I’m a third of the way through Red Faction: Armageddon as of this posting and despite being rather pleased with the demo, I have to say that the full game has failed to impress me the way Guerrilla did a few years ago.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that Armageddon isn’t a good game. It’s definitely a worthy entry in the series. It has a solid plot, the controls work well, the graphics and sound are some of the best I’ve seen, and the weapons are some of the most satisfying I’ve ever played around with.

Unfortunately, Armageddon is surprisingly linear, it’s shorter than its predecessors by several hours, you can’t save your game between check points, and there are too many cut-scenes (although you can skip them and even pause). I was also annoyed by the number of indestructible structures and surfaces in this game. Being able to blow everything up is what makes Red Faction games fun to play.

Putting those relatively minor complaints aside, however, there’s definitely a lot to enjoy about this game. I’d be willing to play through the campaign at least a few times, there are a handful of additional game modes, and the multiplayer is decent. It’s definitely worth buying a copy – just don’t expect it to be as good as Guerrilla, because it’s not.