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When Red Faction launched back in 2001, it was an impressive, and largely destructive First Person Shooter that kept many a gamer satisfied. Since it’s debut, Red Faction has spawned itself a sequel, and now a portable N-Gage counterpart. Does Red Faction’s baby brother have what it takes to make the family proud? Well, you’ll just have to read on to find out.

Red Faction is the first ever First Person Shooter on the N-Gage, though it definitely won’t be the last. The game pits you in the role of Parker, a miner deep in the catacombs of Mars. It seems as though the miners are suffering from some kind of fatal plague, and they’ve had enough of these horrible working conditions, so it’s only natural that a riot breaks out and the miners begin to revolt. As you make your way through the game, it will be up to you to solve the mystery of the deadly plague, and get to the bottom of Ultor Corp, your unfriendly ex-employers. Now, despite the fact that the riot doesn’t start until a couple minutes into the game, our buddy Parker starts the game off with a pistol. Seems like no matter what, Parker came to work looking for trouble.

As far as gameplay goes, Red Faction is pretty standard fair for an FPS. You find yourself traversing through numerous levels full of all sorts of baddies, from Ultor guards, to security droids, and a couple surprises later on in the game when things get interesting. The games story is told wholly through text, which can get a little stale at points, but it’s understandable that the game doesn’t boast a ton of fmvs for storytelling. As you wander around the games areas, Parker comes across a couple challenges, nothing too mind boggling, just some simple switch/door puzzles. Aside from that though, the gameplay consists mostly of blasting away at everyone before they kill you. One large problem you’ll come to hate during the game is the complete and total lack of in-level checkpoints. You could be 2/3 of the way finished a level, but if you die, it’s back to square one. The game is a pretty difficult one too, so that added with no checkpoints makes for, at times, some annoying gaming. From time to time, you’ll notice some frame rate problems, mostly when there are a few enemies nearby, but for the most part, the frame rate is pretty decent. Every here and there, you’ll come across fellow minors that will be more than happy to fight along side you until they’re completely massacred by the nearest enemy. The friendly AI doesn’t seem to have much of a knack for survival. Parker has a pretty standard arsenal of weapons that you’d expect to find in a game of this nature: anything from pistols to rocket launchers and everything in between.

The game controls, for the most part, pretty well. You use the d-pad to move, 4 and 6 to strafe, 1 and 3 change weapons, 2 jumps, 5 shoots and 7 changes to ‘look mode’. When you change to look mode, the controls change drastically, making 2 move forward, 4 and 6 still strafe, and 8 move backwards, leaving the d-pad to look around. This mode works better if you’re trying to shoot at someone that’s on a different plain than you, or up on a crevice somewhere, or whatever the case may be. The control changing takes a little getting used to, but once you master it, it comes along like second nature.

Something that is rather amusing is the death animation, or lack thereof. Every time you kill an enemy of flesh and blood, no matter what the weapon, they explode into blood. Whether you blast them with a rocket, or shoot them with a pistol, they blow up. It’s kind of funny actually. Any other enemies you come across, which are more than likely machines, explode. This is a little more understandable than the human enemies, and it really would have been a nice touch to have some death animations, but it’s really not all that noticeable.

The levels in the game are laid out pretty well, nothing extravagant. The destroyable environments from the original game are, for the most part gone. Some walls can still be blown up to reveal secret weapon stashes and secret paths. While this is a far cry from the original concept, it’s still a nice way of trying to incorporate as much of the original game as possible into the portable version.

Visually, Red Faction is one of the most impressive game out on N-Gage. The character models are totally 3d, none of these paper Doom-like characters, which is nice, because they probably could have gotten away with going that route, but opted for the better of the choices. The levels are full of detail, from graffiti on the walls, to marks in the steel or terminals lining against walls. The sound on the other hand, isn’t all too great. The gun noises are all pretty bland, and there are only about 2 different phrases that the guards yell at you, which get pretty stale fast. Music really isn’t a strong point either. The tracks do a pretty good job of adding to the atmosphere, but they’re a little boring and all together not that memorable.

Red Faction, much like most N-gage games being released as of late, supports multiplayer over the bluetooth wireless connection. In Red Faction’s case, as I’m sure you can guess, the multiplayer is the ever popular deathmatch. You and a friend(s) are pitted against each other in one of 5 maps, each a little small, making for some nice frantic fragging. Guns are strewn about the levels, as are health power-ups and armor. You set the frag limit yourself, and go on to kill each other. There’s some fun to be had here, but without the inclusion of some extra modes like cap-the-flag or anything, the multiplayer is best played in short spurts to ensure that it lasts, because if you play it for too long at any given time, you’re likely to get bored of it pretty quickly.

Red Faction is a nice throwback to the FPS’ of old, like Doom or Quake, and it’s an overall enjoyable experience. Some people may get a bit frustrated at the difficulty at times, but it’s good to have a little challenge once in a while. Some excellent graphics and solid gameplay make Red Faction a game to show off to your friends.