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Red Faction seems to be getting further and further away from what made the series good
in the first place. When the series was first introduced, it was a great first person shooter
that allowed for destruction on an impressive scale. Later the series changed to a 3rd person
perspective but kept the focus on shooting and destroying. But Red Faction Battlegrounds
takes the series so far from its roots that you wouldn’t know its Red Faction if it
wasn’t in the title.
The game is top-down, arena car battles. You control a new member of the Red Faction. Instead
of placing charges and storming bunkers, you take control of different vehicles to aid
in the fight. Things have really changed. You control the cars with the two analog sticks,
working much in the same way as other twin stick games. The left stick moves while the
right stick aims and attacks. The controls work well for the gameplay, but at times they
can provide less precision than you would like.
The battles all take place in very closed in arenas. You will be dropped in, along with
several other competitors, and you have move and shoot quickly or you’ll soon become
just a pile of rubble. The battles are your standard array of arena battles, with deathmatch,
team deathmatch, capture the flag, and king of the hill. The action is very fast and chaotic,
which is good because that is the way Red Faction should be. You will move around the
maps, which while being small in size, provide more than enough tricks to keep them interesting.
All the maps do have one thing in common, and that is a war-torn look. Everything feels
like it takes place in a junkyard, with several different elevations, and covered with parts,
broken-down cars and more. You can find areas that provide some cover while others lead
to all-out open area fights.
There are several different vehicles, each with their own speed, armor, and attack strength.
More vehicles can be unlocked as you complete matches and earn XP, that will have you going
up in rank.
The main focus of the game is in the multiplayer, either online or local with up to four competitors.
There are also training challenges that can easily take up your time, but it is clear
that this game was designed to be played with friends.
The game is kind like a top-down Twisted Metal, only set in the universe of Red Faction. It
does leave much to be desired, with limited game modes and slippery controls, but if you
have some friends, it can be a fairly decent time.