Red Faction: Armageddon Message Board older than one year ago

#uhwatchthis YouTube video sensation Freddie Wong and friends introduce us to Mr. Toots, a candy-colored unicorn with a magical gift: the ability to emit a high-powered rainbow beam from its anus, capable of destroying anything in its path. But what does this have to do with video games? More »

Co-ordinate your priorities: what do you want to do first? Consider this when working with friends in multiplayer!

Endure an infestation and survive the alien onslaught.

Lock and load amidst a collapsing ruin.

By “dark” I don’t mean the protagonist is stumbling around with more inner turmoil than a tumble drier, or that the callous spectre of death threatens to snatch down and kill any character at any time. Not that kind of dark. No, I mean that you just can’t see what on Earth is going on. Hardly ideal footage for people like me, who were disappointed to find out the next Red Faction game would be swapping out Guerrilla’s open world for the caves beneath Mars, and your human opponents for aliens. Take a look for yourself and see what you think.(more…)

NBC Universal held a "Summer press day" last Friday in Pasadena, California, and among the various panels was one for the SyFy Channel's new Red Faction: Origins movie. In cooperation with THQ, SyFy is bringing out a two-hour movie on June 4 that covers the story of Jake Mason, son of Red Faction: Guerilla's Alec Mason and father of Red Faction: Armageddon main character Darius Mason. Alec (played by Robert Patrick) makes an appearance, though Brian J. Smith, who plays Jake, says "he's fallen off a little bit as a hero."

Given how closely related to the games the movie will be, you'd think director Michael Nankin (second from right, above) would want to get in and play Guerilla at least. But the director of a few Battlestar Galatica episodes has no interest in technology. "I have a book that's a calendar," he says, "and I take notes on index cards."

In 2009's Red Faction: Guerrilla, Volition was able to incorporate some of the single-player campaign's heralded "emergent gameplay" -- the spontaneous entertainment of bringing down the gameworld's structures in fantastic, inventive ways -- into the game's competitive multiplayer. A wall you thought was suitable cover could suddenly come crumbling down, revealing a charging Martian opponent about to clobber you with a deadly ostrich.

The fragility of the gameworld added an element of tension; that you wielded the powerful and inventive abilities and weaponry that made it so fragile was just plain cool. Guerrilla's multiplayer seemed like a first step toward greatness -- a foundation that Volition could build into one of the truly great online experiences.

That's all on hold, however, as Volition's next Red Faction game, this May's Armageddon, won't have competitive multiplayer. In its place is "Infestation," a retread of Gears of War 2's often aped Horde mode.

THQ and Syfy's live-action movie Red Faction: Origins will debut on Saturday June 4, only a few days after the May 31 launch of Red Faction: Armageddon for the Xbox 360, PC, and PlayStation 3. More »

Red Faction: Guerilla had a fun competitive multiplayer component that few people played. Rather than repeating the formula for the upcoming Red Faction: Armageddon, developer Volition Inc. is taking the multiplayer in a new direction that they hope will make you keep the game long after you finish the campaign. Instead of blowing your friends to high hell, you'll be standing at their backs, taking aliens to task together in the new cooperative mode called Infestation...

It's a tough life when you're the developer of the Red Faction series. Those guys spend months building a fantastical depiction of human life on Mars, complete with shiny space vehicles and sweet alien-inspired architecture, and then you, the gamer, come in and blast it all to smithereens. You probably kick over sand castles too, you big meanie...

Looking at the above screenshot, you’d think that character was from a fantasy game, no? Perhaps one called “Four Wind Journey� or “Dragonica�, and she’d have a name that suggested independence like Chala or Kara or something. In truth, she’s the sassy sidekick Volition have just revealed for subterranean alien-masher Red Faction Armageddon, she actually is called Kara, and you can watch her debut trailer after the jump. (more…)

Things were bad, and it's only gotten worse. But now Kara is on the case.

Learn a little more about the story in the next destructible Mars-box from Volition.

