The EDF rally against you in this explosive yet constrained third person shooter.
Red Faction is in the long list of game series that can be described in two words or less; there's challenging, there's iconic, and then there's downright ridiculous. With its exclusive engine, Geo-Mod 2, Red Faction: Guerrilla on the Xbox 360 consumes all possible resources the console has to offer and transfers it directly into the precise and catastrophic destruction of the many, many buildings and items within the game's environment. Although the story is somewhat of a weak point, the sheer presence of such a powerful and hard-working game engine along with exciting multiplayer action overwhelms the flaws within the campaign.
You play the role of freshly-transferred Alec Mason, who has arrived at Mars in sight of seeking a new life and regenerating the love he once had with his brother, Dan. As they settle in together, an opportunity for gathering salvage arises and the twosome decides it's theirs for the taking. Unfortunately, EDF gunships begin patrolling the area when 'they weren't supposed to do so', and Dan subsequently ends up getting killed, leaving Alec seeking redemption against the once-friendly EDF.
Upon learning about the EDF's control of Mars over six sectors and reluctantly joining the Red Faction, Mason wills it upon himself to free the miners from the dictator-like control forced upon them and allow them free choice upon how they live. Each sector has its own EDF control level that needs to be lowered in order for it to be liberated. This can be done through eight mission types along with missions helping raising the population's morale so you can gain assistance mid-mission or more goodies when ammo crates are stumbled upon. Missions involve tasks such as following a leading EDF member, defending a safehouse or mounting an attack on an EDF stronghold, and while the approaches to these missions aren't necessarily pre-determined, the outcome is always the same -- a ton of stuff gets blown up and the EDF respond in full force on every occasion.
The Red Faction series is renowned for its over the top destruction models and although there's a slight change from previous outings -- it's for the better. Previous Red Faction titles allowed deformation of actual background scenery: floor, walls, rocks and even mountains were no match for the Red Faction, however, in Red Faction Guerrilla, the sheer scale of destruction has been narrowed down to buildings and structures only. Although it's certainly not a bad move, the ability to tunnel underneath enemies or buildings played a huge role in the enjoyment factor of older titles.
Nonetheless, the level of annihilation you can cause throughout the planet is nothing short of spectacular -- and most of this comes down to one weapon: the sledgehammer. Upon first glance it seems like a regular melee weapon but given the power to topple entire buildings and create unconventional ways out of tricky situations, it's one of the best weapons in the game. Whether you use it to create an escape route or to cripple a bridge, the satisfaction from performing a direct blow to a structure is only to be found in Red Faction game's and completely dominates everything.
Each item carries its own real-life properties -- bridges are weak at the legs, and tall structures can be toppled via chipping away at its feet -- and the way in which they fall is as you'd expect from such objects. Strangely, even monumental buildings can remain standing on a single support beam, but I'm guessing that's down to the EDF's knowledge that Mason is a qualified demolitions expert.
From the start you're equipped with the sledgehammer, remote mines and an assault rifle and following story progression, more destructive weapons become available. Rocket launchers, arc welders (a violent electricity-based gun) and sniper variants are just some of the preposterous weapons you'll acquire as the EDF amounts tougher and stronger resistance against the Red Faction. Only four weapons can be held at a time, and although ammo seems somewhat scarce when you're battling, ammo crates can be found more often than not. The variety of weapons is welcome not only for killing opposing forces, but also for causing unprecedented amounts of damage to everything on Mars.
Be sure to stock up on supplies as often as possible, Red Faction: Guerrilla offers up an extremely challenging campaign. The EDF send huge amounts of troops after you and given near the start of the game you'll be totally n00bed up with no upgrades, even medium-size firefights are tough to get past, even with specially armoured Red Faction vehicles on hand. Couple this with the consistently boring attack or defend missions and it's not long before frustration and repetition set in, warranting an extended and rewarding demolition spree. Infact, the story tends to take a back seat even when you're fully immersed as the tedious missions and swarms of AI enemies dumb-down the whole liberating experience, with the eradication of any and all structures taking centre stage. Happily, taking down important EDF structures and processing factories help lower a section's EDF level, meaning story progression can be drawn away from uninteresting tasks and into chaotic battles.
For a world in 2128, there isn't much in the way of sophistication on Mars. Propaganda boards are all over the place and chemical plants are just blocks with filling tubes outside of them. The environment is sparsely populated by people despite it supposedly being a planet that's habitable, there's not much in the way of houses or any kind of landmark feature throughout the sectors and naturally, everything is pretty much the same colour. Mountains (and lots of them), roads, rocks, weapons, Alec Mason, all have the same orange tint about them. While the textures and cutscenes are smooth and shiny, the visual element of Red Faction: Guerrilla is as repetitive as the missions in the single player campaign.
