WTF Is... - Red Faction : Armageddon ?

TotalBiscuit takes a look at Volition's latest effort which takes Red Faction back to it's roots in the original, rather than the open-world romp of Guerilla.
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[@killblock540]

"I hope this game is successful", *one of the causes of THQ's destruction*.

[@felixsson]

Rest in peace TotalBiscuit.

[@mistervanderveer]

I was amazingly surprised by this game. I loved the ambiance, story and the combat was amazing.

[@_nom_]

I preferred this to Guerilla. Both were good.

[@thegreatonetheone8226]

Amazing

[@thegreatonetheone8226]

@@_nom_ me to

[@MartianGames]

Volition is referring to real-time shadows .. what you are seeing is the baked shadows: pre-rendered textures called light-maps. (A lot more can go wrong with real time shadows.)

[@brynforth1471]

This is total biscuits most positive first look

[@snake5305]

eh, take a gander at space marine

[@nitaiginzburg8689]

It's 2011 Jun, I finished 12th grade, out of high school, and I am going to join the army (mandatory service) in August. Lazy afternoons. Summer vacation. I have the last for a while longest break in my life to do whatever I want. I sit on my computer all day and play video games. And I also watch TB. Every new video, replaying old ones. I always thought his videos would be a constant in my life.

[@CoolVids19]

eh it's 1.99 on steam right now, why not?

[@xxhellspawnedxx]

For those who are interested: Different kinds of shadows - Prerendered - The shadow is included in the color texture of the objects. Mostly outdated method. Mapped light - A black and white texture is mapped onto lightsources, so that only the parts corresponding to the white on the texture emits light. Good for lighting static enviroment in a power-saving manner. Raytraced Shadows - Results in completely dynamic shadows. Requires more computing power to render, but gives the best result.

[@gabrielcarroll6811]

Theres a secret weapon in the first level

[@PatrickSilent]

Jesus, this video is 10 years old. RIP

[@SLiPPeRY_aCTioN]

the magnet gun alone was worth purchasing this game. throw in the best destruction physics engine i have ever seen in a game in addition to a number of even more badass guns and i am completely sold on this title. good pick, good review, keep 'em coming TB!

[@Rakinjo2]

Yes, dear sir TB, clips on machine guns do make a slightly different noise as the clip empties out, basicly like the difference between a full soda-can and one that is almost empty.

[@x1c3x]

my god can't stop laughing at the "eh" after the "too linear" @ 9:14

[@firuzmajid4780]

It's not the best game ever, but it still one of my personal favorites.

[@Lairdom]

Red Faction 1 is still my favourite because none of the other games allowed me to make my own paths. I loved how you could just take the rocket laucher, point it to a tunnel wall and just blast away until you came across another path. The multiplayer in it was awesome and after every match, the entire level was just a big open area.

[@xxhellspawnedxx]

For the last third of the game, i constantly went with rocket launcher, railgun, machinegun and magnet gun. Railgun ended up being my primary weapon against pretty much anything. This game really has good weapon designs, both when it comes to visuals and the feel of them.

[@CasuallyRayla]

I was glad Volition went back to their roots and made a descent like level. I'm definitley picking this up.

[@Timberlander420]

The man TB was referencing is Steven Blum. The man of every voice. But I was surprised to find that one instance was not Mr. Blum.

[@JMRolf1]

Is the PC port of Red Faction Guerrilla any good? I loved that game on Xbox360 but I have heard that the developer of the game was pretty bad at porting games.

[@DTiberius]

The original Red Faction (on PS2) is actually the only Red Faction game I've ever played. I enjoyed it quite alot at the time, and one of it's shining features was it's destruction engine (Geo-Mod).

[@xxWootGamingxx]

LOVE the new intro :) btw have you had thoughts about making a WTF is bioshock?

[@snexer]

TB, the shadows you see in the beginning are edited into the level, they are talking about "moving shadows" from lets say a player an npc or moving object.

[@tugfngjfuvj]

Red Faction 2 was in fact for the PC, too. It played on Earth and you had to stop a regime. GeoMod Engine was built in :>

[@MattMeerkat46]

'My name's been Totalbiscuit, and I willl see you next time' lol. Love you TB!

