Red Faction: Armageddon Demo Hands-On

I haven’t played a ‘Red Faction’ game since the original was released. It’s safe to say that the series has made some changes over the years. I’ve been curious to see where the series was headed, and specifically, to see what would be offered when the next installment hits later this month.

This week, the single-player demo was made available on Xbox Live, so I had to jump at the chance to check it out. After downloading the demo and making my way through a few set-up screens to adjust brightness and controls, I found myself in-game. Or rather, in a cut scene setting up the game.

I was throughly unimpressed with the scene. Like many demos, you aren’t starting at the beginning. That’s fine — in fact, I prefer to not get saddled with the tutorial level as a demo. The problem was that the scene felt too far out of context, and thus lacked any emotional impact. You’re being chased by both ticked-off people and monstrous aliens. But it never felt like I should care about either.

It would have been nice to showcase some better acting, as the scene that was meant to feel suspenseful felt overly cheesy. But it’s a demo; it doesn’t have to be a deep, cinematic experience.

The game itself controlled alright; there was nothing that really felt broken, but everything felt a little sluggish. This meant that the frantic fights felt less . . . frantic. I’d even call them boring. Point and shoot and move. Rinse, repeat. There’s a dodge button, but I saw no reason to use it. You can crouch, but again, I never needed to. I never had to take cover or think too strategically. If there was an enemy left alive, I just kept shooting.

The demo did showcase some innovations that ranged from ‘neat’ to ‘really cool’. The weapons are inventive. The assault rifle was the last weapon encountered, and was really the only ‘traditional’ assault weapon. Initially, you come across a remote-explosive launcher. Not a new idea, but it really makes fights interesting when that’s your only weapon.

The magnet gun was really cool; fire one shot to attach a device to an object, and the next to attach to another, and the two attract each other, pulling the objects together and damaging anything in their path. It was a cool idea, but I never found it to be practical in a fight. The mini black hole launcher was devastating and produced wonderful explosions, but it seemed like too much gun for the tight corridors and small rooms of the demo.

I did like the visceral feel of the melee attacks. And the nano-forge’s pulse offers some help when you’re being swarmed by too many enemies.

Speaking of the nano-forge; the ability to re-construct parts of the level that have been destroyed in real time was pretty cool. I loved zapping-in a bridge as I sprinted across it. As for destruction; the level seemed to feature a level of destructibility characteristic of a ‘Red Faction’ title.

The most fun I had in the demo came while blowing stuff up with the exosuit. Controls were a good mix of a little sluggish/bulkiness without making it actually feel disadvantageous to use. And mini guns and unlimited rockets are always fun.

I finished the demo in about five minutes, so there wasn’t a ton to experience there. And while some of the technology was exciting, I’m not convinced it’s enough to make this anything more than a mediocre game. While it may be unfair to judge a game based only on a brief five-minute demo, I can say that my hands-on time with it did nothing to move it to the top of my “must have” list. If anything, it put the game squarely in my “can wait” pile, and that’s not exactly what you want your demo to do.