History VideoGame / RedFaction

In July 2011 THQ cancelled the series, due to dramatically poor sales of ''Red Faction: Armageddon''. In late 2012 THQ declared bankruptcy and had its assets sold off. Although Koch Media has bought Volition, they did not buy the Red Faction IP. Instead it was sold off to Nordic Games, along with a few other THQ assets such as ''VideoGame/{{Darksiders}}''.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** In the very beginning of ''Guerrilla'' your character presents his ID to the immigration officer upon arriving on Mars...a ''photo ID''. Once the EDF find out he has joined the Red Faction midway through the game, his face ends up plastered all over every media outlet on the planet, and EDF soldiers will occasionally recognize you and attack you on sight, shouting things like "I've found him!", or "I found a terrorist!".
** A meta example from ''Guerrilla'' comes from the fact that buildings do not generally respawn once destoyed, [[BrokenBridge including bridges]]. Unless you're willing to put up with making significant detours, you may want to leave the second Dust mission (where you destroy a bridge over a dry ravine in order to flee pursuers) until you're done with all the optional side missions in Dust (the gap can still be traversed afterwards, but only if you're good at driving fast to jump the raised hills to the north side or patient enough to navigate the steep ramps leading down to and up from the ravine to the south), as well as leave that giant memorial bridge in the Badlands alone (there's sufficient targets and side missions elsewhere in the Badlands to break the EDF's control without destroying the bridge).

* BareYourMidriff: Quill, your sniper in ''Red Faction 2''. Also, the Team Blue Female and Team Red Female (multiplayer only) have a variant on the CleavageWindow - except in this case, it's a belly window.

* {{Expy}}: Kara is pretty much one of ''Guerrilla'''s Samanya, being another native Martian woman who helps a Mason. They also both wear clothes that [[BareYourMidriff show their midriff]].

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: ''Guerrilla'' displays general enemy difficulty using different armor colors. The lowest rank gasmask mooks wear blue, the standard troops are in metalic brown with gold visors, and the elite troops are wearing bright white outfits making them stick out. The Ravager {{Mook}} in ''Armageddon'' [[UndergroundMonkey comes in three different colors]] that denote their abilities. Reds shoot [[FlechetteStorm needles,]] blues shoot [[ShockAndAwe lighting blasts]] and oranges shoot [[StuffBlowingUp explosive fireballs.]] The Berserkers also come in two different colors; greens have an affinity to energy and oranges have an affinity to fire.

** In the Ultor Echo mission, the first building you come across in the Marauder ruins is the chamber in which Parker fought his boss battle against Capek. Mason will even hear garbled, ghostly speech throughout the level; the speeches are actually lines spoken by Capek in the first game.

* AllForNothing: Subverted in Red Faction, where the early part of the game Parker tries to reach a shuttle that a bunch of miners stole to get back to Earth, he reaches it too late. But the shuttle gets blown up by Ultor AA batteries anyway. So it's good that Parker didn't make it in time. Hendrix lampshades this.

* CarFu: The enemies in the final mission of ''Red Faction: Guerrilla'' may attempt to run the player over. The tactic is variably effective as running Alec doing only light damage but can stunlock him in attempting to get up sometimes even parking the car beside the player and doing nothing.

* CoolStarship: The Hydra seems to have been this, what little we hear and see of it, before it gets shotdown by a sucker punch of a nanite infused missile.

Several missions Mason carries out are also classic terror attacs, like blowing up a shopping mall and coffee shop popular with EDF supporters/collaborators, destroying a war memorial commemorating the dead from the first Red Faction rebellion, wiping out a corporate meeting negotiating new contracts, or destroying the seat of the civilian government apparatus of the Mars colony (who, granted, are a powerless puppet state, but still). The Red Faction also ''really'' doesn't treat suspected collaborators well.\\
** And this isn't even getting into the biggest bit of MoralMyopia yet. When Hydra appears in orbit, the plan was apparently to send in companies of marines following orbital bombardment. The vessel was prepped for a full scale planetary invasion, which means that it had a full complement on board...a complement of ''200 thousand.'' You read that right. The final act of the game has the heroic revolutionaries effectively carrying out a genocide of their own for the sake of a world whose population couldn't possibly come close to that. Granted, these are the same sort of people [[ArmiesAreEvil who have been happily massacring civilians throughout the game]], but that hardly seems like decent justification in the end.

