A great technical achievement that fall a bit flat
posted by Vamphaery (SAN FRANCISCO, CA) Sep 25, 2009
Member since May 2009
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Red Faction Guerrilla is a third person shooter in the vein of its developer's hit title Saints Row 2, and boasts an impressive technical achievement in the form of fully realized, physics-enabled, architectural structural damage and destruction. This particular feature never gets old, and is always amazing to see in action.
Unfortunately, like the supporting structures of the many buildings you will destroy in the course of the game, the game's character development and narrative are nowhere near as packed with personality, fun, or interest as Volition's other, aforementioned gem.
Like Saints Row 2, the game has you gradually conquering territory by capturing it from a rival force. In this case that rival force is the tyrannical Earth Defense Force (no relationship to the one in Sandlot's shooter EDF 2017 incidentally,) and the territory you capture are regions of the Martian landscape instead of city neighborhoods.
However, where this game stumbles is in its lack of personality, colorfulness, or sense of comradeship as was seen as Saints Row 2. The game propels you from one mission to the next, all of them relatively similar. The game's visuals, which are largely cast in a dingy, realistic red and grey, contribute to a sense of not being able to tell friend from foe, and the game overall feels repetitive and tedious.
The game is fun. It's diverting, and in small doses you will probably find enough of a reason to keep playing. It just didn't grab me as much as I wish it had, its characters felt drab and uninteresting, and some more color and personality would have gone a long way toward making me feel like I was a part of an important struggle.
Instead I felt most of the time that I was just struggling.
None of this detracts from the fact that this game represents an incredible technical achievement, and that it is fun enough to keep you entertained. Just don't expect it to be quite the feature-packed joyride that Saints Row 2 was. By comparison RFG is tame.
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