#marsneedswomen Life is hard in the underground Martian colonies of Red Faction: Armageddon, especially when you're a former Marauder turned smuggler with a heart of gold and the need to flaunt your cleavage amidst a cast of fully-covered men. More »

Power through the caverns with the reinforced Exo Suit!

Take the assault to the opposition on the surface to make your way back to the Red Faction and safety.

Check out Red Faction's new toys of destruction, including the Inferno GX Flier, in this four-part walkthrough with Level Designer Jameson Durall!

And the hits just keep on coming. THQ has confirmed to Gamasutra that it has reduced the staff sizes of Red Faction developer Volition, Inc. and Homefront developer Kaos Studios. Volition, whose team of around 200 is also working on the next, bonersword-equipped installment in the Saint's Row franchise, had its headcount cut by 16 positions. Kaos Studios, which employs more than 100 developers, lost 17 across its departments.

In its statement to Gamasutra, representatives for THQ explained, "The changes are not expected to affect any current or future titles in development with Volition." The statement adds that Kaos has a "dedicated team in place" to continue supporting Homefront with post-launch content while preparing for future projects. We wish the 33 folks affected by the cutbacks the best of luck in getting back on their feet.

So, what will you be getting in exchange for that Red Faction: Armageddon pre-order? The answer to that question varies wildly depending on your own platform of choice and preferred retailer, but all the deals have finally been made public by publisher THQ. In a nutshell, brick and mortar fans are taking home the lion's share of game-side bonuses, but PC users are getting the most substantial outside-the-box deal: a brand new (digital) copy of Red Faction: Guerrilla, Volition's last Red Faction joint. 
 
Here's a straight-up list of all the pre-order stuff we've seen so far. Take note that a couple of stores are also offering up free copies of Red Faction: Battlegrounds, the RF universe's spin-off demolition car game for XBLA and PSN. That's a pretty tack-on for fans the series in general, I think. 
 
  

There’s some lovely comments from Volition‘s studio manager, Eric Barker, over on Eurogamer. Discussing why it’s always worth developing for PC when creating cross platform titles, and how Volition will no longer be using external developers for their PC versions, he drops this gem of a comment that I’ll be quoting for some time to come.

“I don’t think [piracy] is something at the forefront for us. First and foremost, we want to make sure we’re making a game people would want to pirate. Let’s make a game that’s worth stealing, and then we’ll worry about making sure they don’t.”

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What is Red Faction: Armageddon? This is the latest entry in the long-standing Red Faction franchise. Unlike Red Faction: Guerilla, which was an open-world third-person shooter, Armageddon is linear. Your character has to save Mars from an alien threat and is about to blow the hell out of the world...

It's time to bring the house down with the newly improved destruction physics of Red Faction Armageddon on display at PAX East 2011!

#video How many buildings on Mars can you destroy in a minute? What if you were armed with a gun that shoots black holes and another that causes the first thing you shoot to fly into the second thing you shoot? More »

It's not exactly clear what's going on in this Red Faction: Armageddon trailer, but there's a lot of shooting and buildings being destroyed. Just give the fans what they want.

Introducing Ruin, the mode dedicated to destroying everything in sight.

THQ and Volition are thrilled to announce an exhilarating new gameplay mode to be featured in Red Faction: Armageddon, called Ruin. Red Faction: Armageddon's Ruin mode will be playable in THQ's booth (#956) during PAX East this weekend, where attendees can compete for prizes and bragging rights at t...

Some games have one aspect that makes them stand out and resonate with gamers for years. For instance, we remember Grand Theft Auto III for the way it allowed us so much freedom to explore the world -- and subsequently terrorize it. With Red Faction: Armageddon the stand-out feature is its insanel...

Head back to Mars.

THQ's next big Martian adventure, Red Faction: Armageddon comes to the PlayStation 3, PC and Xbox 360 on May 31 in North America, June 3 worldwide. The SyFy TV movie also airs in May, if you're that interested. More »