There are a few vehicles in the game and although they're noticeably different handling wise, the actual model of each one is blocky and industrial-like. Along with the mech's you'll encounter, which are essentially the same graphically, neither have the technologically advanced features expected, apart from guns on the front.
Online, Red Faction: Guerrilla keeps its destructive nature by once again allowing everything to be flattened. The usual deathmatch variants are included along with capture the flag, but due to the extensive damage model, players can create a path through whichever building they want by simply knocking it down. Other modes such as damage control and demolition encourage huge amounts of teamwork as you prevent your area from being captured or leader dying respectively.
The crazy third person view compliments the mad 16 player limit extremely well and you're guaranteed great action from any online mode. Backpacks are included and give a plethora of options, anything from a jetpack to a concussive blast and even a health regeneration pack can be picked up and certainly warrant you and your team to control the area that your preferred pack spawns in, along with preventing other teams from heading towards it. While this may prevent the completion of an objective you've been set, the backpacks are extremely beneficial in both teams and free-for-all gametypes. All of the weapons from single player are available for use, and the sledgehammer once again takes centre stage for respawning duels and innovative attack plans.
One of the surprise packages included in Red Faction: Guerrilla is the Wrecking Crew mode. Despite it being an offline only mode, up to four players take turns to cause as much damage as possible under restrictions that can be completely customized, such as time limit and weapon usage. With crushing buildings the game's selling point, engaging in mindless devastating antics against the clock is a brilliant way to add more meat onto the game.
Recommendation:
The campaign is lengthy and difficult, and the multiplayer's impressive online modes and setup add a huge amount of hours into the game. Although the graphics and campaign are at times as repetitive as each other, Red Faction: Guerrilla offers up an unlimited amount of fun thanks to its outstanding Geo-Mod 2 engine, and the limited yet powerful selection of weaponry give you an infinite number of approaches to a mission.
As long as you enjoy blowing stuff to smithereens and have the ability to put up with slight repetition, Red Faction: Guerrilla will be a perfect title for you. If you're looking for a comprehensive back-story on Alec Mason, thorough character development and an engaging plot, there are way better titles for the job. Red Faction: Guerrilla is straight up entertainment, and its few visible flaws quickly disappear when you progress through the story.
Red Faction is in the long list of game series that can be described in two words or less; there's challenging, there's iconic, and then there's downright ridiculous. With its exclusive engine, Geo-Mod 2, Red Faction: Guerrilla on the Xbox 360 consumes all possible resources the console has to offer and transfers it directly into the precise and catastrophic destruction of the many, many buildings and items within the game's environment. Although the story is somewhat of a weak point, the sheer presence of such a powerful and hard-working game engine along with exciting multiplayer action overwhelms the flaws within the campaign.
You play the role of freshly-transferred Alec Mason, who has arrived at Mars in sight of seeking a new life and regenerating the love he once had with his brother, Dan. As they settle in together, an opportunity for gathering salvage arises and the twosome decides it's theirs for the taking. Unfortunately, EDF gunships begin patrolling the area when 'they weren't supposed to do so', and Dan subsequently ends up getting killed, leaving Alec seeking redemption against the once-friendly EDF.
Upon learning about the EDF's control of Mars over six sectors and reluctantly joining the Red Faction, Mason wills it upon himself to free the miners from the dictator-like control forced upon them and allow them free choice upon how they live. Each sector has its own EDF control level that needs to be lowered in order for it to be liberated. This can be done through eight mission types along with missions helping raising the population's morale so you can gain assistance mid-mission or more goodies when ammo crates are stumbled upon. Missions involve tasks such as following a leading EDF member, defending a safehouse or mounting an attack on an EDF stronghold, and while the approaches to these missions aren't necessarily pre-determined, the outcome is always the same -- a ton of stuff gets blown up and the EDF respond in full force on every occasion.
The Red Faction series is renowned for its over the top destruction models and although there's a slight change from previous outings -- it's for the better. Previous Red Faction titles allowed deformation of actual background scenery: floor, walls, rocks and even mountains were no match for the Red Faction, however, in Red Faction Guerrilla, the sheer scale of destruction has been narrowed down to buildings and structures only. Although it's certainly not a bad move, the ability to tunnel underneath enemies or buildings played a huge role in the enjoyment factor of older titles.
Nonetheless, the level of annihilation you can cause throughout the planet is nothing short of spectacular -- and most of this comes down to one weapon: the sledgehammer. Upon first glance it seems like a regular melee weapon but given the power to topple entire buildings and create unconventional ways out of tricky situations, it's one of the best weapons in the game. Whether you use it to create an escape route or to cripple a bridge, the satisfaction from performing a direct blow to a structure is only to be found in Red Faction game's and completely dominates everything.
