PS2IGN has posted their first impressions of the Playstation 2 version of Red Faction, a first-person shooter from Volition which will later come to the Mac and PC. As we have mentioned countless times on these pages before, Red Faction features a unique 3D engine technology (known as Geo-Mod) which allows you to actually blow holes in walls, destroy game objects and scenery, and generally wreak havoc far beyond a mere burn mark or bullet hole that fades away after a few seconds.

Red Faction still has several more months to go before the PS2 release, so this preview is based on a development version which has not been fully optimized. Here is an excerpt:

Once I blasted my way out the first room and collected some hand-mines and rifle rounds, I faced the first of many obstacles in the game that will come to define Red Faction. There are three doors to exit the area. Only one is the right path, and it doesn't open. So, what should a good anarchist miner do? Blow the stuffing out of the wall, that's what. I took two mines, placed them one after another beside the door and blew the concrete away to create a path I could climb through. Geo-Mod = brilliance.

There were lots of rooms to either walk into, or sneak into via ventilation shaft. Almost all of the rooms contained second stories, too, with lots of crates, behind which bundles of ammo and health was stored. These power-ups weren't obviously just sitting there either. Health was placed in actual emergency kits hung on the walls, just like in a public corporation. Some were placed in lockers. Ammo was placed in places that military personnel would place it. Throughout my short experience, I found that Red Faction was well-thought out, cleverly designed, and that its designers had paid a lot of attention to the best first-person shooters on the market -- Quake III, Unreal Tournament, and Half-Life.

First Impressions: Red Faction at PS2IGN

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