Red Faction: Armageddon

Armageddon is by no means a bad game, it's just a completely different one to what series fans will expect, or possibly want. Unfortunately, in returning to its underground roots, Volition has forgotten to capitalise on what their series does best: geo-modding the crap out of everything in sight - minimum restrictions. [August 2011 p80]

Red Faction: Armageddon is "digital playground" with some amazing toys, like the Magnet Gun and the Nano Forge abilities. There is no "open world" gameplay this time around, but the new, linear environments make this 10-hour long Campaign much more interesting. On the downside, there is no competitive Multiplayer and the survival-like mode, called "Infestation", won't provide enough online hours.

With a lot of help from the Magnet Gun, Red Faction: Armageddon has enough of that "summer blockbuster" feel to make you forget about Violations last outing.

It's a bold move to change the destructive sand box gameplay of Guerrilla with this linear and claustrophobic experience, but Volition does a really good job. Just don't expect it to be Red Faction Guerrilla 2.

Simply put, Armageddon doesn't deliver the same spectacular, over the top entertainment of its predecessor. The free roaming, completely stripped from this sequel, was clearly and important piece of the puzzle. As a simple third person shooter, the game doesn't work that well anymore, and you'll surely find much better products in the same genre.

A back-step for the series. Not terrible by any means, Armageddon is nevertheless a huge disappointment.

In the end it seems odd, and a little disappointing that Volition chose not to include any directly competitive multiplayer mode, especially after the unique flair of the one in Guerrilla. However, the modes available do provide plenty of fun and gameplay, making Armageddon well worth playing.

Armageddon's not bad, it's just plain. The game feels like Volition started from scratch, but accidentally threw out too much of what made the last game great.

The destruction is nice as expected, but the level design is simply a bit boring.

It still is, at its heart, a foundation of derivative shooter tropes dressed up with Red Faction's (fantastic) physics and weapons. It's a fun game and a worthwhile purchase if you're not hoping for more of Guerilla and you're not turned off by linearity.

Despite its forgettable story and pacing issues with the campaign, Red Faction: Armageddon is good fun for letting out your inner destructive child.

Bloated, Armageddon loses its luster...For our money, Armageddon needn't linger but rather leap at us with tooth and claw, tear, and then depart. [July 2011, p.78]

A competent shooter which nonetheless feels like a squandered opportunity and a misstep for its franchise; decent fun for a few hours, but destined to be forgotten within minutes of its end credits scrolling by.

It's not a terrible game, it's just bland, boring and loses the vast majority of factors that made the last game worth playing. [Issue#207, p.90]

Although Red Faction: Armageddon offers one of the coolest weapons of the year, a good weapon mechanic and destructible environments, the game falls a bit flat with an uninspiring single-player campaign and a short-lived multiplayer segment.

Short of an outstanding visual appeal, and with a rather poor level design and uninspired story, Red Faction Armageddon won't be able to raise itself above the TPS usual crowd. But despite its shortcomings, the appeal of destructibility and of a very playable action remains efficient enough to see through the solo campaign. Multiplayer may be fun a couple of hours, but it's very forgettable.

Maybe the linear route was cheaper, but the lesson is if you want to go to Mars, don't do it on a budget. [July 2011, p.90]

Not the worst shooter around, but an enormous disappointment compared to its predecessors.

Red Faction: Armageddon contains loads of potential: it has delightful weapons and allows for amazing amounts of destructibility. This potential hardly comes to fruition though, as the game degrades itself to a claustrophobic and cliché-filled hallway-shooter. A few fun vehicle-sections and extra game-modes save this title from getting an insufficient grade.

Technically accomplished and mechanically sound. But unfortunately that's not enough in a world of Dead Spaces and Gears of Wars. Aside from marvelling at the odd collapsing building, there's little here to hold your attention for more than a few hours. It's not a bad game by any stretch of the imagination; it's just an entirely forgettable one.

Red Faction: Armageddon Halfway House - too many boarders with a bit of heart.

Its mechanics are sound but its design uninspired, failing to do any one thing better than the standout entries in the genre. And the few unique tricks it does have, its predecessor did better. After Guerrilla made such a resounding impact, it's a shame that the best you can say about this latest Red Faction is that it's just OK.

The new direction is bafflingly generic: a huge disappointment. [Aug 2011, p.90]