Good memories playing this on PS2 with my friend in split screen and us spending hours carving huge tunnels and boulders out of the wall to see how big we could make them and watching them fall. We found the memory limit several times before the game would spawn missing sections of the walls.

For anyone watching this video and want to play this, I would absolutely recommend to play it on PC with Dash Faction. It is a community patch that comes with a ton of bugfixes (including the infamous submarine explosion bug at above 60fps) and adds a ton of quality of life features like DX9 renderer, widescreen resolutions/FOV fixes, AA, AF, autosave function and more etc. It is also necessary to run modern mapsets. The recently released Kava campaign (which BTW is an excellent campaign based on mobile Red Faction game's story) need Dash Faction to run.

Crazy we were blowing through walls in 2001, then 20 years later games are so static you’re lucky if you get bullet hole decals.

There is something about 2000-2001 graphics that speaks to me - whether it's vertex lighting, smooth fixed-pipeline shaders or phototextures (or combination of it) - all together it gives such a "clear as a glass" look. Deus Ex, RF, DNF2001, Serious Sam, RTCW, Max Payne, Codename 47, first builds of Stalker - many good examples out there. There is some specific realism in those visuals, that modern PBR-based renderer is just not being able to replicate and communicate.

I remember the menu music for the PS2 version was a banger, still got that stuck in my head over 20 years later!

The fact you could destroy everything to the point you could dig freaking tunnels on the ground on a playstation 2 was fucking insane at the time

Ah yes, this is a true classic.

I remember the previews in PC Gamer magazine describing the geomod system. Then we finally got the demo disc and it was amazing! I've been disappointed no one has really pushed this idea ever since. Recently replayed Red Faction Guerilla. I hope they return to the IP soon.

Really loving these side by side playthroughs!

Its crazy with the tech we have right now that no company has made a game that really innovated destruction like this game did

I remember playing this on a Pentium III 450, 128 MB RAM, TNT2. And to my surprise, this game was running quite well in 640x480.

I remember creating vast tunnel networks in this game for no particular reason. What great memories.

Thank you guys for doing these retro comparison videos! It's such a fun trip down memory lane, and the differences in retro titles are way more interesting than modern games!

Literally just bought this game for my PS2 used at the pawn shop!!

I remember in the mid 00s, my mate getting the Nokia N-Gage and showing us. The memory that stands out, having to remove the battery to get to the game slot... And the games looked like SD cards.

Ahh Man, I loved Red Faction. I rented this on the PS2 on a whim and it blew my mind

Dude! I'm playing this on the PS5 right now! The resolution was definitely never supposed to be above 480p. You can see the enemies T posing off in the distance as they float towards you. You can't do any damage till you move closer to them also. It's pretty funny but kinda bull towards the end of the game because of the higher resolution on PS4/PS5 allowing you to see enemies further out than you could back on PS2 and not being able to damage them. Such a great game though!

Same team that did Descent. Descent is the game that got me into gaming! I would love a DF retro to cover that game. Please John!!!

rf was my first ps2 game and i absolutely loved how you were able to break through walls, doors and so on, it felt so fresh! more games should do that, it's so cool being able to change the level structure!

So glad you guys find the time to put these out frequently, enjoy them so much, thanks guys

Oh, man. Total Recall is an absolute masterpiece. I’m probably going to watch it now because of you.

This is a great format and it's really cool to see this game on both platforms at once. Thanks guys!

If you notice that Pc version is green, it's because game renders with internal color pallet calibration designed for ntsc tvs, most of ps2/FC/Xbox game ports suffering from this issue in pc, they supposed to look more red, not like matrix green filter.

Loved this game back on the PS2. The character models in cutscenes were a little rough even back in those days (compared to MGS2 & SH 2) but the overall graphical presentation was really good and the geo mod system blew my mind.