* ShockAndAwe: The Arc Welder in ''Red Faction: Guerrilla''. Quite a useful little weapon, since Mason seems physically incapable of hijacking vehicles. It's realistic, in the sense that high-end military vehicles like tanks etc. should have ''some'' kind of door lock to prevent people from exactly that. And hey, without that, you wouldn't have an incentive to use the welder to [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential electrocute an entire APC worth of troopers]].

** An achievement in ''Armageddon'' is "What is best in life?" It's for [[Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian crushing enemies beneath your feet]].

* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler: Alec goes through a momentary one following the EDF take over of a Red Faction safe house and the commander's death, briefly losing faith in the revolution. Luckily Samanya snaps him out of this with her plan to get the Marauders on their side.]]

* HighlyVisibleNinja: Both played straight and subverted in ''Guerrilla''. Played straight with the Red Faction's technicals, civilian vehicles openly mounting machine guns, anti-tank cannons or rocket launchers that you can casually drive right through an EDF checkpoint with no one batting an eye. Subverted with Mason himself. By the late game you'll be openly wearing an obvious suit of makeshift body armor over the top of miner's clothes, and you'll be operating in areas of the planet where miners are rare in general - and people ''will'' notice this, with EDF soldiers often treating you with suspicion and eventually shooting you on-sight even in entirely safe areas.
* HitAndRunTactics: ''Guerrilla'' heavily encourages this, which isn't surprising considering the game is named after a type of irregular fighter who specializes in doing just that. In fact, some structures and bases are nearly impossible to take down without using such tactics, as unless you're using [[HumongousMecha a Walker]], the EDF ''will'' swarm you and gun you down, even with the best weapons and armor, and given [[StuffBlowingUp the nature of this game]], cover never lasts long. As opined in ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation''[[note]]"You get enough ammo to worry half a scout troop."[[/note]], you run out of ammo in long battles when starting out. Even later, you tend to run out of the [[{{BFG}} good stuff]].

** Parker in ''Red Faction'' is pretty damn dense, not to mention rather hotheaded. Funnily enough, [[InformedAbility he was accepted into Harvard]] before the events of the game. He decided to become a miner to spite his parents. In ''Guerrilla'', it is fortunate Samanya is the brains of the outfit. Mason has the hitting power and intellect of a sledgehammer. This introduces an odd note of humor when giving him the nano forge is seen as putting it "in safe hands."
** Darius in ''Armageddon'' takes this up to eleven, where, after the terraformer is destroyed by Adam Hale, he doesn't even [[IdiotBall think of using the nanoforge]] (capable of repairing any solid material) to repair the terraformer at all. Five years later, aliens are released and lots of people die. Only after finding out the weakness of the aliens is Earth-like air does he decide to repair the terraformer, and all it took to get it running was repairing the power cores.

* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:Kara]], in ''Armageddon.'' [[spoiler: She appears to have been KilledOffForReal, though Darius [[NeverFoundTheBody never finds her body...]] It's a relatively small impalement, as they go.]]

** The Arc Welder, a welding tool for large vehicles as the name suggests modfied to shoot [[ShockAndAwe streams of electricity]], incapacitating enemies and letting you hijack vehicles. Upgrades include ''allowing the streams to discern friend from foe'', and an additional stream for extra damage as well as hitting an aditional target in groups.
** The Grinder, which shoots dinner-plate sized sawblades fast enough to take your head off. It can be upgraded to charge faster, and to make its [[StuffBlowingUp sawblades explode on impact.]]

* InstakillMook: The Mercenary Commanders in the original ''Red Faction'', who often carry Rail Drivers capable of kill you in one hit, even on the ''lowest difficulty'', thankfully, they are unable to use the Thermal Scope.

** The EDF in general in ''Guerrilla'' who are constantly beating, executing, and generally abusing the population.

* KickTheDog: Colonel Masako killing [[spoiler:Hendrix]] with a trap near the end of the first game. The killing could be excused as he did cause Ultor and the Mercs a lot of problems, but he was unarmed and Masako then gloated about the killing. His bravery and service earns him the honor of having the Capital Building of EDF-controlled Mars named after him.

* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe. The first game features a bullet proof shield.
* MacrossMissileMassacre: The Missile Tank and Combat Walker in ''Guerrilla''. The Combat Walker fires a constant hailstorm of rockets from its mounted rocket pods, and the Missile Tank can unleash a long, staggered barrage of missiles over a few seconds, pulverizing vehicles, buildings and infantry alike in a Katyusha-esque fashion. You can also upgrade your rocket launcher in Guerrilla to fire up to 3 rockets that home onto a target. AwesomeButImpractical because of the tiny ammo repertoire.

