| Red Faction: Armageddon | |
|---|---|
Cover art |
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| Developer(s) | Volition, Inc. |
| Publisher(s) | THQ, Syfy Games |
| Distributor(s) | Valve Corporation (Windows) |
| Composer(s) | Brian Reitzell[1] |
| Series | Red Faction |
| Engine | Geo-Mod 2.5 |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 |
| Release date(s) | NA June 7, 2011 AU June 8, 2011 JP June 9, 2011 EU June 10, 2011 |
| Genre(s) | Third-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | |
| Media/distribution | Optical disc, Download, Cloud computing |
| System requirements
Microsoft Windows XP or Windows Vista or Windows 7 (Windows 95/98/ME/2000 are unsupported) Intel Core 2.93 GHz or AMD Athlon(TM) 64 9400+ processor 2GB RAM, 1024MB NVIDIA Geforce GTS 250 or Radeon R600 100% DirectX 9.0c or DirectX 10.1 compatible sound card, 10GB Space |
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Red Faction: Armageddon is a third-person shooter video game developed by Volition, Inc. and published by THQ. It is the fourth and final installment in the Red Faction series, and was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360[2] in various countries around the world between June 7 and June 10, 2011.[3]
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The game carries over many elements from its predecessor, Red Faction: Guerrilla, such as the focus on fully destructible environments. Unlike its predecessor which had the player liberating settlements from the totalitarian control of the corrupt Earth Defense Force, players must now reclaim cultist fortifications on the disaster-ravaged surface of the planet and defend colonists from hostile Martian creatures in the ancient mines and chasms beneath it and cleansing infestations from all structures. Guerrilla's open-world approach has been done away with, in exchange for linear and directed gameplay, a better progression of the narrative, and a sense of suspense and tension when traversing the sometimes claustrophobic interiors in the game.
Armageddon will be modifying the previous game's repertoire of tools and weaponry. Using the Magnet Gun, Darius fires first at one object, then at a second object, and then the first object rockets toward the second.
The Nano-Forge, a relic in the Mason family, returns, having been passed down through two generations. Darius' father has incorporated the tool with a function that reverses any and all destruction dealt to man-made objects. The Nano-Forge will also feature an ability known as Impact, which discharges an incredibly powerful burst of force which can blow away structures and throw enemies off their feet. The Nano-Rifle will return.
The Hammer and Singularity Bomb will be returning in the form of the Maul (featuring lethally destructive yet silent motorized gyros) and Singularity Cannon (featuring ranged capabilities). The matter-slicing Plasma Beam will be making a comeback.
Darius' Nano-Forge, weapons and armor will all be upgradeable, improving their efficiency, unlocking new abilities, and altering their appearances.
Finally at E3, Volition debuted the LEO exosuit, "a robotic suit with powerful weaponry whose biggest strength nonetheless appears to be its ability to crash through structures with little effort. Darius piloted the LEO at full speed through a horde of aliens, splattering them on contact, and then brought down an infested building by crashing through its walls."[4]
The game features no competitive multiplayer and instead focuses on co-operative multiplayer for up to four players called Infestation which features two different game modes, survival where you need to survive against waves of increasingly challenging alien attackers and defensive where you need to defend areas from attack.
In a six-part Youtube series, the game's main storyline developer Leo and Max revealed "Ruin mode". This mode consists of nothing but "blowing stuff up". Players can either take all the time they want, or cause as much destruction as possible within one minute. The latter mode will have supported worldwide and friend leader boards.[3][5]
However, ruin mode will only be available to players who buy the game new or purchase a code online, as players are given the choice to either play the demo of the mode or enter a code using the methods stated above. It hasn't been revealed as to why Volition decided to make this choice with only the Ruin mode.
The game takes place on the planet Mars. It is set in the year 2170, fifty years after the events of Red Faction: Guerrilla. Since the liberation of Mars, the surface of the planet has become uninhabitable. This occurred when the massive Terraformer machine on Mars which supplied it with its Earth-like atmosphere was destroyed by Adam Hale, the game's key antagonist, causing super-tornados and violent lightning storms to engulf the planet. In order to survive, the Colonists were forced to flee to the underground mines of Mars built by their ancestors, creating a network of habitable caves under the surface of the planet and setting up colonies there.
The game begins five years after the relocation to the mines in 2170, and follows Darius Mason, grandson of Martian Revolution heroes Alec Mason and Samanya, the main characters of Red Faction: Guerrilla, who runs a lucrative series of businesses based in Bastion, the underground hub of Colonist activity, including mining, scavenging and mercenary work. Few sane people venture to the ravaged surface of Mars, apart from contractors like Darius and smugglers who transport goods between settlements. Darius is tricked into reopening a mysterious, vast shaft in an old Marauder temple by a fanatical Marauder priest, which awakens a long-dormant race of Martian creatures, causing an Armageddon on Mars. Colonist and Marauder settlements alike are torn apart by the new enemies, and the blame for the whole disaster is placed on Darius, soon inciting several angry colonists to form mobs and attack him in their fury. Now Darius must join the Red Faction to clear his name and save the people of Mars, as his grandfather did before him.[2][6]
A group of Cultists, a splinter faction of the Marauders led by Adam Hale attacked and captured a terraformer that controlled the weather of Mars. Red Faction forces, led by Frank Winters along with Darius Mason, made an assault on the terraformer. Unfortunately, Adam, disguised as one of the Red Faction tricks Darius into destroying the terraformer. The destruction of the terraformer results in catastrophic weather which forces the entire population of Mars to go underground.
