Genius playwright Anton Chekov was famously aghast with some of the earliest productions of his play Three Sisters, which he, according to director Constantin Stanislavsky, considered to be a "happy comedy." It was staged then, as it is most often staged now, as a fairly gloomy drama, though a brilliant one.

Now Stanislavsky was probably exaggerating a tad, as much of Three Sisters is far too heartbreaking for anyone to mistake it as a gigglefest, but it illustrates an important point: Often the creator of something isn't the best judge of what makes it work.

In Red Faction: Armageddon, developer Volition has run from everything that made Red Faction: Guerrilla great, and is left with a drab, heartless lump of competence for its efforts.