This generation of consoles has allowed more companies to dip into the once PC-exclusive genre of first person shooters, albeit with varying results. Volition's Red Faction was one of the few standouts when it appeared a few years back, and since then, the developer had been cooking up an upgraded sequel. Gaming Age's own Ernie Halal scored Red Faction II a B+ when it arrived last fall on PlayStation 2, and since then, Outrage Entertainment and Cranky Pants Games have been handling the Xbox and GameCube ports respectively.

Interested in a thoughtful critique of Red Faction II's gameplay nuances? Have a look at Ernie's review; there's no difference content-wise between the GCN and Xbox conversions and the PS2 game released a few months back. As for me, I'm taking a magnifying glass to the ports themselves.

There is absolutely no contest in visuals. Either Outrage Entertainment has far superior programmers or the GCN didn't quite click with Volition's engine, because the Xbox version dominates. GCN owners will have to content with a botchy frame rate that never becomes difficult to play with, but woefully dips below 30 frames per second, and never approaches 60. Strangely, unlike the Xbox version, all of the environments are very dark, making it difficult to navigate. On the Xbox, Red Faction II runs at a solid 60 frames per second constantly, whether you're engaging in intense firefights with government forces or simply watching a cut-scene. The draw distance is a tad smaller, and for some reason the brightness ended up much better on the Xbox. Couldn't tell you how that happened!

Interestingly, upon playing both versions, the spotty lighting and frame rate of the GCN version actually helped to hide the fact that the visuals, namely the environments and character models, of Red Faction II are pretty second rate. Not quite the case on the Xbox. The improved frame rate and corrected brightness make the sad fact that Halo eats Red Faction II for breakfast readily apparent. Cranky Pants Games must've had a real tough time with the port; even the voice acting was off, as character's mouths would start moving several seconds before the actual dialogue caught up! Yikes!

Unlike the graphics, neither controller is really better than the other. It just depends on your preference. Slight edge might be given to the Xbox because of its superior dual analog sticks, but the GCN yellow c-stick isn't too troublesome. No matter which controller you use, it's still annoying as all hell to aim and fire two weapons at the same time! Fun, fun, fun.

Cranky Pants Games really did a number on the GCN version, whereas Xbox owners are allowed to bask in the sweet, sweet glory of a slightly above average first person shooter running at one really fast frame rate. Enjoy, kiddies!