A few years later, Darius now works as a mercenary along with a former marauder named Kara. Darius was sent to do a mining job and learned that he was tricked again by Adam Hale and the cultists to open a seal that releases an alien race called The Plague, and becomes trapped in the tunnels The Plague live in. After falling off a cliff that left him unconscious for three days, Darius, guided by S.A.M. (Situation Awareness Module) escapes the tunnels into a underground mining colony, to find The Plague attacking the miners. Grouping up with survivors and some Red Faction soldiers, he escorts an ambulance convoy to Bastion, with help of a L.E.O exosuit found along the way. Darius then arrives at Bastion only to find the town was overrun by the Plague, with injured holed up in the center of town. Darius helps out the town, only to have them turn on him when they found out he is involved with The Plague. He escapes to the surface, as the pursuers following him are attacked. The Red Faction, along with Frank, shows up and arrests him, but are attacked, and Darius joins the Red Faction and fends off The Plague. Informed that Hale is involved with releasing The Plague, Frank informs Darius where the Cultists are hiding, and Darius assaults them in a walker with Kara, and discovers Hale, trying to tame The Plague. Darius is then discovered trying to kill Hale, and tries to escape in a minecart, but Hale attacks in a walker. The walker is crippled by a landslide, and Darius uses his Magnet Gun to drop pieces of the ceiling on him, decapitating Hale. He and Kara escape in the walker to a Marauder city, when they try to learn more about The Plague. They discover a secret entrance that is filled in with lava, so Darius and Frank pilot a ship to a machine used to raise the lava, and destroys it to lower the lava. Darius and Kara then assault the tunnels to find the Queen, but Kara is killed when they get out to repair a leg. Darius then makes a personal vendetta against the Queen. He finds her, and in a fight, badly weakens her, but she starts to escape and destroy Mars. S.A.M. discovers that The Plague cannot withstand pure air, and Darius follows the Queen to the surface, and finds and repairs the terraformer that Hale destroyed, killing all of The Plague.
Red Faction arrives at the terraformer, and S.A.M. warns Darius of high concentration of radiation incoming: sunlight.
The game was first announced in the form of a short teaser trailer which debuted worldwide on June 4, 2010 on GameTrailers TV. The game was also showcased at the E3 2010 from June 15 to 17, 2010.[2] During Comic-Con in San Diego, 2010, a promotional comic book titled Red Faction: Armageddon #0 was presented as a free giveaway. A downloadable vehicle-based multiplayer game called Red Faction: Battlegrounds was released in April 2011. Additionally, the Syfy network produced a direct-to-television film that bridges the story gap between Guerrilla and Armageddon, titled Red Faction: Origins. It was released on June 7, 2011.[7]
A playable demo for the game was announced in April, and was released on May 3, 2011 for the Xbox 360. The playable demo for PS3 was released on June 2, 2011.[8]
A DLC entitled "Path to War" has been released for the game. It features four new single-player missions, new weapons and achievements.
| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | (PC) 75.62%[9] (X360) 73.78%[10] (PS3) 73.76%[11] |
| Metacritic | (PC) 75/100[12] (X360) 71/100[13] (PS3) 71/100[14] |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| GameSpot | 8/10[15] |
| GameSpy | [16] |
| GameTrailers | 7.8/10[17] |
| IGN | 7.0/10[18] |
| Joystiq | [19] |
| The Gaming Review | 8/10[20] |
Red Faction: Armageddon has received mostly mixed to positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PC version 75.62% and 75/100,[9][12] the Xbox 360 version 73.78% and 71/100[10][13] and the PlayStation 3 version 73.76% and 71/100[11][14]. GameSpot gave the game an 8.0 out of 10, saying, "Red Faction: Armageddon returns to the linear roots of the series with great success. Thanks to an enjoyably powerful arsenal and remarkably thorough destructibility, tearing your way through this alien-annihilating adventure is a blast. The campaign and Infestation mode offer a good amount of content, and the arrival of the magnet gun should be celebrated by anyone with a hankering for havoc. It's one of the most powerful, inspiring, and downright hilarious gameplay mechanics to come along in a while, and it makes Red Faction: Armageddon immensely appealing."[15] While IGN gave it a 7.0, saying, "Despite its forgettable story and pacing issues with the campaign, Red Faction: Armageddon is good fun for letting out your inner destructive child."[18] Joystiq was less forgiving of the title, scoring the game with a 2.5/5 rating.[19] GameZone gave the game an 8.5 out of 10, stating "I wasn’t sure whether I would like the game’s change from Guerrilla’s open world formula to a more linear mission-based one. However, this wasn’t the case. The storyline is gripping, if at times a bit cliché; the controls are spot on; and leveling all that’s around you never gets old. Red Faction: Armageddon is simply a blast to play through."[21] The Gaming Review awarded it an 8 out of 10 explaining "this is the best of the Red Faction games to date".[20]
GameSpy was less forgiving of the game, giving Armageddon two and a half stars out of five (a rating of 'fair'), stating that "The main campaign has gone from an open-ended, Grand Theft Auto-style game to a strictly linear, close-quarters, and poorly plotted mess" and also describes the 'ruin mode' as "...incredibly fun in short bursts, but without any overarching goals or real sense of rewards, it's really more of a time-waster than an honest-to-goodness game in its own right." However, it did praise the new weapons available, saying, "...you get some pretty nifty gear with which to do said dealing."[16]
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