For the record, I’m gladly willing to bestow kudos on a flawed title trying to do something a tad different. ‘Red Faction: Armageddon (RFA),’ however, is fastidious in resting on its predecessor’s (‘Guerilla’) laurels, and – in doing so – actually managed to take a step back from its well-received, earlier namesake.

To elaborate, RFA is the ‘vanilla FPS,’ with nothing spectacularly good or bad about the title. Plot is meh. Audio/visuals….meh. Gameplay, meh. Multiplayer and/or bonus features? That would be ‘meh’ once more. The problem is ‘meh’ simply doesn’t cut it within a First Person Shooter genre bursting with goodies.

RFA is – in many ways – Guerilla recycled. Yet another Mason…this time Alec’s grandson Darius…only a half century later. Same weapons, look/feel…although now in a controlled (versus open world) campaign environment. Not to mention that every character Darius encounters has a ridiculously good memory of grandpa. Even individuals whose age would place them as pre-embryonic during Alec’s exploits. There’s also the uncanny, supporting coincidence that the only people with the surname ‘Mason’ seem to work for Red Faction. If you’re a ‘Mason,’ clearly you enjoy packing Nano-Forge.

In RFA, Darius (Mason) is sent on a mission to stop Adam Hale - a fanatical Marauder priest - - from blowing up Mars’ core life support mechanisms. Darius fails, Hale both blows up the machine…then subsequently tricks Darius – years later - into unleashing a killer bug army on the planet. We’re talking creepy crawlies hell-bent on utter chaos, destruction, and a ridiculously good penchant for growing weird glowing pods. Now, you’d think a guy fully integrated with the world’s best artificial intelligence engine wouldn’t get duped twice. Tsk, tsk, Darius. Somewhere grandpa is shaking his head at you from within a much better videogame offering.

The thing about RFA is that it’s so formulaic, the lack of identity becomes glaring. Voice-overs are simply horrible, boring and generic stereotypes only matched by their ‘everyone’s bald, and a hobo-warrior’ character model. We’ve got the angry (see: bald) but heart of gold sergeant, chill as ice (see: bald) yet over-trusting protagonist, crafty yet vivacious (see: not bald) supporting heroine, and a select slew of (see: mostly bald) weak-minded double-crossers and/or individuals over-committed to his/her own demise. Let’s not forget the bearded misfit hippie (see: the opposite of bald), the dude trying to get all the makeshift villagers (see: many bald) riled up as an artificial subplot.

Mission sets are simply traversing from Point A to Point B…in utter darkness…shooting endless spitting bugs of similar shapes, sizes. Sure there’s some turrets and exo-suits tossed in for good measure, but combat is truly of the ho-hum variety, of outlasting feisty, over-spawning bugs who really like to cling to the upper thirds of the screen (there’s must be a ridiculously attractive light globe drawing them in). Enemy A.I. consists of the ‘throw a lot at ‘em and from every angle’ variety. Not a whole lot of strategy going on here…in exception to one instance (early in the game) where a crafty pair of dudes tries to shoot the surface out from under you. Hours later, I kept wondering why similar puzzle/challenge type elements weren’t cross-factored into survival midstages. Even Grandpa Alec would’ve gone for that. The man that no one seems to forget.

Big-ups, however, to RFA’s GPS function (aka, ‘hovering yellow cones telling you where to go’). In a game where most of the dating is done in the dark, it’s nice to not get lost in what can be complex level design across multiple floors/platforms. The same can be said about destructible components indirectly marked via glowing references and/or visual cues. While purists will pooh-pooh such training wheels, there’s little incentive to explore levels if one is constantly wandering in circles. I, for one, do not enjoy being a console shihtzu.

Controls are fairly good, albeit uninspired. Your usual fare of duck, dive, dodge, are well represented for the Average Joe’s among us. Weapons are appropriately represented in functionality and aiming mechanisms, with auto-aim fairly reliable when needed most. Trajectories leave a little bit to be desired, but get the job done admirably. Kaboom goes kaboom when expected.

Nano-Forge still kicks ass, with it ridiculously cool to blow up entire structures with a wave of a hand. Ditto for the magnet gun, the one weapon to truly rule them all. Let the record stand that RFA does a brilliant job as a Havok demo, with the magnet gun fantastic at pulling apart structures and enemies via terrific physics demonstrations. The same can be said about the visually magnificent structural repair capability; it’s occasionally breathtaking to watch Darius re-construct often-dramatic physical structures and pathways.

This dynamic is perhaps RFA’s greatest – and underutilized asset. Nano-Forge and the magnet gun combine to destroy pathways, and alternate with the repair capability for level progression and/or tactical advantage. Thus, the failure to employ this nuance for more complex gameplay dynamics remains confounding.

At best, RFA incorporates a cheesy ‘Ruin’ option where primary purpose is to destroy everything in sight via chained reactions.

Multiplayer is of the ‘Uncharted 2’ variety, of static survival stages with increasingly difficult enemy waves. Akin to Drake and his buddies, this form of multiplayer unfortunately grows old and redundant quite fast. Even more so, as RFA enemies lack enough A.I. or character type diversity to keep things interesting.

In sum and in playing Red Faction: Armageddon, I’m left wondering what the title does to add to the Series and its legacy. Darius is no Alec, Armageddon no Guerilla. There are some inklings of greatness here and there, but the quill is unfortunately stiff on the other side of the feather.