Loved the hell outa this game as a kid crazy tech being able to destroy almost everything in your path with all the destruction

This and RF2 were my favorites on PS2, Split Screen multiplayer was lots of fun and the destruction was pretty cool.

This game was far ahead of its time. I had a blast with it. I remember trying to see what the deepest tunnel I could make with the engines limits lol The rebellion discussion in this video cracked me up

I maintain that every time John says “by and large” we need the Buy n Large logo from wall-e in a corner.

Love to see you guys cover Blue Stinger on Dreamcast. Furthest draw distances I had ever seen in a 3D game at the time by a country mile.

I love these Time Capsule videos! Please never stop!

LOVED playing this on PS2 back in the day. Really gave the feeling of a high end pc gaming experience on console for its time.

I had so much fun with this game on the ps2. Thanks for the video, brings back memories.

While this game was super impressive for its tech, Red Faction Guerilla was truly groundbreaking. Still to this day almost NO games do what Red Faction Guerilla did back then.

PC Time Capsule videos are some of the best Great work, Alex!

I played this on a Pentium 3 @1GHz can't remember the GPU model, but it was an nVidia 128MB card. The recommended specs at the time was a P2-400MHz and 8MB GPU

Omg yes. I loved this game. So cool to see you give it some attention

Got this game as a teenager and LOVED it. The tunneling is still one of the coolest things I've seen in a game. I was fully invested in the atmosphere etc, I never thought it had bad graphics at the time. Still looks ok to me.

oh man, been waiting for this DFR for a while. so many good memories with this title.

Never played any Red Faction game. Definitely has that old-school feel, with hip-firing and level design. The destruction is pretty impressive too. I love this video series, by the way. Still so many games to show off!

One of the cooler games of the era, and thank you for mentioning Paul Verhoeven's timeless masterpiece Total Recall, Alex. Now that's a film. This video is a great Sunday morning treat. Love the nostalgia so thick it needs a support crew, and the subsequent tech talk on the era.

Sticky bomb + NPC's face = classic. I remember setting this up on a LAN with my buddy, walking away momentarily to get a drink and coming back to my screen being partially darkened. He had placed a sticky bomb on the face of my character, let me run around confused and laughing at be before blowing me up. Such a great game.

You aren't wrong about the console development part - Prior to RF Volitions experience was either PC or the joystick controls - not controllers themselves, it was a big adjustment for both Summoner and Red Faction Edit: If you happen to be interested, there is a mini-documentary called "The Secret History of Volition" - it describes their origins from the very first games they made including Descent and goes all the way up to ( I think) Red Faction Armageddon and SR3/4 ? Edit Edit: I got to the part where i think you talked about the documentary and i feel silly :'D in any case, speaking directly to the N-gage, a community member did a full port of the Ngage version onto the PC using REDs level designer - so we have a PC version of the ngage that you can play from the mod set up in RF :D Also Dash faction was recently updated to add auto saves to each physical level transition :D OK final edit >< - RF2 was a console port rather than made on PC - the xbox version was the console of choice out of PS2/Xbox/Gamecube - I suspect that Outrage when they did the port didn't care to put a dedicated multiplayer out on it since their only official instruction was probably just get the game on PC. Even the customisation aspect of multiplayer on PC RF2 is diluted away from its console state.

Oh man I love real time comparisons with commentary like this guys, I'm excited for more! Deus Ex on PC vs PS2 or Half Life perhaps? The possibilities are endless!

Oh I’ve been looking forward to this! 🙏

I'm going back and watching this series. I love it and hope to see more

I remember how impressed I was playing this back when it came out. I had the PC version and I loved it. And yes, it totally reminded me of Total Recall, which was one of the reasons I liked it so much.

One of my favs from teenage era, that game back in the day was super impressive... looking at it now - I'm still impressed, I think I will replay it with some ReShades to see how much you can improve it further. Props Alex for mentioning KMFDM - I think you're the first game-oriented media mentioning that band, and Industrial music at all!