[@Taurex]

You have no idea how much fun i had with Red Faction 2 in split screen back in the day :P

[@AzurePrower]

This gives me flashbacks to Volition early days with their involvement in Descent: Freespace.

[@0nihanzo]

@TotalHalibut ... no guns don't sound different the closer you are to deplete the clip, but I think M1 Garand has something like that. Admittedly it has only like 4 or 8 bullets (I think), but when shoot the last bullet the clip pops out and makes a unique sound.

[@GreebleGoblin]

I remember that there were quite a few Secret areas in the 1st Red Faction, I loved that game, and Guerilla was fun too :)

[@thevoiceofthelost]

listen dudes, the free roam of guerrilla was fun as hell. even though it was free roam it gave you a since of urgency in liberating mars, not to mention it had twice as many buildings to destroy. not saying armageddon isn't good it is, but it does in a sense veer way from the roots. every other red faction game was about a revolution red faction was about revolting against ultor, 2 was about revolting against the commonwealth and guerrilla much to my surprise was about revolting against the edf.

[@PeaceLion]

@TotalHalibut the shadow you disabled is the DX11 Shadow.. Aka "Living shadow" way more detailed and changes when light is moved or gunfire nearby and so on.

[@MrKiant]

@trallawan Well there are 4 games in total, the first two I beleive were on the PS2 and I remember investing a lot of time into them. The next two took a long time to come out and featured the more advanced destruction engine. Also the first two games were FPS's.

[@Draugo]

@Renneskid Actually many platformers offer a wide variety of routes of progression, thus making them non linear in the old good sense, where you can decide for yourself how to get from point a to point b. Granted there's seldom an abundance of routes but still more than in modern shooters.

[@Arson0101]

Honestly, I'm just gonna go out on a limb here and say that Just Cause 2's grappling hook can certainly have VERY violent results... At least the way I and many others used it. Bolo-mod = Multiple Grappling Hooks = Many soldiers dangling from the bottom of my chopper before finally dropping onto the pavement from several hundred feet up.

[@Kissaki0]

The original Red Faction had not only destructable buildings but also destructable ground. If you wanted to, you could digg a tunnel around or as a shortcut to something. So I don’t think it was as linear as this new one, even though the story and objectives were “linear” as in given. Yes there were limits to digging, and some parts and buildings indestructable, but definitely not as linear as this one, where you can see over rocks but can not get there.

[@CommanderZx2]

The 'Magnet gun' is not a new invention by this game it existed a good number of years ago in game by the name of RoboBlitz. In that game it did exactly the same thing, except that game did not have the destruction engine.

[@losethegame101]

Personally, I was blown away by Red Faction Guerilla's controls. I've never played a 3PS that's controlled as tightly and as satisfyingly as that game did. So, high hopes for Armageddon, then.

[@BlackSabbath628]

What's great is that they give it this strained expression on its face whenever it fires xD

[@Osvath97]

At about 09:38 did TotalBiscuit just randomly and briefly say moo??? ROFL!!! :D :D :D You are awsome TotalBiscuit!!!

[@TheDesertonfire]

If the Portal gun, the Gravity gun, and the Magnet gun were to be combined... This concept is too epic to even think about.

[@evantomlinson]

I was a huge fan of the first two Red Faction's. I loved Red Faction 2's multiplayer and I would play it with my brothers for hours on end. That was some good times on the PS2.

[@TheAngelFallen616]

the last few bullets of the clip are modified to make a different noise probs same as they do with tracers to tell them when they are running out of ammo

[@zerogravitee]

@5r3s8 Yes. There is an interview with him somewhere on youtube.

[@xxhellspawnedxx]

@inkblotgod It's a slightly more sci-fi'ish side on the story, but in my opinion it ties in quite well with the story of the rest of the games. If you have played the rest of the games, you'll see this quite clearly. The monsters are a mutation of the plague developed by the Ultor scientist Capek during Red Faction (the first game).

[@Essenji]

Ah nice! I was just about to ask that question myself. Now I can just relax and watch your video :D

[@SweetSteveAUS]

@wary97 Linear means in a line. So if it's a linear game that means that it is straight forwards. No side-quests/missions or other random crap.

[@Khasar]

I just remember watching my brother play red faction(1 or 2, I can't remember) on the ps2 and using the rocket launcher with infinite ammo to dig his way under a door, only to find afterward that there was a keypad located on an adjacent wall to the door.

