The single player game begins with narration from Molov, the leader of your small group of outlaws. He's voiced by Lance Henrikson of Alien and Millennium fame, and he does as good a job as always. All the sound effects and music in Red Faction II are very good. It won't make your jaw drop, but explosions and firefights sound as dangerous and lifelike as they should, the music fits the somber, dangerous, "iron curtain" feel of the game and the voice acting isn't too cheesy.

Red Faction II does an excellent job in the graphics department, particularly when it comes to characters. They look as much like real people as you'll ever see on a PlayStation 2, from proportions to movement to detail (as long as you don't zoom all the way in). The enemies are nicely done, too. Most are humanoid, but their faces are covered by a full-body battle uniform. It's a nice, subtle way to rob them of humanity without making them into robots or zombies (most of them).

The surroundings aren't quite as polished, however. Some scenery, particularly outside, is just plain hard to figure out. This is due in part, I'm sure, to an attempt at setting a dark mood to the story, but the overly shadowed levels just become hard to see. There's a contrast meter built into the game, but that robs the scene of richness at the expense of clarity. The interactive scenery also is inconsistent. Some parts of the level will blow apart with copious use of explosives. Others won't, they won't even show blast marks. But Red Faction II does run at a solid frame rate most of the time, with no noticeable slowdown except for a few areas of certain levels.

The single player mode is the standard tack-on fare found in many FPS games. It's fun in medium doses, but nothing exceptional. Kill everything in your path without getting fragged and you're on to the next cut scene. The ability to play cooperatively would have been nice, but that's not an option. In place of co-op you'll be accompanied by a member of your team on some missions. For the most part these A.I. controlled mission buddies do a good job of being useful without getting in the way.

The only wrinkle in the single player mode is your "heroic" meter. It will go up or down depending upon your ability to find hidden objectives and complete the mission without killing innocent citizens. Your success in this department will dictate the ending you see, and it's a nice idea. But the execution falls a bit short in that the result is an in-game, voluntary difficulty setting. If you want to see the end of the game, you'll start blasting and look up only to hit "save." The next time through you can make the game harder for yourself by avoiding innocents. The concept doesn't make the experience any deeper, just harder.

A few vehicles serve to break up the action. You'll use a submarine, tank, gunship and battle armor on your way through the story, but only two of those allow you to drive (the submarine and battle armor). In the other two you man the guns and another team member takes the wheel. Each vehicle looks good and packs a satisfying destructive punch, but these areas aren't as intermingled with the game as they could have been. They're really just breaks from all the walking.

It's all about fragging your friends, and the multiplayer options include the usual deathmatches, capture the flag, bagman (carry the bag and survive as long as you can), arena and more. Arena is similar to deathmatch except that it is round based. If you die, you're out until the next round. Most points after a set number of rounds wins. You'll have 14 different weapons to choose from, some of which can be used two-handed (two submachine guns, two pistols, etc.). Up to four players can play with the PS2's multitap peripheral.

Whatever the game mode, Red Faction II clearly favors overkill. Everyone but the cowardly scientists has a hard head because it takes several well placed shots to get a man down. But put a grenade anywhere near them and they're toast. There are also several good death animations which make the experience that much more satisfying. One of the best occurs when you hit a stationary enemy with the grenade launcher and watch as everything but his legs from the knees down is blown to kingdom come. Obviously, the gore factor is fairly high.

While there's no online play or cooperative mode, Red Faction II does support a USB keyboard and mouse. This will go a long way in drawing PC FPS fans, but without online play (using the PS2 network adapter) it seems like a wasted effort. The only other thing lacking is a distinct identity. Red Faction II does an excellent job combining the crucial elements of a first person shooter, but if you don't look at the box cover you could reasonably get this game confused with almost any other FPS in a modern setting. Still, it's a great looking game that plays well. Only the absence of a unique personality and a few features keep it from being ranked among the best.