By far one of my favorite classic game.. Played this week on my ps5

Remember playing the demo of this on PC. it made my Matrox graphics card cry.

Red faction on the ps2 was my childhood

Great memories renting this for PS2 from a local video shop back in the day. This and Red Faction 2 took up dozens of hours lol

The bit with John Romero's Red Faction had me cackling at my office

I also had a similar save game issue with the game. It basically had save states so you’d load up in the exact position/status you saved at. I don’t know how I did it, but I’d saved my game while in the process of falling to my death. So every time I loaded it up, I was in an eternal death loop. I only had one save state and was far enough in to the game that I had no desire to start over, so I just never played the game again.

I had a great time with this game back in the day! This video is for us, old people, who were around at the time 😅

Thank you for the nostalgia trip! I loved digging and digging on PC. I remember doing that with the drill for what had to be hours. It was also fun to create shortcuts and flank enemies. The 2nd game really dropped the ball on a lot of this, but I still enjoyed it for what it was. The following games were hit or miss, too.

Very interesting and fun idea for the video. I hope you keep it going. Next maybe MGS2 PC time capsul vs PS2 ?

Played this on the PC and loved it. It's so fun to see you guys playing it here. The graphics in retrospect remind me a little of Soldier of Fortune.

Parker's death screams are some of the most comically horrific ones I've ever heard in a video game.

My brother and I played this game on the PS2 so many times. Loved this game back in the day.

Surprised you didn't jump ahead to submarine sections as they always impressed me. Red Fraction was the first game I played on my PS2.

I remember this being a sleeper hit from an unknown studio. I bought it only because it had this weird minimalistic cover (unlike most game covers at the time) and was about shooting things on Mars. And even though it was a very short game (can be completed in under 3 hours) - oh boy what a journey it was. Every level was an entirely different game mechanic. This is what we completely lost since late 00s - nowadays games just get one thing right and run with it until end credits with no variety.

The original red faction should really be remade. This game was awesome! It gave me a Total Recall vibe.

One thing you neglected to talk about was how great the cutscene animations were. During normal gameplay, some of the NPC animation is quite bad but the fluidity and nimbleness of the cutscene animation is quite spectacular.

Great episode! RF brings back some fond memories. Would be amazing if you guys did a No One Lives Forever PC vs PS2 episode.

Considering HL2 came out only 2 years after this, I don't believe this game has aged well.

The end level of this game is insanely hard.

Playing Glas house map on my P-II 33mhz and TnT2 blown my mind back in days.

I think a large reason we didn't see many games implementing this level of destruction was because there was such a huge push to always use the hardware to maximum in order to get as-accurate-as-possible lighting, shadows, texture details and geometry. And the push is still happening despite it leveling out. I can imagine in order to get something combined like Red Faction 1 terrain destruction + Red Faction Guerrilla building destruction we'd need a game that pushes back to early PS4/Xbox One visuals. I mean the most terrain customizable games are typically far removed from realism for a reason.

I loved this game as a kid. I enjoyed the split screen DM on PS2 as well. Alternate fire modes for weapons felt like a whole new thing for me at the time. Thanks for showcasing this cool game. Always good to see games that tried something different.

Love this game. Still got the big box PC version.

54:20 I've never related more with a moment than when he loads his save and realized how far back it was and just said "welp, that's Red Faction!" and quit lol

Geomod destructible walls was absolutely revolutionary at the time. Mind blowing. I'm not sure any other game has done similiar since?

"PARTY TIME!" Now this is a game in need of a remaster/remake. Played the Ps2 version over and over again back in the day. That soundtrack, especially with the synths in calming and action scenarios was so perfect. The multiplayer is also top notch. Fast pace arena style, and it had bots! LRG recently did a physical PS4 copy. With the collectors edition coming in a PC Big Box style packaging. and a Vinyl of the soundtrack was only the icing. Also I hear you mention the Summoner game. Interestingly enough, the main menu on the PS2 has an option to view the Summoner trailer.

