RFA plays like the spunky, lively brunette who you keep calling and making plans with, and you’re too busy having fun in the moment to worry about anything long-term. That’s Armageddon. Completely engaging and without guilt. The antithesis of most female twenty-something Catholics.
Glitchoris BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front)
Don’t shelve this one for a rainy day – pick it up and play right now. It’s not redefining the FPS genre, but it’s just too damn good to pass up.
Apology
Playing through RFA a couple times changed the way I played the game – which isn’t to be confused with how I played the game. The first playthrough found me walking into a new area, blasting everything to high hell (most probably with the singularity gun), and then figuring out what I was supposed to be doing. But each successive hour during the second playthough I found myself walking into a new area, spending a brief second or two recording the placement of structures, and then blowing everything to high hell. However, this time around, I was able to analyze the environment and gage where I needed to go according to the structures.
Part of me thinks this change isn’t any big deal; we all get better at games the more we play them. I just think the larger part of me was impressed that Armageddon played this large of a role in my thought process. I admit: I underestimated RFA from the beginning – and I’m extraordinarily pleased that I was wrong.
Smooth
Darius Mason, the protagonist, is not your typical shoot-first, foul-mouthed hero. He doesn’t necessarily contain an absurd amount of depth, but he actually plays like a normal human being in his spot would: fairly realistic with a hint of sarcasm. This was one of our concerns with Bulletstorm – the characters were so transparent that after the first few acts, when they started to mature, even the maturation was transparent.
While Armageddon is a departure from Guerrilla‘s open world mode, we don’t feel terribly boxed in by our environment; it’s actually quite the opposite. We are able to obliterate and reconstruct with ease, and after a short few hours of gameplay, the entire process becomes second nature.
Final Thoughts
We hope that Volition doesn’t sit too long before offering either more content or another installment. The story is definitely there, as most narrative arcs normally are, but we’d drop cash for more content, more guns, more forge nova talents, and more pure fun.
One aspect of the game that we wish would have been included, however, is a dual player co-op story mode. The multiplayer scenarios are definitely fun, but to run through the tunnels and magma pools with a good friend would add hours (I’m talking back from the bars at 2 am hours) of fun. We may not remember playing the hours, but if we did, we’re sure they would have been hilarious.
