Non-competitive MP in RF: Armageddon explained, UGC tools hinted for future titles

Volition has detailed why it doesn't have competitive multiplayer in Red Faction, Armageddon, explaining that co-op multiplayer "worked better" for the game.

"We went with a co-op multiplayer mode because we thought it worked better for our game [with] the Nano Forge abilities," lead designer David Abzug told Beefjack.

"We have Nano Forge abilities that give different powers, for example, Impact – the first one you get in the game – that knocks things flying and blows holes in walls. Later on you get other abilities: Shockwave knocks your enemies up in the air and suspends them in stasis for a few seconds; Shell, puts a forcefield around you and blocks all incoming damage."

Abzug continued: "Now picture that in a multiplayer game where you take Shell so you’re the one we all gather around so you can pop it up when we need it. I take Shockwave to act as crowd control for the group. You take Commando so your weapons do more damage and you take Impact to knock things flying when they get too close. It makes it better to work together as a team."

In a separate interview with Videogamer, Abzug also seemed to hint that user-generated content tools would be included for a future title. It was ruled out of Armageddon due to constrictions, though.

"We made the decision early on not to be doing user generated stuff simply because of how much time we had, so we put that to one side early on in the process," he said.

On the subject of Armageddon's engine, GeoMod 2.0, he added that it was "an amazing thing."

"When Red faction Guerrilla started getting made, the structure artists would build a building - and it'd look fantastic - but when they put it in the game world it'd fall over.

"They actually had to learn basic architectural concepts, as oppose to just what was in their imaginations - they had to build things that stayed together. Once you started actually applying physics to them."

Red Faction: Armageddon launches next Tuesday in the US and next Friday in the UK for PS3, 360 and PC.