Been playing this for a couple hours.
I really didn’t play enough of the first one to be able to compare, I remember that there was the first level and a room with a greenhouse for the demo, I also remember that I preferred the big empty room to the actual game which persuaded me not to get it.
"Geomodding’ is still just a gimmick, every once in a while there’ll be a brick wall just sitting in the middle of the road like the developers made the level and said ‘Oops!’ and then hoped no one with driving or construction experience would play the game. I will admit that it’s tricked me once or twice; I think I’ve found an alternate exit to the level when in fact I was supposed to go that way, and there are a few secrets here and there. Still it’s a gimmick.
But it’s a gimmick the game doesn’t need, I think this could sell on it’s own merits. Level design is nice, lots of corners, alcoves and high windows, you can jump in the game but it’s rarely needed, in fact I usually get stuck cause I forget that I can. Enemies still run really awkward, but they know enough to hide behind corners. They will run away from you when you throw a grenade of any type…usually right toward the grenade if they were close enough to you.
Bystanders don’t run right into your sights, they find a corner and cower which is nice because your ‘heroics’ is…are? Is. Your ‘heroics’ is measured, it will go down if you kill civilians, or Red Faction members, and it will go up if you find a secret or complete an objective, ‘heroics’ determines your ending. Also they’ve thrown in ‘secret’ objects that you aren’t told about till you’ve done them, this helps unlock things in the gallery. Afew ‘Rail shooting’ levels do really well at breaking up the shooting.
Occasionally you’ll gain a computer partner, this is very well done, they don’t get in your way (and if they do you can just push them) and they don’t do ALL the work, but they do lend a noticeable helping hand. Also they are thankfully difficult to kill so you don’t have to spend all your time covering their asses.
Curiously there is no auto aim (at least none that I’ve found) however almost all the weapons are automatic and ammo is plentiful. It’s a pain though that enemies can see you from an inordinate amount of distance, they also blend into the ‘future distopia wasteland covered in garbage’ look the game has going on, so sometimes you’ll have to wait for them to reload and make your way ladder style progressively closer to them until you can get a clear shot.
Health is handled in an easy manner; you can carry three health packs, these are used automatically when your health drops to zero, and if you stop and rest for a minute your health will replenish on it’s own.
Lot’s of extras, the cheat menu is just based on button combinations, I’ve found 5 just screwing around, and you can unlock concept art and character and weapon profiles by beating levels at certain difficulties or completing the aforementioned secret objectives.
Multiplayer has a few modes, nothing ground breaking, and each person can have 5 bots. The bot’s stats can be altered to make them easier or harder and winning conditions can be altered. As I said, nothing ground breaking.
It’s nothing to get rid of TS2 over, but it’s got some good extras and a challenging enough difficulty to make you play this game for a bit instead, though anything below ‘hard’ might be too easy for those with experience.
Verdict: I’d pay full price to get it now.