Nope it's not about a new Red Faction game, it's about well I guess this will be a bit ecclectic barrage of truth leveled at the forrest gump's that made Red Faction Armageddon.

It's a sequel to Red Faction: Geurilla which came out June of 2009. Seeing how this is 2011 they've had TWO FULL YEARS to develop a sequel this is my critique.

With that sort of time, they could of made ground breaking (or simply remaking a new wheel) advances.

The travesty is, we're now back to 'square' wheels.

When I pre-ordered Guerilla, it was one of those games that just looked like it would really be something. I had high expectations, and was preparing for a let-down.

Since games that have multiplayer (that's MULTIPLAYER not CO-OP) is where I spend most of my gaming, i.e. most of my games I don't even touch single player or barely, multiplayer is a very important when I purchase a game (if it's a mp style game...some games just aren't).

When I popped in RFG multiplayer, I was blown away. It was even BETTER than I could of dreamed. It was like the game I had been waiting for my whole gaming life (and seeing how I was born in 1978 into a household that already had an APPLE II...that's a long time).

The destruction, the backpacks, the whole siege mode and other modes were just a breath of fresh air. I love other shooters like CoD series or Halo, or whatnot of all the others, but RFG was heads and tails better, fresher, and frantic fun than ANY of its competitors.

Don't like the sniper up there? Chop his perch down. Get inside the big cube level of siege and no one notices? Sit inside picking up the weapons and laying waste while people fight on the outside. Pick ax through the wall someone? Awesome...and I haven't gotten into the backpacks either.

You could even hide inside walls and wait for the enemy to run past you.

Should you rush the guy? Oh wait he's got a rhino pack, better draw him in and run backwards while shooting. Somebody screweing up your game, switch backpacks to give yourself another advantage that might (and usually did) neuter his. I just can't describe how much fun and fresh siege mode was.

This game was ahead of it's time. I could see many games 'borrowing' Geo-mod style advances in their multiplayer in the future (and even then in some cases....developers did to some degree)

So what did Volition/THQ do with their edge? Their uniqueness? Their competitive advantage?

They dropped it. They said...we don't need it. We'll copy someone else and perhaps make more?

That's right. Take Hamburger hill, and release it. Storm Normandy, and give it back. Get others to add more destructible envrionments in their multiplayer games (but nowhere near yours) and abandon yours by not even doing multiplayer.

It makes NO sense to get rid of what made RFG so fun. They had TWO YEARS to make 8-12 maps on an already established dev kit and whatnot. Seriously. How could they botch this?

Coca-Cola...now without the sugar AND caffiene....and it's just like the original. Except it's not. (but that's what the reviewers say)

RF: New Coke is what this game should be called. Ditch the formula that made the game special, and instead pander to GoW, and CoD with horde modes and aliens underground...and ditch what made you special and stand out. You do realize that gamers appreciate variety and innovation?

Then take two years to develop this piecer and have it clock in @ ~8 hours of gameplay. (so minus the hundreds of potential hours of multiplayer? yep)

They even changed the open world nature of it. (somehow they read the reviews that stated is was 'red' and wanted to overdo it and not be on the surface?...that's called OVERCOMPENSATING)

Volition is like the nerdy kid who buys the cool clothes because he thinks it'll make him cool. Sorry, especially when even the cool brands make ugly versions of their clothes as well and that's what was bought, that and they don't wash them, or take baths.

Be yourself. Stories of struggles against opression and Imperialsim.

Instead we got New Coke that tastes like dirty jock strap.

What were they thinking? Who is going to lose their job over this?

Sadly with the advertising campaign compared to RFG's they will probably sell more and tell themselves they did well. That they were optimal in their approach, because they advertised a crappy product better.

Yeah like the Federal Reserve propped up fraudulent crap with printed money, slowed the collapse (still coming), and can claim all is well...instead of us the people demanding Glass-Steagall to wipe away the fraud. Don't cut for fraud, Don't print for fraud. Cancel the fraud via Glass-Steagall because it IS fraud.

I sure wish they could cancel this fraud of a game. No multiplayer?

RFG multiplayer was GENIUS

RFA without multipayer is a dunce move

I wonder if Activision will cancel CoD's multiplayer now...no...sorry, I think while being stupid, Activision isn't Volition stupid.

Red Faction: New Coke (it's got electrolytes)

...and the sheeple's reaction to this travesty? We'll see

One thing is for sure, when reviewing RFA, Gamspot sure didn't take into account the precedents and ground breaking work of RFG had achieved. Someone who played the originals multiplayer for 100-200 hours would have elicited a much more accurate review. You just cannot give an 8, to a game that is 1/3 the campaign size, no multiplayer (co-op doesn't count as multiplayer), and took two years to make on the same technology. (and while someone could say...we can't have a person who played these games that much all the time....but the fact is, you just needed to play it a while and you would have realized there was something special about it, and that the sequel lacking it, would mean something tangible)

This game should be a 4-5 on a ten point scale. A two on a five point scale, and no better than a 50 on a 100 point scale. It's missing 90+ percent of the game (timewise spent playing), and the score should reflect it. You can't tune out precedent, and judge the game in a complete vacuum, which is what gamespot did. How anyone could give a sequel where the owner will never play even 1/100th of what they played the predecessor, does not deserve an 8.

Hey Usain Bolt, you're at the 90 yard mark of the 100 yard dash, it's time to sit down and go to sleep. Well that's what Volition/THQ did, and Gamespot let them get away with it. Gamespot should of docked RFA five points off the score for no multiplayer, as there is none.

Amazing they did this....even though in today's games, multiplayer is becoming (and known it is becoming) the biggest part of a game. I cannot believe that it wasn't a conscience decision to allow them off the hook for this one, and that's not a good message going forward to send to your readers.

Waiting for a game? Don't worry, if they leave out most of what's good about it, and is as short as Tattoo, you too can still receieve an 8 for F effort and F implementation.

(and I didn't even tough the horrible...if you buy the game used...you have to buy a new code....thanks...)

So enjoy your New Coke known as Red Faction Armageddon. until you realize, hey, this isn't so good.