2009 saw the return of the Red Faction franchise with the stunningly awesome Guerrilla, a Grand Theft Auto Mars kind of game, where you worked your way to liberating stricken workers on the Red Planet while fighting off a rival faction using a number of weapons and vehicles. 2011 will see the return of this franchise with Armageddon, which is set to make a huge impact with an all new story late next month. Between the two is Battlegrounds, a downloadable title for Xbox Live Arcade that ditches the narrative in favor of straight-up multiplayer action. But is that really a bad thing? In concept, the idea is on the right track. You’ve got a number of vehicles at your command, including walkers, tanks and cars, all heavily fortified and packing weapons. The controls hunker back to the old days of Smash TV, with one stick controlling your movement and the other your direction of fire. As you proceed in each battle, you’ll need to keep an eye open for a couple of things. First, your weapon has a tendency to overheat if you manage to use it too much, so lighten up on the rate of fire if no enemies are around.
Secondly, occasional power-ups do surface every now and then, including speed boosts, shields and reconstructors, which can bring downed vehicles back to life. Items in the environment can also be used to cause a big bang, should enemies be ganging up on you from a certain spot. Like we said, there’s nothing wrong with the concept. But we must question the execution, as a number of slip-ups do occur. Let’s start first with the approach to the game. For the most part, it’s multiplayer only. Now, we’ve seen games in the past take this route and succeed, but that’s mainly because they’ve had some layer of strategy lying underneath the surface. Sadly, Battlegrounds doesn’t really have that. The level of destruction that the game brings is ridiculous. Any attempt at trying to set up a team play is obliterated once one of your team members bites the dust, leaving a huge melee battle to follow. For some folks, that might not be an entirely bad thing, but it does make the game a bit more shallow than it deserves to be. Another big problem is the display. That’s not to say the game isn’t pretty, because it is. The maps show some ingenious layouts with plenty of hiding spots and “cooling off” points, and the way the terrain explodes is quite beautiful, in a similar way that they fell apart in Guerrilla a couple of years ago. But that camera…dear God, it bothers us. There’s no way to manually adjust it, so you’re forced at will to shift between a view that’s a little too close for comfort and a blimp view that’s so terrifyingly high, you can barely see what’s going on.
Even in the stages where not much is happening, it’s hard to tell if you’re getting enough clearance on a wall because you’re so high up. And when stuff is happening, you’ll lose track of yourself so quickly that it’s not even funny. THQ should’ve thrown in a manual camera control option, so we could keep a closer eye on things. This way, it’s like we’re dangling from a bungee cord on a Goodyear blimp. Now, Red Faction: Battlegrounds does have some single-player content, but it’s somewhat limited. You’ve got 15 training missions where you’ll learn the basics for each vehicle, as well as what they can do…and sadly, that’s really about it. You’d think there would be an option to enter a BotZone, where AI players could come at you from all sides, but instead, you’re limited to taking them on in the missions, and they’re kind of dull to go through again. Plus, the AI itself isn’t really that smart. Vehicles will roll up and take all kinds of time to prepare to blast you, and at that point you’ve gotten such a bead on them, you’ll consider yourself a master of natural disaster. But then you enter real battles and you realize just how much you truly suck. Talk about providing a sense of false confidence. Now, if you can find the right sort of players, the multiplayer in Red Faction: Battlegrounds isn’t half bad.
True, it’s lacking in deep strategy, so if you’re looking for a teamwork-based battle, you’re better off sticking to the co-op missions in a military shooter instead. But if it’s full blown chaos, you might just get a kick out of this. Remember, though, you’ll be fighting the camera more often than you’ll be blowing up walkers and tanks, and nausea could easily set in for the unprepared. Finally, we couldn’t help but notice that the game’s lack of narrative make it feel out of place. You do have a captain that you can turn to, but he’s usually there to simply provide commands and prove his bro-ness, that he’s not about to go soft on you. And that’s really about it. There are no tie-ins to the Guerrilla/Armageddon storyline, no unlockable goodies for either game, no nothing. This is simply arcade filler, and nothing more. THQ could’ve easily had an opportunity to make this a game with a huge story, perhaps even with something to tie in to the upcoming SyFy film (since SyFy Games is co-sponsoring the project, anyway). Alas, not happening. Red Faction: Battlegrounds is a game that could’ve been so much more, stuck by so many limitations that you never really feel the joy of battle. The camera is unfocused and frustrating; the gameplay too chaotic for its own good; and the lack of a strong storyline make it feel like everything’s barely holding together with cheap adhesive. Check out the demo first and then decide if this battle is for you. As for us, we’ll happily engage in some Guerrilla Wrecking Crew while we wait for Armageddon, thanks.