* MilitariesAreUseless: The EDF, despite being the Earth military, is literally incapable of taking on both the Marauders and Red Faction. Their bases seemed to be poorly defended, to the point where one man is able to single-handedly wreck them. You would think a military organization would at least protect it's buildings with automated turret guns?

** ''Armageddon'' substitutes these for ''Guerrilla's'' much larger mining walkers, likely due to the cramped conditions of most of the levels. They may not be quite as destructive, but they do the job well - especially the L.E.O., a uniquely-styled mecha with flowing skirt-armor, a heavy machine gun and rocket pack.

* MolotovTruck: You can make these yourself in ''Guerrilla'' by sticking remote explosives on a vehicle then driving it (in)to a target building before exiting and detonating the charges. Be careful that it doesn't end up [[HoistByHisOwnPetard toppling in]] [[OhCrap your direction]]. Also applies to the MOAB explosives left behind by Ultor, once you find one driving over it will affix it to your vehicle of choice.

* {{Nanomachines}}: The Nano Forge, a key MacGuffin in ''Guerrilla'', is among other things what enables the Red Faction to [[spoiler: destroy the EDF Flagship Hydra at the end of the game.]] It returns in ''Armageddon'', now strapped to Darius' left arm, and can be used to repair destroyed objects as well as granting him various abilities. In both games it's also the basis for the Nano Rifle, a powerful weapon that can disassemble whatever it hits.

** Seen again in the underground shanty-towns in ''Armageddon.''

** In ''Red Faction'' your allies have literal red jumpsuits and are beyond completely useless. Enemies will kill off your buddies before they can fire off a shot, as Red Faction miners literally die in one hit. Even if they somehow survive the gunfight they'll contrive to [[ScriptedBattle drop dead]] for no reason anyway. In the last few levels, you get to see some miners live a little longer, but they'll pretty much lose against the more powerful mercenaries.

** In ''Guerrilla'', your fellow rebels can occasionally hold their own. Still, the average rebel devotes much of their time to a) shooting other rebels by accident, b) complaining because another rebel shot them, c) walking into the player's line of fire, or d) seeking cover by huddling in front of the vehicle you are driving. They get cover -- from the top as you bump over their brave rebel skulls. Rebels in ''Guerilla'' actually have more than twice as much health as [=EDF=] soldiers, but they're usually outnumbered at least 10 to 1, not to mention the fact that the [=EDF=] have seemingly limitless reinforcements.

* TheRevolutionWillNotBeVillified: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in ''Red Faction 2''. Played mostly straight everywhere else, with some notable exceptions. In ''Guerrilla'', most of the Red Faction's actions are either in self-defense or attacks against legitimate military targets of the cartoonishly evil EDF, but there are a couple missions which are a bit more...grey, like blowing up a shopping mall and coffee shop which are popular with civilian supporters of the EDF, destroying a war memorial commemorating the dead from the first Red Faction rebellion, stopping a corporate contract negotiation by killing all the negotiators, or wiping out the civilian government apparatus of the Mars colony (who, granted, are a powerless puppet state, but still). The Red Faction also ''really'' doesn't treat suspected collaborators well.\\
And this isn't even getting into the biggest bit of MoralMyopia yet. When Hydra appears in orbit, the plan was apparently to send in companies of marines following orbital bombardment. The vessel was prepped for a full scale planetary invasion, which means that it had a full complement on board...a complement of ''200 thousand.'' You read that right. The final act of the game has the heroic revolutionaries effectively carrying out a genocide of their own for the sake of a world whose population couldn't possibly come close to that. Granted, these are the same sort of people [[ArmiesAreEvil who have been happily massacring civilians throughout the game]], but that hardly seems like decent justification in the end.
* ReVision: We didn't know much about the EDF in the first or second game, besides the fact that they police most of the Earth and that Eos has friends and contacts amongst them. In ''Guerrilla'', they're given a much darker painting - they're a puppet state for a bunch of {{Mega Corp}}s and were apparently brutal fascists even when the Red Faction rebellion occured - Old Parker claims that the EDF were assholes, but Ultor made them the lesser evil.

* NamesTheSame: InUniverse. Alec Mason's VoiceWithAnInternetConnection for ''Guerilla'' was Sam (short for Samanya). Darius in ''Armageddon'' gets a "Sam" of his own, the "Situational Awareness Module" that also tells him where he needs to go next. It [[AllThereInTheManual mentions in the manual]] that Samanya actually designed and built S.A.M. herself.

* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler:Hendrix, the brains of the team,]] is killed near the end of the first game.

* HitAndRunTactics: ''Guerrilla'' heavily encourages this. In fact, some structures and bases are nearly impossible to take down without using such tactics, as unless you're using [[HumongousMecha a Walker]], the EDF ''will'' swarm you and gun you down, even with the best weapons and armor, and given [[StuffBlowingUp the nature of this game]], cover never lasts long. As opined in ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation''[[note]]"You get enough ammo to worry half a scout troop."[[/note]], you run out of ammo in long battles when starting out. Even later, you tend to run out of the [[{{BFG}} good stuff]].

* SpikesOfVillainy: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] by the Marauders, [[spoiler: as it's part of their {{Masquerade}}]]. Played painfully straight by Hale and his cultists in ''Armageddon.''

* AbnormalAmmo: ''Guerilla'' brings us the Grinder which fires curcular razor disks to impale people, the Nano Rifle that fires nanites which disassemble everything they touch, and the Spiker class of weapons from the Marauder faction which fires spikes of rusty metal to impale people. Also, the Singularity Rifle and XNG-500 in ''Armageddon''.

* AwesomePersonnelCarrier: ''Guerrilla'' has drivable [=APCs=], mounted with machine guns, [[MoreDakka rail guns]] and other futuristic weaponry, forming an integral part of the enemy EDF's presence on Mars. They are notable for the loving detail of their models and are undoubtedly cool.

* WeaponsThatSuck: The Singularity Cannon in Red Faction: Armageddon

** Shrike in ''Red Faction II'' disappears after Molov seizes power, but resurfaces in the game's final mission. He also disappears after crashing both the gunship and the tank.

** Colonel Paul in ''Armageddon''. In a surface mission in the middle of the game, he rants about Darius the whole time. Thankfully, Darius gives him a well-deserved punch. Even Winters is relieved.

* LaResistance: The eponymous Red Faction.

* LuckBasedMission: ''Ashes to Ashes'' in Guerrilla, as the somewhat random mortars and physics for destructable objects can result in colonists dying before you can actually have any chance to save them.

* TheFederation: The Earth Defense Force, although they gain [[TheEmpire Imperial]] tendencies in ''Red Faction: Guerrilla''. Apparently this is due to political corruption as they now have private financial backers.

* ReplacementMooks: In the first ''Red Faction'', the mercenaries end up replacing the security guards as your primary enemy. They are indeed challenging, because they're ex-military, heavily-armored, and carry advanced weaponry.

* DisasterScavengers: The Marauders in ''Guerrilla'' live like this, with structures, weapons and vehicles that appear to be cobbled together from bits and pieces of scrap. [[spoiler: It is however, [[{{Masquerade}} a facade.]] They do this to hide their identities as former [[MegaCorp Ultor]] scientists, and descendants thereof. And they know very well how their LostTechnology works, thank you very much.]] ''Armageddon'' turns this UpToEleven.

** Darius in ''Armageddon'' takes this UptoEleven, where, after the terraformer is destroyed by Adam Hale, he doesn't even [[IdiotBall think of using the nanoforge]] (capable of repairing any solid material) to repair the terraformer at all. Five years later, aliens are released and lots of people die. Only after finding out the weakness of the aliens is Earth-like air does he decide to repair the terraformer, and all it took to get it running was repairing the power cores.

* {{Roboteching}}: The Missile Tank can fire its rockets like this. The modified one you get to use in the final mission takes this UpToEleven.

%% * BaldBlackLeaderGuy: Sgt. Winters in ''Armageddon''.

* MoralDissonance: Colonel Joseph Broga is painfully (and loudly) tortured in the ''Catch and Release'' mission by Carmen, before being dumped off a cliff. Apparently, this is acceptable, because Broga himself tortured numerous people. In fact, [[KarmicDeath he tortured her interrogator]].

** A meta example from ''Guerrilla'' comes from the fact that buildings does not generally respawn once destoyed, [[BrokenBridge including bridges]]. You might in other words want to leave the second dust mission (where you destroy in order to flee pursuers) until your completely done with dust as well as leave that giant memorial bridge in the Badlands alone, unless you wan't to have to take a big detour whenever you pass through that area.

* BaldBlackLeaderGuy: Sgt. Winters in ''Armageddon''.
* BaldOfAwesome: A completely shaved head seems to be the cultural norm for all men in the 22nd century, including all of the heroes and villains of ''Guerilla'' and ''Armageddon''.