Red Faction II - Xbox

Set a few years after the first game but curiously failing to feature Parker, the hero from the original, Red Faction II casts you as Alias, a nanotech-enhanced soldier out to bring down the Soviet-style Commonwealth that has decided to blight the land in the way that evil dictatorships always seem to in video games.

The primary gimmick of the Red Faction games is the Geo-Mod (geometry modification) graphics engine that allows you to destroy almost any wall, ceiling and floor in order to proceed or simply to have a bit of a laugh. The biggest problem with the first game was its terrible loading times that really interrupted the flow of the game, but that's been sorted out for this sequel which also includes improvements to the previously Spartan multi-player modes.

As you'd expect there are also lots of new vehicles to drive--including a very natty robotic power suit--plus tons more weapons and even a new Halo-style shield system. Admittedly none of this is terribly original, and the frame rate can stutter on occasion, but it's still lots of fun for red-blooded men and women. --David Jenkins