20 Great Video Game Franchises That Became UNPLAYABLE
19. Red Faction
Red Faction felt revolutionary when it launched in 2001. Its destructible environments let players blow holes through walls and reshape arenas in ways other shooters couldn’t fathom. Coupled with its smart game design and impressive AI, Red Faction was regarded as the best shooter on the PS2 by a long shot.
Rather than dishing out more of the same, Red Faction II took the action to Earth instead of Mars, while also improving on the basic mechanics. Though it was top-notch on the PS2, the other ports were less than lucky.
Although the follow-up, Red Faction: Guerrilla, was great on all systems, its legacy was tarnished by the bare-bones expansion.
Even though it felt like Red Faction could recover, Armageddon sealed its downturn. This underwhelming instalment took place in underground tunnels, breaking away from the open-world gameplay that made Guerrilla so special. The disappointment was a double-whammy, since the abominable Battlegrounds spin-off was released shortly before to promote Armageddon.
When THQ filed for bankruptcy soon after, the future of Red Faction became highly questionable. Although it looked like series could make a comeback when the remastered Guerrilla came out, it was let down by horrific input lag and game-crashing bugs.
Oh, well. Red Faction had a good run.