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Blowing things up has never been so fun. Red Faction: Guerrilla, the third entry in Volition’s series, introduces a number of changes to the franchise, particularly the fact that it’s the first in the series to live up to the “destroy anything” philosophy introduced in the first game. Thus, your enjoyment of Guerrilla will depend on how much you enjoy blowing stuff up.
Fans of the series will notice that the game is no longer a first-person shooter but an open-world third-person action game set on top of Mars. As expected for these games, you’ll have a number of main story missions, a myriad of side activities, and a full-fledged multiplayer mode. You play as Alec Mason, who went to Mars looking for work, but instead finds himself joining the Red Faction resistance in taking back control of Mars from the tyrannical EDF (Earth Defense Force).
To liberate Mars, Mason will need to free six zones that each contain their own story and side missions that will eventually drop the EDF’s control rating for the zone. Completing missions (and also activities like blowing up key EDF structures and buildings) will allow you to get control of the zones, build morale within the Faction (which, in turn, will mean that AI fighters will join you in missions), and award you salvage, which you use to get upgrades and new weapons, tools, and even a jetpack. The missions in the game range from simply blowing stuff up, to escaping from the EDF’s graps, to rescuing key Faction members. Side missions offer more or the less the same with a few twists. You may be asked to destroy a certain number of EDF soldiers, demolish a structure using only specific weapons and limited ammo. When you get the EDF’s zone control to zero, you’ll unlock a final mission that will award you the zone if successfully completed.
Guerrilla knows that its biggest selling point is the ability to blow stuff up. The game takes the idea and runs with it. Nearly every structure in the game can be brought down in a number of ways. You can drive a truck through a building, plant explosives at the base of the structure or even hack away with the sledgehammer if you want. The physics that power these explosions are fantastic as structures collapse realistically and satisfyingly. It’s also rooted in reality since all you need to do to blow something up is plant select explosives at the structure’s support columns for it to come crashing down. Everything you destroy rewards you with salvage, encouraging you to keep the mayhem going.
The same chaotic experience can be had in the game’s multiplayer mode, which also allows you to destroy nearly anything. In multiplayer, you’ll have access to a number of additional backups that give you power-ups like better jumping or healing, or even the ability to send shock waves. The deathmatch modes thus become quite interesting because if someone goes hiding into a building you can chase them inside or simply blow the building up and force them out. There are also objective-based modes where you’ll have to hold a certain zone and either attack or protect a particular structure. These modes are quite fun, especially since there is a repair gun you can use to try to rebuild these buildings, adding a bit of strategy to the mix. Aside from this mode, the game includes a pass-the-controller Wrecking Crew mode where you can compete with friends to see who can cause more damage in a particular amount of time.
Visually, Red Faction: Guerrilla has technically strong graphics. The character models, particularly Mason, and vehicle models all look great. The surface of Mars looks like what you would expect it to with sharp textures and a lot of rock-like structures everywhere. As mentioned above, the explosions all look fantastic, especially the way structures crumble in a realistic manner. But there’s something missing artistically from the game since Mars just isn’t very interesting to look at. It’s technically well-designed but the actual game world is rather forgettable, which is unfortunate.
Similarly, the audio is well made with pretty good background music and great explosion effects topping out the good but not great sound effects and voice acting. Of course, given the game’s focus on blowing stuff up, the fact that the explosions deliver is probably all you’ll need.
Red Faction: Guerrilla has some flaws including largely forgettable characters, game world and story. But it does one thing extremely well: it allows you blow up a lot of stuff in a number of different and satisfying ways. The scope of destruction you can cause is quite a pleasure that introduces wrinkles to the singleplayer story and makes multiplayer matches quite chaotic and fun. Thus, Red Faction: Guerrilla earns its price of admission when you fly away and watch a tower collapse with two well aimed rockets. It’s a thrill that few other games can match. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- May 29, 2009
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