Destruction is the name of the game in Red Faction: Armageddon. Let’s see how the latest iteration of the Red Faction franchise holds up.

Developed by Volition, Inc., and published by defunct THQ and Syfy Games, Red Faction: Armageddon was released for OnLive, PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on June 7, 2011. RFA is the fourth entry into the Red Faction series, and is a sequel to 2009’s Red Faction: Guerilla.

RFA is a third-person shooter that takes place on the planet Mars 50 years after the events of Red Faction: Guerrilla. You play as Darius Mason, the grandson of RFG’s protagonist Alec Mason. If you haven’t played Red Faction: Guerrilla, don’t worry, there are only slight references to RFG and they are fully explained. The main correlation is that you play as Alec’s grandson.

Since Mars has become uninhabitable on the surface, most of the game is played in underground mines. Early on, an ancient alien race is unleashed into the mines beneath the Mars surface. The aliens are bug-like creatures that kill anything in sight and seem to be hell bent on taking over the planet. It’s Mason’s job to put an end to the Martian threat while dealing with a group of Mars cultists trying to hinder his mission. Mason will encounter betrayal and loss along the way. The story won’t win any awards, but I thought it was interesting nonetheless.

Like earlier games in the franchise, RFA’s gameplay is centered on destruction, and it doesn’t disappoint. Unlike Red Faction: Guerrilla, Red Faction: Armageddon is a very linear shooter.

Visuals:

RFA isn’t a stunning game; it runs on Volition’s Geo-Mod 2.5. The visuals are pretty average. What really stands out are the explosions: They are beautiful. Tearing apart buildings piece by piece feels and looks great.

The enemies are original and are very well designed. What brings down RFA are the drab set pieces; I got pretty tired of looking at cavern walls after a while. Luckily, the whole game does not take place underground; it was always a pleasant site whenever the scenery changed.

Audio:

The weapons in RFA sound great, and the music is very fitting. The voice actors are superb. I can’t think of any character who had a poor vocal performance attached to them. The voice overs really added to the experience.

Gameplay:

Red Faction: Armageddon is a fairly short game, about five hours. However, RFA offers solid gameplay amidst the short single player campaign.

The controls are solid, and the enemies are fun to combat. The best part about this game is the sheer destruction that you are capable of. You can destroy just about anything you see. The destruction animations are spot on. It’s clear that a lot of care was put into developing the Geo-Mod 2.5 engine.

But destruction is only as fun as the weapons that you use to create it. RFA has a wide variety of awesome weapons to play with. Most notable is the magnet gun; you can effectively make a building topple on top of an enemy via this weapon, and that is a sight to see. RFA also boasts a particle cannon and a black hole gun along with a giant hammer that can effectively break through anything. Once you complete the campaign, you are awarded a weapon called Mr. Toots. Mr. Toots is as inappropriate as it is devastating. Mr. Toots is a small unicorn that you hold; it shoots a highly destructible rainbow out of its rear end. It sounds more sophomoric than it actually is… well, maybe not.

You are constantly guided by a Situational Awareness Module, or “SAM.” SAM will guide you through levels and will occasionally throw in little robotic quips; some are humorous while others are a little cliché. SAM is outspoken and was a welcome addition while playing.

It’s unfortunate that such a cool game is mostly limited to uninteresting caves. However, RFA frequently gives you the opportunity to pilot various vehicles to mix up the combat, the vehicles are very overpowered and a lot of fun to use.

Red Faction: Armageddon has a deep upgrade system. Throughout the game you have the option to collect “salvage,” which is found just about everywhere. You use salvage to upgrade your abilities, a nice touch. You can upgrade things like your health capacity and the amount of ammunition collected from ammo boxes. RFA offers a new game plus mode wherein your upgraded abilities are carried over into a new campaign. It has the capacity to offer a little more replayability, which is important since the campaign is only five hours.

Red Faction: Armageddon has an online game mode called “Infestation.” Infestation is a survival cooperative game mode for up to four players. You fight wave after wave of aliens, sometimes while protecting key objectives. Infestation is a boatload of fun, but I couldn’t find many players over Xbox Live, so your best bet is to have a buddy buy the game with you.

If you manage to pick this game up new, you will receive a code to unlock a mode entitled “Ruin.” Ruin mode is a game of destruction. You have to gain a certain amount of points by destroying as many things in the map as you can. Ruin mode has no enemies; it’s just you and whichever weapons you choose at the start. Ruin mode is also a lot of fun, but won’t hold your attention for very long.

Round Up:

Red Faction: Armageddon is a very fun third person shooter. The destruction elements are nothing short of astounding. It suffers from a short single player campaign, but it rebounds in replayability with modes like Infestation and Ruin. The new game plus is a nice addition. It’s a shame this game didn’t sell very well, and the price point it’s at right now is a steal.