Each item carries its own real-life properties -- bridges are weak at the legs, and tall structures can be toppled via chipping away at its feet -- and the way in which they fall is as you'd expect from such objects. Strangely, even monumental buildings can remain standing on a single support beam, but I'm guessing that's down to the EDF's knowledge that Mason is a qualified demolitions expert.
From the start you're equipped with the sledgehammer, remote mines and an assault rifle and following story progression, more destructive weapons become available. Rocket launchers, arc welders (a violent electricity-based gun) and sniper variants are just some of the preposterous weapons you'll acquire as the EDF amounts tougher and stronger resistance against the Red Faction. Only four weapons can be held at a time, and although ammo seems somewhat scarce when you're battling, ammo crates can be found more often than not. The variety of weapons is welcome not only for killing opposing forces, but also for causing unprecedented amounts of damage to everything on Mars.
Be sure to stock up on supplies as often as possible, Red Faction: Guerrilla offers up an extremely challenging campaign. The EDF send huge amounts of troops after you and given near the start of the game you'll be totally n00bed up with no upgrades, even medium-size firefights are tough to get past, even with specially armoured Red Faction vehicles on hand. Couple this with the consistently boring attack or defend missions and it's not long before frustration and repetition set in, warranting an extended and rewarding demolition spree. Infact, the story tends to take a back seat even when you're fully immersed as the tedious missions and swarms of AI enemies dumb-down the whole liberating experience, with the eradication of any and all structures taking centre stage. Happily, taking down important EDF structures and processing factories help lower a section's EDF level, meaning story progression can be drawn away from uninteresting tasks and into chaotic battles.
For a world in 2128, there isn't much in the way of sophistication on Mars. Propaganda boards are all over the place and chemical plants are just blocks with filling tubes outside of them. The environment is sparsely populated by people despite it supposedly being a planet that's habitable, there's not much in the way of houses or any kind of landmark feature throughout the sectors and naturally, everything is pretty much the same colour. Mountains (and lots of them), roads, rocks, weapons, Alec Mason, all have the same orange tint about them. While the textures and cutscenes are smooth and shiny, the visual element of Red Faction: Guerrilla is as repetitive as the missions in the single player campaign.
There are a few vehicles in the game and although they're noticeably different handling wise, the actual model of each one is blocky and industrial-like. Along with the mech's you'll encounter, which are essentially the same graphically, neither have the technologically advanced features expected, apart from guns on the front.
Online, Red Faction: Guerrilla keeps its destructive nature by once again allowing everything to be flattened. The usual deathmatch variants are included along with capture the flag, but due to the extensive damage model, players can create a path through whichever building they want by simply knocking it down. Other modes such as damage control and demolition encourage huge amounts of teamwork as you prevent your area from being captured or leader dying respectively.
The crazy third person view compliments the mad 16 player limit extremely well and you're guaranteed great action from any online mode. Backpacks are included and give a plethora of options, anything from a jetpack to a concussive blast and even a health regeneration pack can be picked up and certainly warrant you and your team to control the area that your preferred pack spawns in, along with preventing other teams from heading towards it. While this may prevent the completion of an objective you've been set, the backpacks are extremely beneficial in both teams and free-for-all gametypes. All of the weapons from single player are available for use, and the sledgehammer once again takes centre stage for respawning duels and innovative attack plans.
One of the surprise packages included in Red Faction: Guerrilla is the Wrecking Crew mode. Despite it being an offline only mode, up to four players take turns to cause as much damage as possible under restrictions that can be completely customized, such as time limit and weapon usage. With crushing buildings the game's selling point, engaging in mindless devastating antics against the clock is a brilliant way to add more meat onto the game.
Recommendation:
The campaign is lengthy and difficult, and the multiplayer's impressive online modes and setup add a huge amount of hours into the game. Although the graphics and campaign are at times as repetitive as each other, Red Faction: Guerrilla offers up an unlimited amount of fun thanks to its outstanding Geo-Mod 2 engine, and the limited yet powerful selection of weaponry give you an infinite number of approaches to a mission.
As long as you enjoy blowing stuff to smithereens and have the ability to put up with slight repetition, Red Faction: Guerrilla will be a perfect title for you. If you're looking for a comprehensive back-story on Alec Mason, thorough character development and an engaging plot, there are way better titles for the job. Red Faction: Guerrilla is straight up entertainment, and its few visible flaws quickly disappear when you progress through the story.
