GameSpy
Review
of Red Faction: Guerrilla
GameSpy's TakeThe woefully underrated Saints Row 2 showed us that Volition could work wonders with a modern-day setting. Red Faction: Guerrilla shows us that it also has what it takes to bring a dystopian vision of the future to us in an immensely playable form.
Red Faction is a third-person action game that drops you into the boots of one Alec Mason, a miner by trade who finds himself at the forefront of the class struggle between the downtrodden working class of Mars and their oppressors, the Earth Defense Force. Outgunned and outnumbered, Mason and the Red Faction must resort to guerrilla warfare tactics in order to bring down the EDF. You'll use Alec's considerable demolitions expertise to sabotage the EDF's propaganda machine, destroy its key structures, and fight a constant moving battle against their drone soldiers, using hit-and-run tactics to avoid capture while living to fight another day.
Break The Walls DownDestruction is at the core of Red Faction: Guerrilla's gameplay, its most significant feature being the destructible environments. Any structure you can see, from the tallest building to the most expansive bridge, can all be smashed to itty bitty pieces. The physics behind this carnage are remarkable to behold. Destroy the supporting walls at the base of a large domed edifice and you can watch it smash itself apart as it rolls away. See a wind turbine on four supports? Knock one out from underneath and watch it teeter before it all comes tumbling down. Red Faction: Guerrilla captures the feel of being a futuristic Paul Bunyan, your hefty sledgehammer replacing the lumberjack's axe, which you'll use to level the EDF's facilities like so many trees.
Blowing things up is the name of the game, and Red Faction: Guerrilla hands you a toy chest of explosive goodies and destructive tools to help make it happen. From remotely detonated mines and rocket launchers to the Mother Of All Bombs, you'll have plenty of fun with unstable material.
Did I mention that you get to pilot mechanized walkers for even greater levels of carnage? Once again we see that you can improve any game by adding giant robots.
No Rest for the WearyRed Faction: Guerrilla manages the pace and challenge of the campaign with a sure hand, allowing you to feel like your attacks are having an impact but keeping you on your toes. Stay in any one location for too long and you're sure to be smacked down unceremoniously. Even on the lower difficulty settings Red Faction: Guerrilla offers a challenge.
In multiplayer you have access to backpacks that significantly enhance your combat abilities. The rhino pack allows you to charge through walls like, well, like a big horned animal that charges at stuff. Other packs provide X-Ray vision, stealth, jetpack flight, and so on. There's enough variety here to really mix up the strategies with each respawn, almost like a mini version of Team Fortress 2's classes.
When in Doubt, Blow it UpRed Faction takes full advantage of its destructibility, putting this feature at the very core of its unique multiplayer modes. The damage control mode is a fight for control over three strategic points; destroy your opponents' point and rebuild it to gain points for your team. Other modes will have you killing opposing players or protecting key structures; the latter is like playing a Martian security guard with carte blanche to kill vandals on sight. You'll earn experience points to unlock nifty new weapon and character models, along with a host of other goodies.
The destructible terrain makes Red Faction: Guerrilla's multiplayer feel unlike anything else out there. Just take capture the flag as an example. Have you ever played a game of CTF where the best way to recapture the flag was to bring down the building on top of the flag carrier's head? Is there a sniper camping out behind a wall bringing your team down? Approach from the opposite side of the wall and smash through it with a sledgehammer to ruin his day and bring a smile to your face.
The hotseat multiplayer Wrecking Crew mode doesn't offer the same long-lasting experience of the competitive online modes. You take turns destroying stuff on a small map, competing with your friends for the highest score. It's actually quite snooze-worthy compared to the comparatively much more exciting online fare.
Story, Shmory, Bring On More Explosions!So if the lengthy campaign is so well-paced, and the online multiplayer modes are so much fun, what's holding Red Faction: Guerrilla back? It starts with the pedestrian characters and limited efforts in storytelling. You don't get to ever really know the characters you meet, including the protagonist. The short cut-scenes and radio messages do little to ingratiate the characters with the player, instead banking everything on the gameplay.
Despite its lackluster storytelling, Red Faction: Guerrilla is a whole lot of fun to play, thanks to its meaty campaign and well-rounded multiplayer offerings. The game makes sure you have a good time blowing stuff up, and in this case, that's more than enough.
See what others are saying about Red Faction: Guerrilla on the next page... Red Faction: Guerrilla has garnered generally favorable reviews from the most popular critics. It has been applauded for the Geo-mod engine's satisfying destructive capabilities and for its strong multiplayer component. Let's run through some of the notable commentary.
The Critics Agree"Red Faction: Guerrilla is an essential game to play if only to see Volition's exemplary game design in action. Failing that, the sheer amount of fun derived from taking on an entire military yourself with some of the most over the top weaponry ever to find itself into a game should seal the deal." --
"_blank">Tony Barrett, Gaming Age"Blowing stuff up is one of the cornerstones of this game, and it's made especially more enjoyable by the advanced physics engine Volition uses. You've read about it in every single preview of the game to date, but in actual practice, the Geo-mod engine is quite impressive." --
Tom Price, TeamXbox"While there are clunky bits at the fringes of Red Faction: Guerrilla that give it a handful of frustrating or disappointing moments, the core moments of the game are exciting and well-conceived. Factor in a thrilling multiplayer component and the sheer satisfaction provided by the wholesale destruction of huge structures and you've got more than enough reasons to get your ass to Mars. " --
Jeff Gerstmann, Giant BombThe Critics Disagree"Though Red Faction: Guerrilla delivers on this concept admirably, it wasn't without a cost: namely, the detail and character that makes the best open-world games memorable to begin with. Be that as it may, there's still plenty here to enjoy. Just be prepared to endure some slow spells, and power through some truly unforgiving moments." --
GameTrailers"Red Faction is the very definition of a solid 7/10 - a game that should have been better, but offers more than enough to warrant a purchase during the quiet months." --
Dan Whitehead, EuroGamerWorth Reading"What is better that shooting shit and destroying everything in sight? How about doing all that shit with JETPACKS, RHINOPACKS WHICH PLOW THROUGH BUILDINGS, CONCUSSION PACKS, F*CKING X-RAY VISION PACKS. There's packs for goddamn everything." --
The Official Red Faction: Guerilla Thread of Rhinopackin' through Space, Forum Thread on NeoGAF©2009-06-10, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
