’s also the details that make Red Faction such a cool game to play. For instance, shooting a creature while underwater will leave a blood cloud instead of the type of thing that happens on dry land. The way miner’s and guards react to you and one another both in scripts and dynamically is also cool and at the same time believable. My favorite little detail has to be the bullet ricochets and puncturing effects (very sparkly and generally cool). The sound is also dead-on, and those who have the demo will no doubt attest to that.

I did have a few minor gripes with the game in general… The riot shield seems to be rather useless unless you’re low on health and need to runaway in a jam, but even then most baddies will mercilessly hunt you down if you’re not shooting back at them or giving them some reason to fear. It would have been nice to see the shield work in conjunction with the riot prod, grenade, or pistol I was told by a couple of THQ representatives (whom obviously weren’t the most knowledgeable people on their staff -so take it with a grain of salt) that [V] was indeed planning on having this type of integration, but it apparently didn’t pan out due to difficulties and time constraints, or something to that effect. I also wondered what happened to all the cool secondary fire modes that were originally planned like the flamethrower’s gas spill, the fusion missile launcher’s drunken missile spread, the belt fed’s sentry gun, and the grenade’s smoke screen… Let’s see, I guess I didn’t like the method by which you bound your controls for the PC version. They had separate menus for the mouse and keyboard and it kind of made things a bit awkward. Who really cares about that since you’ll only probably do it once in actual play and it’s all subject to change anyway? There was no lean function, which I thought really kind of sucked because there were a bunch of instances where such a feature would have come in real handy. Bump-mapping is also apparently not going to make its way into the game, which is also kind of sad, but oh well (the detail texturing will look cool enough). Hardware T&L won’t be in there either, but that’s no big deal, because according to Alan Lawrance it really didn’t add any performance gains, at least not enough to justify reworking everything to get it in. I also noticed that when you shoot the rail gun or other armor-piercing round at something it will leave an impact mark where it hit the wall, but there will not be an exit mark. You only really notice this if you’re specifically looking to notice it though, so it’s no big deal at all. Doors are indestructible and can’t be seen through with the rail-gun, it would have been nice if they took a DX route here where they’re either fine or they just blow up completely leaving only debris. There will also, almost certainly, not be any destructible light sources a la AvP. Although, the way they have it now isn’t all that bad. When you destroy a light it blows up and takes its projected cone with it, but the lighting itself doesn’t change. As you can see, my gripes are all pretty minor, and the only reason I state them at all is because you have to have something to complain about, you know?

There were a lot of things I would have liked to ask [V] about the game, but didn’t get a chance too because I was too excited, too rushed, or too brain-fried. Anyway, live and learn I guess.

So what’s the bottom line? Even though I only played both versions of the game for a bit, I can say with total certainty that if you got a PS2, then you absolutely must get RF as it really is quite cool and immensely enjoyable. If you don’t have a PS2 then there’s no better time then now to buy. Aside from RF, Sony has a lot of other pretty impressive second-generation titles coming down the pipe from third parties that would really make a purchase viable. However, if you are content with waiting until fall for the PC version because you have a kick ass machine, you’re going to be in for a real treat. The game is something special indeed being all the cool parts that make the PS2 version so special, plus a lot of extra frosting (provided you have the machine to walk the walk). All fanboyism aside, I was really impressed by the game. You’d think I would be jaded on it after all this time, but I wasn’t, which I believe is a testament to the product itself. Very shui, and easily one of the better experiences I’ve had in the shooter genre for quite some time. Thanks to all the cool [V] guys who took the time to talk with me, especially Alan Lawrance and Dave B.

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