Red Faction Diaries Part One

This is my ongoing exploration of the Red Faction Universe. Whether you’re a newcomer or an old-goer, I hope to make this something you can read along with and enjoy. I begin with Red Faction.
I am using no mods, as the graphics still hold up pretty well, though the screen resolution options are terrible for modern PCs… I thought it was funny that it automatically detected my i3 laptop as having a Pentium III processor. So far, absolutely no issues running it and no graphical hiccups. There also appears to not actually be any graphical mods available for this game; released in 2001.

Parker had been inducted into the rebel group calling themselves the Red Faction, a group of miners wishing to overthrow the Ultor Corporation who ran Mars. With people dying of a mysterious plague, and them being treated worse than slaves, it’s about time for the Red Faction to rise up…

At the end of the shift, Parker and his mining buddy are heading to clock off when a guard takes a tone. Push turns to kill, and suddenly the guards were trying to murder all of the miners, including Parker!

Desperate times, desperate measures...

I grabbed a stun baton and went to work bludgeoning my way to a gun. With a gun equipped, I ran, not knowing where I was trying to get to, but knowing I had to get there. Unfortunately, with the mines a veritable maze, not aided by the fact I began blowing holes through walls as soon as I found explosives, it didn’t take long before I was lost.

Eventually I found my way to some other miners, who told me to follow them. I turned around to grab some more explosives and by the time I was ready to follow them, they had been gunned down. But now I had an objective -- reach the ship they were headed for, to get off-world!

With renewed purpose, I headed for the exit to mine M-4. The one behind the Red Faction, Eos, came over the general radio broadcast and told all miners to rise up against Ultor. This seemed like sound advice, given the alternative was bullets being forced into your body…

"I knew I should've called in sick this morning..."

It seemed like everyone I met died moments later, until I saved someone from being beaten to death. He knew where the ship was! I followed him, only to be surprised when he exploded in front of me, due to hidden explosives. Which would never make another appearance… Almost as if I was supposed to do this solo…

A guy called Hendrix came over my comm and told me that he was a technician who worked for -- and hated -- the Ultor Corporation. He was going to help me reach the ship and get off-world, because I was the only survivor of M-4. Of course, I had no idea how many other mines there were, nor how many people were going to not make it out once the mine was sealed, but I wasn’t paid to care.

I worked my way up, heading for the higher levels and murdering those who were trying to do the same to me. I cleared the barracks of Ultor troopers, and found a miner in a cell. Letting him out, he promised to take me to the ship!

As we went out of the room, he was shot and died.

This is why I can't have nice things...

I killed more people, and found my way up a couple of elevator shafts to the medical facility. Here, Hendrix warned me that the miners were about to leave in a shuttle! I had to hurry!

Except I was too late… Hendrix berated me for being too slow, which was a little harsh seeing as how I was being left here to die, and he was an employee of The Man that I was rebelling against. He quickly shut up when the shuttle exploded.

I suddenly began to hope this wasn't a Final Destination-type deal...

With my best way off-planet now so much smouldering scrap metal, Hendrix congratulated me for not being faster. Of course, this left me with one less option of escape -- and plenty more Ultor guards left to face...

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