Man this brings back all the good memories. I loved both RF 1 and RF2 back then. Of course the new games specially Guerrilla was friggin' amazing. I had so much fun with my bros in RF2 multiplayer split screen. Man that framerate would chuuuug bug it sure was a blast! I even hooked up a keyboard and mouse on RF2 on the ps2. Sure it was way worse than the gamepad, but was really cool to have a kb/m on a console! I really hope this franchise isn't dead after Guerrilla. Anywho, loved the video John and Alex!

I remember how awesome Red Faction was as a kid. Imagine what they could do with modern technology.

I loved this game. Had it on PS2 as a kid and been a big Red Faction fan ever sense. I'm actually playing through the 3rd game right now.

Red Faction is my 2nd favorite game series so any content about it will always go well \o/

sniping fools through walls with the rail gun was a fave of mine

Huge memories of this classic on PS2 back in the day. I enjoyed the campaign as well as the split screen; even more the multi in RF2. I got the PC version of RF1 a few years later and the online multiplayer was surprisingly fun with a strong mod scene. This also motivated me to install on my Steam Deck :) runs perfect out of the box with a good community control config.

I just finished this game for the first time in 20 years last night .. and here it is on DF

NICE! i was thinking of red faction lately too.

mann this game brings back so many good memories. I never been a shooter game type of guy but this game takes the cake on that . 🙂

Played this game a crap ton back in the day. Was one of my earlier experiences playing it online over dial up. Game is still alot of fun today.

Had such a good time with this game back in the day. Surprised this tech hasn't been brought to the modern generation with the freedom of these games. Edit: MIPS r5900 brings back memories. Writing homebrew for the PS2 was so fun and easy.

An Aliens style game in this kind of engine will have been amazing, a human base + tunnel's with a mistry and swarms of aliens.

I just played though some of it last week and all I can remember is "just you and me miner!"

My best memory of red faction, 1/3 into the game, there was big metal door which If I believe correctly either a guard was suppose to open it for me or myself through a keypad lock, and by mistake I had either killed the guard or destroyed the keypad and quick saved the game. No other means to proceed I selected the rocket launcher and made a big hole in the wall beside that locked door and continued forward.

Timesplitters had very similar glass breaking in 2000.

HOLD IT MINER Man what a classic game.

Maybe it's because I'm used to jank, but I think the N-Gage version actually looks pretty good, especially given the specs of that device and considering the era this came out in. Now I need to find a video of someone doing a full playthrough on that version.

I played this game for the first time a couple years ago and it was cool to be so impressed with a 20 year old game.

What I always loved about Red Faction 2 was the way you could make your own bots and change a wide variety of their stats. I played a lot of solo multiplayer with those guys.

PLEASE play Anachronox on the next Time Capsule. It's such a classic game from this era that was ahead of it's time, in my opinion. Love this series of videos though. My favorite on the channel where you just explore and comment on graphics and mechanics of old games on original hardware. Such a brilliant concept.

Nice video but where is the BSP animation from the thumbnail? Is it even in this video?

Great, thanks. Now i gotta re-play Red Faction again.

Played so much of this online. Even made some maps. It played fantastic in multiplayer, but they abandoned it very early in despite some big exploits, and didn’t even bother with multiplayer for Red Faction 2.

I grew up playing RF2 with my sister, such awesome memories

Loved like the first two thirds of the game, then the mercenaries with the rail guns were introduced and it became a nightmare.

I would LOVE for a Volition dev to do a video with you expanding on how the deformation system etc. was implemented. Just to generally talk about development of the game TBH. Please reach out to them Alex and John!!

RF Is one of the best FPS multiplayers of 6th gen. 2001 this game took over as my new Goldeneye 007 successor ,Perfect Dark or Halo 1 couldn't even quite do that , but this was the game we finally passed the console FPS multiplayer torch to for a few years.