[@lukelostit]

The magnet gun, has the TB seal of approval! :D

[@Strawhalo]

The Legend himself

[@Hiigaranwarrior159]

Some of the mechanics in Armageddon were really nice, the reconstruction rifle being one of them, but the fact that they completely threw the open world out of the window and made the game so linear that you thought it was CoD with aliens is what killed it. This game could have been awesome if it had just been like Guerilla, maybe they could have created massive tunnel networks for you to explore and discover secrets in, but no, they had to make it another on-rails shooter.

[@samsonguy10k]

Welcome back, TB! And this definitely looks like a game I'd enjoy. Thanks for sharing!

[@Gh0StF1sHy]

@mrpops2ko some gameplay footage from this game was used in a previous mailbox, that's probably why.

[@waldo04]

played guerrilla ... guy on other side of building "i dont want to go around" *pulls out sledge and proceeds to bash a hole through the wall* satisfying

[@MrScike]

I remember the good old days. Red Faction 2 on PS2.

[@Strawhalo]

Yep

[@Vayshen]

Is "My name has been" actually correct? It sounds like I've heard it on tv show stuff before but stopping to think about it it sounds a little...odd. Or do I just need sleep? Or both.

[@tboydf]

@nostrodamus232 Actually, the sound was merely made by the metal clips when they struck a hard object, like stone, and it was quickly exploited by the Allies to lure the Germans into attacking by simply dropping an empty clip. The cons of not knowing if your almost out are pretty much equal with the cons of an enemy knowing you are out. The main reason their is no indicative feature is because anyone who is remotely familiar with their weapon becomes good at gauging its remaining ammo.

[@ztClown]

Real guns do make a clicking sound when they are empty but only the first time you fire it. The hammer hits the pin without firing a shot=click but the hammer is not moved back into firing position unless the bullet in the chamber creates recoil which pushes the hammer back into firing position.

[@OriginalKasym]

That opening never gets old

[@KeksusGSPB]

I know that Armageddon is following the roots of the series but I still like Guerilla the most. It was just awesome driving trucks into buildings.

[@HellWolfHun]

If I recall correctly these guys made the excellent spacefigter sim Freespace back in the days.

[@TheKingofdeep]

imagine having the grappling hook gun, the portal gun the gravity gun and the magnet gun in 1 game. that would be pure awesomeness

[@madlei3710]

The last bullet sound has been used since WW2, if not earlier.

[@ravenssorrow]

When RF:Guerilla came out I unfortunately didn't get it. I had a sandbox game (Just Cause 2) and didn't feel like another one at that time. I had picked up JC2 because I saw the videos of the grappling hook and crazy stunts. Great stuff indeed. The hook in particular didn't disapoint. Still have quite a lot of fun with that game. Still though I liked RF one and two and wanted to get back into the series. I think this game will do it with the magnet gun. I can't wait to hit enemies with stuff.

[@TheHoboSonic]

As a kid I played the demo to the first red faction for hours on end just blowing up walls looking to find ways to get to the objective in a differant way.

[@eryiusnefarious]

Im okay with them ditching the franchise, as long as they re-visit the concept and/or engine. The engine for this game could spawn some seriously original games. the engine could do wonders for so many games or even genres. Imagine playing a driving games where buildings could be driven straight through.

[@Desekt12]

@TheReallydontcare I don't know, I've missed it ever since. You could tunnel into a wall and use it as your base to hold the flag, ahh those were the days.

[@karrizproductions]

Endless tunnels with loads of aliens gets quite repetitive, but the destruction makes this game worth playing. I should probably get Guerrila.

[@CLfreaksho]

The point of video games is to have fun, fair and square. I agree with you about personal preference, but otherwise I just think a game is a game, and they are meant to be played, and that genres are entirely illusive.

[@TheMagicSpife]

Loving the new intro.

[@KillerClaydog]

the magnet gun looks so epic and i bet hes right about it being the best weapon ever

[@Gearsoffail5]

@Prsnal Question, how the hell do you know how good either of these games are...?

[@LenkyLad]

maybe when Volition is finished making saints row 4 and saints row 4 DLC, we'll be seeing a new red faction title with everything good they had in the recent two

[@Xipingu]

The camera angle does give sense. It's depends on opinion, therefore no, it isn't a "perfect" reason, but it's a reason.

