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News: Tom Morello stars in Guitar Hero III
Activision has announced that Tom Morello, from Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, will guest star as a boss character in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Click here to read the article.
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Red Faction II
Nano technology was created on Mars by an Ultor scientist. It was stolen and brough to earth. It was then stolen, and stolen again until Alias, a demolitions expert, obtained the Nano technology for the Republic of the Commonwealth.
Chancellor Sopot then used the stolen Nano technology to transform Alias and two thousand of the Commonwealth's bravest volunteers into super soldiers who were stronger, faster, and smarter than everyone else alive. Then being the wuss that he is, Sopot began to fear his creations, believing them to be too powerful and order them to be hunted down and destroyed by the Elite Guard.
Alias and six others survived and now they are renegades that together form the Red Faction. Their only objective is to eliminate the evil Chancellor Sopot for his crimes against humanity.
You play as Alias in Red Faction II as you traverse the war-torn city on your quest to find and execute Sopot. Along your way you will find seventeen extremely cool weapons to aid you on your hunt. Along with weapons you will also have four types of grenades; Frag, Incendiary, Shock, and Satchel. What? Seventeen weapons and four grenades aren't enough for your greedy little heart? Well, how about controlling a Gunship, a Mini-Submarine, a Tank, or a Battle Armor (mech robot)? With so much wreaking power, you'll be mowing down Elite Guards like they were dominoes and you just started the chain reaction.
As you progress through each level you will have various level objectives to complete before you can move on. Some are confusing, like one of the first levels in the game. You are looking for an exit but there clearly isn't one so what do you do? You remember that Red Faction II is the only game with GEO-MOD technology which means you can practically blow up anything you see and make your own exit! Truly a great feature that will most likely be copied by countless other games just like everyone copied The Matrix's Bullet Time.
Another great feature in Red Faction II is the Multiplayer. Red Faction II has the best Multiplayer since Halo. Yup, its that good. The original PS2 version of Red Faction II had about 40 multiplayer maps but the good people at THQ updated this by adding about 20 more for a total of about 60 or so. The game supports up to 4 people via split-screen for some serious multiplayer carnage. The modes you can choose from are Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Bagman, Team Bagman, Arena, Team Arena, and Regime.
If you don't know what exactly these game types are, don't worry as I will explain them to you. Deathmatch is you versus everyone else, it is a fight to the finish. Team Deathmatch is the same as Deathmatch but in teams. Capture the Flag has you in a team in a quest to steal your opponent's flag and return it to your base to score. Bagman is a mode in which players search for the 'bag' and try to hold on to it for as long as they can without dying. Team Bagman is the same as Bagman but in teams. Arena is round based. To win you have to win a certain amount of rounds such as 8 out of 15. Lastly, Regime (my favorite) has the player searching for the Dictator hat and wearing it for as long as they can. The longer you hold it, the more points you get.
Controls in Red Faction II are pretty straight-forward. The Left Thumbstick is used to move and when pressed in, your character will crouch. The Right Thumbstick is used to turn and when pressed in, your character will jump. The Right Trigger is your primary fire while the Left Trigger is your secondary fire. A is used to select/use objects. X and B are used to scroll to your weapons and when you get to the one you want, you pull the Right Trigger and out it comes. The Y button is used to throw your grenades. Remember I said there were four types of grenades, well you can set which kind you want with the left and right on the D-Pad. Down on the D-Pad sends you into night-vision mode while Up brings up your objectives. The Black button is the reload button while the White button is your Quick Spin button which spins you around 180 degrees. All very simple to get used to. You shouldn't have a problem if you've played Halo, its very similar.
Visually, Red Faction II is not that bad. Graphics were improved upon from the PS2 version, not by much but the upgrade is welcomed. Level design is good with a nice variety. You'll play in a cemetary or inside a skyscraper building all of which are nicely done. They could have used some nice features like bump-mapping and some nicer textures. Character models are quite good. They are unique and are animated well. Overall, in game graphics are good. As for the cut-scenes, they are awesome. Some are in-game and some are CGI. The CGI ones are extremely well done and highly enjoyable to watch. You won't want to skip them by mashing the controller. :-)
As for sound, Red Faction II does it well. As you read above, there are a number of weapons at your disposal. Different weapons have different sounds and Red Faction II does a good job at that. Each weapon has its own sound that you might even recognize them by sound alone. As far as in game music goes, Red Faction II is what I like ''Techno-Rock" because it sounds like hard rock techno music which for the first time, goes well with a game. In game music is triggered right on time with the action. As you progress to a level unseen the music will be calm and ambient but once the action gets intense it picks up and it rocks. Lastly, voice-overs. As you may know from my past reviews, I tend to be dissapointed with most videogame voice-overs because they tend to be quick and dirty jobs. Meaning the voice-over actors come in and churn out their lines in an hour and call it a day. Thankfully that isn't the case with Red Faction II. Voice-acting is done extremely well, expecially that of Molov, your squad leader. If you thought Sam Fisher had a cool voice, you ain't heard nothing yet. Overall, sound is well done in Red Faction II.
Overall, Red Faction II was a nice, pleasant surprise. I came in thinking this was going to be another poorly done port but I was wrong. Red Faction II turned out to be a great game that should definitely be checked out by any First Person Shooter fanatics. You'll have a grand time progressing through the game and once you beat the game, you'll have 60 multiplayer maps waiting for you! Red Faction II is a great buy, an overall great game.
Report Card:
Gameplay = 8.5
Graphics = 8.5
Audio = 8.5
Replay Value = 9
Overall: 8.5/10
Click here for the Red Faction II screenshots gallery!
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