Workin' in a Coal Mine, Goin' Down, Down

Volition is one of the most renowned names in the gaming industry. For those who remember far enough back in the industry, you'll remember a little company called Parallax which developed a game series entitled Descent. Much changed since that time, and Parallax split into Outrage and Volition. Outrage has all but fizzled out over the past few years since the release of Descent 3, but Volition has thrived with their prolific sci-fi space simulation saga: Freespace.

Needless to say that when Red Faction was announced, everyone in the gaming community got instant visions of Freespace and couldn't wait to see a game made by the same team. Indeed Red Faction, initially released for the Playstation 2, has nearly had as much anticipation as Half-Life: Blue Shift, and, with its GEO-Mod engine allowing players to actually blow holes in walls and caves with a rocket (one of those "it took them THIS long??" ideas) it promised to bring one of the most intriguing ideas in FPS gaming to come around since Half-Life itself.

Ironically, my comparisons to Half-Life are not entirely in vein. From the moment you begin the training session it feels like you're playing Half-Life all over again. The sounds, the textures, and the overall feeling of the game seems to have heavily borrowed from the classic. This of course, is not a bad thing considering Half-Life, still one of the most highly rated games of all time, needed some improvement to bring it into the modern world.

« Previous Page -1 2 3 4- Next Page »