Red Faction: Armageddon
Going underground.
If you measure your gaming quality by the hour it'll all add up, but it's here that the generic nature of the experience really bites hard. At times it can feel like a large bucket of mashed potato: filling, but requiring rather too much mindless munching to get to the end.
For the benefit of the stopwatch crowd, a normal mode playthrough took me nine hours, including cut-scenes and a thorough hunt for audio logs and upgrades. Tackling Insane Mode using a fully upgraded Darius and skipping all the cut-scenes took just five hours. Indeed, the game is so keen to keep you on the hook with unlocks and abilities that playing through again on the hardest difficulty is actually easier.
Multiplayer is passably efficient and rarely creative. Two modes await - one free for all, the other locked away behind a download code for second-hand purchasers. Infestation is the best, and it's thankfully also the one that everyone can play regardless of where they bought the game.
It's a survival mode for up to four players, set across eight maps, each involving 30 waves of enemies. Weapons and upgrades earned in single player are made available as you progress through the waves, but the maps let it down slightly.
With mindless alien foes there's no need for any tactically interesting layouts, so each one is essentially a crowded maze with plenty of spots where you can put your backs to the wall and wait for the creatures to bottleneck into your sights. It's simple, and very easy compared to similar modes in other games, but with four players it's surprisingly good fun.
Ruin, on the other hand, is the solitary competitive mode. Virtually identical to Wrecking Crew from Guerilla, it's a time trial demolition job in which you wreak as much havoc as you can in enclosed arenas, hoping to beat the par score.
It's a fine pass-the-pad distraction, but it's a shame that deathmatch and flag capture modes like Siege and Anarchy have been left by the wayside. They certainly wouldn't make Armageddon more original, but if there's one area where Geo-Mod 2.0 can really stand out it's these traditional multiplayer modes, where the uncertainty that unfettered terrian destruction offers can shake up even the most cliched challenge.
Despite such a long list of complaints there's plenty to like about Armageddon, provided you keep expectations in check. Polished presentation makes it look and feel more exciting than it really is, while completion unlocks more goodies to tempt you back in for a second playthrough with the same weapons and upgrades.
Options for infinite ammo for any of the game's guns are added to the in-game store along with handheld versions of the ultra-powerful vehicle weaponry. And, apropos of nothing, you get Mr Toots, a cuddly unicorn who blasts enemies with his rainbow farts. There is personality here, when it's allowed to peek through.
Armageddon, then, is one of those middle of the road games which adheres to a familiar template closely enough to provide adequate entertainment in the short term but is unlikely to inspire any devotion. It falls over itself to make you feel like an unstoppable badass, but then rarely gives you the opportunity to show off.
By the halfway point, you'll have seen every weapon, ability and enemy, so rather than building to a crescendo it feels more like a slow descent towards the finale. Cut from the borrowed cloth of too many similar, better games, Armageddon is easy enough to like but impossible to get passionate about. Maybe it's time to set GeoMod free and see what it can do for other games.