Red Faction 2

by THQ

Product Features

• It is five years after the first Red Faction. Chancellor Sopot oppresses the Commonwealth, and a small group of nano-enhanced soldiers have decided to rebel and join the Red Faction. Now you'll fight alongside them as they run guerilla missions, within the Commonwealth itself!
• Work with a team of six super-soldiers as you fight in a completely interactive, immersive game environment
• Utilize all kinds of futuristic vehicles as you play -- tanks, hover-flyers, submarines and more
• All-new, specialized weapons of mass destruction and useful new items - dual-handed pistols, night vision goggles, new kinds of grenades and more
• Use your stealth and puzzle-solving skills to take enemy installations

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00007KK0F
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.2 x 1.2 inches ; 4 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: April 7, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,986 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: PC

The Faction is Back!Product InformationIn Red Faction II you fight alongside an elite squad of soldiers to completeyour mission - eliminate the corrupt dictator of the Commonwealth!For 15 years Chancellor Victor Sopot has oppressed the people of theCommonwealth. His corrupt rule and a relentless war of unification with theUnited Republic has left the Commonwealth bloodied and impoverished. As distantbattles rage sewage taints Sopot City's rivers pollution smudges the sky andwretched citizens huddle in crumbling ruins. The Public Information Buildingbuilt by the dictator as a tribute to himself broadcasts lies about Sopot'sbravery and the Commonwealth's military victories.Condemned to death by Chancellor Sopot six super-soldiers unite to savetheir country vowing to overthrow Sopot using the unique powers that nano-technologyhas given them. Join the squad as Alias a demolitions expert. Fightside-by-side with Molov Repta Shrike Tangier and Quill--each possessingunique attributes and specialties. Battle through diverse environments usingvehicles an arsenal of specialized weapons and explosives in a mission tooverthrow the government. Defeat Sopot and restore the honor of theCommonwealth!Product Features Destroy the environment in real time using exclusive Geo-Mod Technology 14 unique weapons plus dual handed combinations Play death match capture the flag bagman arena and team variations of each with customizable bots Take out enemies with combat vehicles Multiple endings Voiceover by Lance Henriksen Minimum Requirements Windows 98 98SE Me 2000 XP 500 MHz Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon processor (1.0 GHz or greater recommended) 128 MB of RAM (256 MB recommended) 1.1 GB Hard Disc space DirectX 8.1 (included on disc) DirectX 8.1 compatible 3D Hardware Accelerated 16 MB NVIDIA TNT1 or ATi Rage 128 Video Card (NVIDIA GeForce series Matrox Parhelia or ATI Radeon 32 MB or greater Video Card recomme

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Testosterone: The Game, June 4, 2003

By 

bayou_hannibal "bayou_hannibal" (West Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red Faction 2 (CD-ROM)

"Red Faction 2" is a very enjoyable, action-packed, and somewhat mindless shooter full of big weapons and lots of explosions. Were it not for the mediocre graphics and short length, it would be a five-star shooter.

Like the first "Red Faction", this game uses the Geo Mod engine, which allows you to destroy stuff and blow holes in walls. The Geo Mod feature is used extensively in this game, unlike the first "Red Faction", and it adds a lot to the game. It does a good job of feeding that primal desire that you have to blow stuff up. A lot of the game's environments are destructible. You can take a look around the room sometimes after a big battle and see all of the carnage that has been done. In some areas, you may attempt to find cover, but if an enemy has grenades or rockets, then he can blow your cover away. You can get into a few extra rooms and areas by blowing holes in the walls.

The action for the game rarely bogs down or gets boring. After a few shooter levels, you usually get a vehicle ride, during which you get to ride in the gunner's seat and mow down bad guys with a heavy turret or a rocket launcher. In one scene, you get to ride around in a tank blasting away with the cannon while your wisecracking driver rampages through the streets smashing up buildings. The game has the console checkpoint save system that we all love to hate, but the save points are spaced so close together that you will hardly even notice.

The plot for the game is simple, but it is enjoyable, and it actually has a decent twist or two in it. There is no attempt to be something that it isn't. The entire game is like a B-movie action film, complete with macho taunts and death lines. The script is charmingly cheesy, and the voice acting is decent. Lance Henriksen, in fact, voices one of the important characters in the game, and he does a very good job. The different squad members in the game actually have enough variety in their personalities and traits to give the game some character.

The game is so short though, that it is hard to justify paying full price for it. The first time through, I finished it in about 8 hours, and the second time through, I finished it in about 6. The game has different ending cut scenes, depending upon how you play through the game, but I still probably won't play it again. Another problem that this game has is outdated graphics. They are about 2 years or so behind the curve, and even with low object detail, the frame rate sometimes bogs down. Some of the cut scenes in the game are AWFUL. Lip-synching is nonexistent. Characters move their mouths worse than talking mechanical dummies at an amusement park.

If you played "Red Faction" and were kind of disappointed by the lack of use of the Geo Mod engine, then you might want to pick up "Red Faction 2". Or, if you just need something to satisfy your urge for a good shooter, then it will be a good purchase for you.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sequel follows the pattern of ... most other sequels., December 4, 2003

By 

"random9q" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red Faction 2 (CD-ROM)

I'd really enjoyed Red Faction ("RF"). Not as much as other FPS games, perhaps: the storyline had felt a bit fragmented in trying to hold together both the basic idea of a miners' revolt and your archetypical evil-scientist must be stopped plot. The game engine, including the highly touted GeoMod, was particularly slick work. The music score for the game really made my day on many an occasion, just to add to the goodness. All-together, I'd say the original RF got a 4 out of 5. (Reluctantly -- I could almost give it a 5 out of 5, and really wanted to praise Volition that far -- but not quite. I'm a stickler for storytelling being an essential element of any such game.) The sequel ("RF2"), once I'd seen the promo trailer, gave me hope for a much less fragmented storyline. And I'd expected that in a few years Volition would have enhanced the graphics engine of the game with a few new tricks I'd surely like to see.

