Red Faction: Guerrilla Hands-On

If you've heard anything about Red Faction: Guerrilla, odds are it involved the phrase "completely destructible." With the release not scheduled until sometime next year, you'd be forgiven for taking this assertion with a grain of salt. Previous Red Faction games pioneered a limited kind of environmental destructibility with their Geo-Mod technology, and developer Volition has lofty goals for this next installment in the series. At last night's THQ press event, we got our hands on Red Faction: Guerrilla for the Xbox 360, and after a delightful, destructive romp, we're pleased to say that Volition seems to be right on track.

Jumping right into the game, we found ourselves standing in the middle of a bleak Martian landscape. Set in a futuristic mining colony, Red Faction: Guerrilla chronicles the struggles of the oppressed mine workers and their rebellion against the Earth Defense Force, which rules their world with an iron fist. Surrounded by low, barren hills and a small cluster of concrete buildings, we definitely felt as if we were on the rural outskirts of the Martian world. A handful of people strolled in and around the buildings, and occasionally a truck or transport vehicle would rumble by on the dusty dirt road. After taking in the well-designed and appropriately stark setting, we made a beeline for the nearest concrete structure. Time to get smashin'.

As we scurried eagerly toward the unsuspecting building, we reached for a weapon with which to wreak our havoc. We decided that the assault rifle was more antipersonnel than antistructure, and we opted to save the grenade launcher and remote-detonated sticky mines for a bit later on. Armed with only a sledgehammer and our character's surprisingly formidable musculature, we took a swing at the corner of a one-room concrete shed. It broke apart in a cloud of dust and rubble, leaving a gaping hole bordered by exposed rebar. Grinning widely, we ran to each of the other corners of the hut, smashing them all in turn. When we had wrecked them all, we stood back to watch the imminent collapse. But it didn't come!

Two of the walls still stood, as well as a support column near the middle of the room. As we pondered how this building could still be standing, we noticed trails of debris dropping intermittently from the ceiling. No sooner had these caught our eye than the roof buckled and collapsed in chunks, leaving a pile of rubble where the building used to be. It was immensely satisfying. The walls had all broken apart differently, leaving holes and concrete chunks of varying size. The exposed rebar gave the impression of a sound architectural structure, and the delayed collapse was the icing on the cake. The whole experience seemed unique and realistic, and made us hungry for more.

Hopping behind the wheel of an SUV-type vehicle, we took off down the road in search of bigger targets. Along the way we passed a bunch of vehicles headed this way and that, seemingly on some business of their own. Despite being the desolate outskirts of civilization, there was a fair amount of activity, which made the world seem like a place where something as momentous as a rebellion could ferment. Cresting a hill, we spotted our destination: a two-story office building surrounded by a bunch of lower structures. We went straight to our task by ramming our car into the side of the building. It easily crashed through the wall and came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the first floor. Climbing out of the vehicle, we exited through our newly created entrance and began running around the building while throwing sticky mines every few yards. Once we had placed close to a dozen mines around the whole building, we stepped back and set them off. The explosion was formidable, sending smoke and debris in all directions and taking out most of the interior walls with ease. What remained of the first floor was an array of support columns, which we started picking off with our grenade launcher. The building's demise was at hand.

And then the Earth Defense Force troops showed up. Apparently they didn't much like our impromptu demolition party, and they expressed their discontent with lots of bullets. We frantically tried to reload our grenade launcher, but couldn't do so fast enough and met our demise. Respawning a short distance away, we were peeved to find that all of our hard work had been undone; the office building looked pristine. Our appetite for destruction piqued, we spied a large, yellow piece of construction equipment and hopped right in. To our surprise, it stood up, and we found ourselves in an industrial-sized mining mech reminiscent of the exoskeleton that Ripley pilots in Aliens. The arms of this beast could swing up or down and sweep from side to side, and soon we were windmilling our way through the office building like Godzilla through Tokyo. The structure never stood a chance, and we triumphantly destroyed it in a matter of minutes.

This rampant destruction is one of the many methods you'll be using to wage your guerrilla war against the EDF. There are clearly innumerable ways to wreak this kind of havoc, and we have little doubt that exploring them in full will be one of the chief pleasures of Red Faction: Guerrilla. Given that releases are planned for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, a lot of folks will be experiencing the joy of destruction sometime next year. Keep an eye on GameSpot as we bring you more on this promising game in the coming months.