[@Terrible_name]

about the magnet gun...there are mag grenades that do the exact same thing in crackdown2

[@SinisterSkip]

TB is starting to become the game reviewer+visionary on the youtubes :)

[@TheWill920]

If you attach a magnets to opposite ends of the same object/explosive barrel/etc, does it spin? Or just crush and explode? :P

[@SLakcR]

Imagine a sandbox game like GTA with Crysis graphics and the demolition engine of Red Faction where you have weapons like the Portal, Gravity and Magnet Gun with a story of The Witcher 2 and atmosphere like OoT and face animation like L.A Noire .

[@ChristianUrt]

Just bought RF: Guerrilla after having seen this video. Never knew what the game was actually about, but damn, all that destruction sure does look fun! Thanks for the videos TB, keep 'em comming :)

[@snexer]

@TheDesertonfire so could teleport 2 enemys away from each other, then get them pullet together to squash them?

[@aedanclarke]

Also, I hate how this game was punished for bringing Red Faction back to it's roots as a linear shooter. Granted, this is third-person, not first-person, but my point really still stands. Also, yes, I'm 11 months late.

[@HardkoreCasual]

The reason they make that claim is because more people like RF:G than liked RF1 and 2, ergo, it makes sense to work with what was more popular and iron out the kinks instead of semi going back to what wasn't quite as well liked.

[@Elfandspartan]

The sound of a real gun firing dose change slightly depending on how much ammo is in the clip.

[@Fixe789]

loving how the cursor seems bored

[@piclemaniscool]

I would love to hear TB during the last level and while playing with Mr. Toots

[@HarleyAMV]

@Quikie93 No, I liked Gears of War.. kinda (not my fav shooter but it was an alright game). But the character was smaller or at least felt smaller and he was more centered on the screen, sometimes you could even get him on the right side of the screen like when you hid behind something and look over to shoot. Even though Ive got no idea why someone would like to see their character (been playing wow for soon 7 years and love rpgs..) in a game where you have to physically aim.

[@asleeperj]

I think a lot of us do. Which is why he holds his own reputation in such high regard. I know that at least TB isn't bought and payed for, all you have to do is look at the number of low budget indie games he reviews.

[@MrForsakenBacon]

Oh my, TB, I was on the fence about the game, but after hearing your opinions, I'm downloading it right now.

[@SirPixelKnight]

"Maybe they could make a hybrid between Guerilla and Armageddon in the next game" Only in our dreams, TB... Only in our dreams...

[@Rorrim_]

TB, the different sound of shooting near the end of the bullets is taken from gears of war :)

[@miggetmagic]

Really wish TB would try jumping on a box and magnetting it to something higher.

[@DEFkon001]

Sadly real firearms won't make a different sound when they are near the end of magazine. However you could load your magazines so that the last X # of rounds are different from the rest (tracers) to achieve a similar effect. - The only audio que an automatic firearm might produce is a slower rate of fire as it gets more fouled. I wish devs of RPG/FPS where weapons commonly degrade in condition would incorporate that as a more noticeable means of judging the weapons condition.

[@mrpops2ko]

Why do I think i've seen this? Did he do a previous WTF on it or something?

[@cursedsound1]

Its kinda funny how he says "WTF is?" is a first impressions series but with many games he's already hours in when he makes the video.

[@Reason4Termination]

14:07 its used in 7:35 to get up to that cave up there.

[@Darkchief231]

@IamZORBO agree, i used to absolutely LOVE the ps2 red factions destruction mod, where you could just make a tunnel in the wall and go to the bottom of the map,

[@Cafuzzler]

@8DX Im sure that the secret weapon is a magical unicorn that poops rainbows and makes big explosions.

[@VividVoid]

@Senreigon You do realize it's short for "My name has been"

[@khhnator]

usually shadows's means real time shadows, rather than the baked shadow maps on static geometry

[@Elsoddo]

I'm not sure it called "oral indicator" TB. I think you meant "audio indicator"....or?

[@paddy3450]

This game is on sale in the humble bundle right now, pay what you want!

[@Psyala]

The magnet gun... the only reason why I want this game!!!!!!