Well, okay, the story _is_ less fragmented. It fact, it's even a _better_ story. But it's a _shorter_ story, by far. Which, of course, means that the game's life for a solo player is much shorter. RF could have filled a novella, maybe, with its story. RF2, by comparison, was barely a short-story.

The graphics _are_ a bit richer than the original -- although on my "aging" 1.5GHz P4 / 64MB MX440 nVidia the video got choppy. I can forgive any game that needs more recent hardware to run, but I'd bought my machine not more than a year beforehand, which means it probably hit the market all of two years before the game's release. I can forgive it, but it seemed a bit of a needless narrowing of the target audience. That, and ... well, I'll get to that point at the end.

The music score was a great disappointment, however. I'm all for more remixes of my favorite tunes, but I like good original music more than I like more of the same. There was, _maybe_ one or two original pieces for the game beyond the background score for the attract-mode of the game.

And something seemed to have happened to GeoMod between its implementation in the original and the sequel. GeoMod was a great feature in RF. Ever play around in the Glass House that comes with RF? Ever used the RPG launcher to dig a tunnel up above the ceiling and then rain down explosives on the house? Great cathartic fun for a wannabe pyromaniac like me after a long frustrating day at work. The Glass House also makes a great demonstration of how dynamic GeoMod was in the game engine. However, in RF2, I noticed that if I repeatedly went through sections of the same sequence, regardless of where I landed a grenade or detonation pack, the same section of wall or rock would open up in the exact same way. (I'm not _that_ consistent a shot to land a grenade in the same position every time.) It didn't feel like GeoMod any more, it felt like there were removable sections of wall that disappeared if their damage count rose above a threshold. I'll give the developers the benefit of the doubt if they insist that GeoMod really did go into the game, but it did really make me wonder. Regardless of the source of the problem, it did detract from gameplay, more for the disappointment and loss of previous fun than anything inherent, but did none-the-less.

Now, back to that point I was going to make. Above all else, one thing stands out more than anything about this game. I can't blame them for trying to be efficient about managing production costs and time by trying to create a product that's cross-platform from the get-go. It _is_ a gaining trend in game development. If you ever look at the cheat codes you're given (and the game _does_ reveal them over time), they're all encoded in ... game-pad button letters? Oh, my, yes: an alphabet of A, B, C, D, W, X, Y, , and Z. The save-points are restricted to transition points between "levels". And, well ... there's just a bunch of other dead give-aways that if the console version is that different from what you're seeing in the PC version then there was some truly weird goings-on in the development process.

OTOH, the original release price was merely $30, compared to games which have been PC-first releases averaging about $50. I'd say that, proportionately, I got about 60% of the game I normally expect from a large commercial release. That sounds abysmal, really, but it at least had _some_ fun to it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Join the Faction, June 18, 2003

By 

-- "--" (Gondor, IN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red Faction 2 (CD-ROM)

"Red Faction II" is a good first-person shooter, period. It rivals the likes of "Unreal II," and for all its similarities it is infinitely superior to "Devastation." The icing on the cake, of course, is the fact that this is a budget title, and costs considerably less than what you would usually pay for a game of this type. It's a sweet deal, indeed.

The plot is typical for a game of this sort, but still a decent backdrop for the action, and it even supplies a few twists. What is more noteworthy than the storyline and its characters, though, is the cast that was assembled to voice the game. Jason Statham ("The Transporter," "Snatch") and Lance Henriksen ("Aliens," "The Terminator") are the real highlights. Celebrity voice talent doesn't make a good game, of course, but it certainly seems to imply that this is not a budget title at all, since you generally expect the production quality to suffer if you dish out less dough.

So how about the action? It's furious, and pretty relentless. There are few lulls - which is good, since the campaign runs a little short. The scripting is nicely done, and your arsenal of weapons is in a constant state of expansion. What's more, the weapons, while not particularly original (it's the usual variety of railguns, shotguns, and rocket launchers), pack a satisfying kick, and violently dispose of your foes. When going guns akimbo, it's worth noting that each weapon fires individually - fire your left-hand gun by clicking the right mouse button, and vice versa. Why more shooters fail to use this device is beyond me. It helps as well that your enemies don't rush you and throw themselves in front of your bullets. They behave with a little more sophistication, and will often take cover behind pillars, leap out of range, or attempt to flank your position.

If you are familiar with the original "Red Faction," then you know that one of that game's most hyped features was its deformable terrain. Your rockets can shatter walls, topple pillars, and wreak havoc on the landscape. This is a carry-over feature of the sequel, needless to say, and goes so far as to improve the technology. Granted, you are still limited to what you can destroy by the game's developers, but the wanton mayhem is good fun, and gives "Red Faction II" a style of its own.

Unfortunately, the game's graphics are certainly behind the times. They aren't bad per se, but textures suffer from minimal detail and everything has a brownish "Quake" look about it. Fortunately, enemy and friendly models are decently animated and don't look quite as dull as the scenery that surrounds them. Other detriments to the overall experience: limited save system that speaks volumes about the game's multiplatform release, and, if you're a multiplayer addict, don't bother applying here. And yes, the single player campaign is somewhat brief, but it's very good while it lasts.

In the end, "Red Faction II" is a budget title that doesn't feel like a budget title. The graphics may be dated and the game may be a little short, but given the price tag it's all very, very worthwhile.

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