Starting on the PS2, the Red Faction series was one of several games on the PS2 that was set on Mars. Like another well known series, Zone of the Enders, it revolved around fighting against the oppressive Earth forces. What Red Faction did, from the beginning, was change the way FPS games work. Red Faction created an environment that was almost entirely destructible allowing for less places to hide but also more way to defeat the enemy. In Red Faction Guerilla, that unique gameplay is expanded on several-fold by creating a wide open area to play in.
The story of RF Guerrilla starts off like many that deal with a fight against an oppressive force: someone dies that's close to the hero. In this case, Alec Mason, comes to Mars to look for work and his brother Dan, who seemingly is a regular worker, is actually a part of the Red Faction who is fighting against the Earth Defense Force. When the EDF finds Dan, they shoot him as Alec is left defenseless unable to stop the carnage. Thankfully, a group of the Red Faction, comes to your aid before Alec is executed. From that point, Alec is a part of the Red Faction, and as expected, everything is dependent on him.
While the other RF games had been FPS games, this time around the game is done in a third person view with weapons switching the view to an over the shoulder view. It makes sense being that there is a whole map that you have to navigate through to complete the missions. Along the lines of GTA, you can take vehicles and drive them around but most vehicles are futuristic vehicles that you would find at an industrial area meaning no Ferraris or Corvettes.
The part of Mars you'll be in is split up in several areas. Each area has a base for you to receive missions and purchase new weapons/upgrades. From there, there will be some main missions that will move the story along but most of your time will be spent with doing side missions. Not all are really "missions" but objectives that need to be destroyed. Marked on the map by a blue symbol, these structures can be destroyed to raise the morale of the people in the area and lower the control of the EDF. Each structure has a priority rating from low to high with the higher priority building have much more forces protecting it. Other missions include the rescue of other freedom fighters by infiltrating a structure protected by enemy soldiers and then at certain times, you will have to help protecting an area filled with rebel troops while the EDF sends waves of soldiers to stop you.
More morale means that random people around the area will join you in fighting off the EDF. An annoyance, however, is that these random helpers can die pretty quickly causing you to lose morale for no damn fault of your own. Loosening the control of the EDF leads to final battle for the area and eventual progress in the storyline. Going through the story also gives you access to weapons and upgrades. The whole weapons/upgrade system is a very simple merchant setup. The currency used is salvage that's obtained by destroying building and other structures. Weapons include an assault rifle that switches to a shotgun with the right ammo, an arc wielder that's a big gun that shoots out electricity, and your trusty sledgehammer that you start the game with. Upgrades include improvements to the weapons, armor, and abilities to get more salvage.
Now comes the fun part. Aside from the ground itself and the mountain/rocks in the area, everything is destructible. With the right amount of abuse, everything can be destroyed to a point. That bit about "to a point" is referring to how everything has a way breaking down and once broken down, well excuse my bad English, but it don't get anymore brokener. Don't expect realistic physics because I've seen structures still stand even though there's only one support left standing. This point is driven through when not only can your sledgehammer demolish a two story building within a minute, but using it to smash a vehicle will send the vehicle flying several feet, flipping over at the same time. In previous games, the destroying of environments was more of a fun novelty used in the game here and there, but in Red Faction Guerilla, it's a requirement. While some parts of the game feels like a "GTA on Mars" game, there is an incredible amount of fun that comes when destroying stuff. If there's a downside to all this fun, it would be the variety. During the tutorial, you set off to destroy a couple of structures, but you find these same few structures everywhere taking a little away from the fun after the twentieth time you destroy the same building. Granted its a little fun taken away but monotonous is still monotonous.
There's no doubt that the graphics are not of the highest caliber. All the character models and environments are above average with not much to really focus on or find remotely impressive. However, when destroying structures, there are some nice particle effects that occur when they topple over. It's almost as if you're watching a real building collapsing making for a satisfying feeling when you stop and watch.
Bad voice acting is always a major pain in the ass in games; however, luckily, it's not a problem in this game. While it's not bad, it's nowhere near impressive at all. Music is also lackluster featuring some ok tracks but simply not memorable. Sound effects work well with all the mayhem going on but you'll be more impressed with the massive destruction occurring in front of your eyes.
Multiplayer really works with the ability to destroy a lot of crap along with others is always fun. There the typical deathmatches and capture the flag modes, but screw that, it's all about destroying crap. It's incredibly satisfying to know that there is no place to hide. Tired of that guy taking shots from on top of a tower? Bring down the whole damn tower! Like the single player, the fun is there yet you won't see Red Faction: Guerrilla becoming the next Counterstrike with its multiplayer.
A lot of credit has to be given to a company that changes up a big series like Volition did with Red Faction Guerilla. My assumptions are that with more power in this generation's systems, they realized that the destruction aspect of the gameplay would fare much better on a larger scale than previous games. The only problem is that while that fun aspect of destruction keeps you playing, there's that annoying feeling that you're doing the same thing over and over again.
- O.G.
article id: 643 | poster: OG
