There are some really creative and enjoyable parts to this game though the linearity may disappoint fans of RF:Guerrilla
+ This game really feels like a culmination of all the Red Faction games, mixing the linear shooter elements of the first game with the powerful destruction technology of Guerrilla. In the end I thought it was a terrific blend and a logical step in the Red Faction franchise, but unfortunately not everyone agreed and THQ decided to end the franchise here.
The structure of the game is like a typical over-the-shoulder shooter. You play through a level killing enemies, you accomplish objectives, you see a cutscene, and you go to the next level. That's the basic gist of it. While there's nothing wrong with this formula, I'm sure after giving players the freedom of a sandbox game with Red Faction: Guerrilla, it is a little underwhelming to not be able to drive around and explore a big world just ready for you to destroy. Still, it was a design decision and I'm perfectly fine with that.
The action elements feel extremely similar to RF: Guerrilla. You have four weapon slots and you can pick up new weapons as you find them through the world, then switch them out when you reach a weapon locker. The weapons are terrific in the game and they all feel very unique. Sure there are the generic assault rifle and pistol option. But pretty much all the other weapons are original in one way or another. Some are really and launch an explosive attack but only have a few shots you can fire. Others you have to charge up and shoot. Others destroy organic material but leave structures in-tact.
The one gun that I fell in love with and really stands out was the magnet gun. While it does have some similarities to weapons in other games, it still fits this game in its own way. It lets you point and shoot at one thing, then point and shoot at another location. If both locations were valid then it will send all objects in a short area from the first shot spiraling towards the second place you aimed. Think of the gravity gun in Half-Life 2 except you point and click to determine where the weapon begins and ends its magnetic pull. Or another example is the grappling hook in Just Cause 2. Not quite the same, but they all are examples of spectacular weapons that offer you plenty of creativity and freedom to go about doing your killing.
The thing that makes the magnet gun so much more wonderful is the destructibility of the environments and how interactive they are. Pretty much every metallic surface (or non-giant piece of cave) can be destroyed. So you can aim at a structure, then aim at an enemy, and see the structure ripped apart with pieces flung towards the enemy. Or you can aim at an enemy and fling them towards a structure to see it fall apart. It is a complete blast to do either. There is some danger, though, because all that debris can come flying at you and knock you over and stun you for a few seconds. So you have to be careful when structures collapse because it's a double-edged sword.
On a similar note, a large portion of the metallic surfaces can be rebuilt using a special nano tool you have. By holding the middle mouse button you can repair surfaces, structures, and buildings back to their original state. So if you run out of surfaces to fling enemies at you can quickly reconstruct them and be ready to send more environmental pieces at your foes. It's also necessary to manipulate the environment this way to progress in certain missions. You have to repair the world in order to reach new locations or access certain parts of the level. And the speed at which the environment is reconstructed is really fast so it's not like a chore to do it. And I honestly have to say that some of the best parts of the levels was when I was fighting on a suspended bridge, enemies were attacking and making the bridge fall apart, and I had to be careful to keep rebuilding the bridge while attacking the enemies or else I would have plummeted and fallen to my death. It was a wonderful combination of attack, rebuild, and checking surroundings which kept me on my toes.
You also gain a few special powers to use, too. You can do a strong push which sends a shockwave that knocks back enemies. You can create a big bubble around you repels attacks, protects you, and damages enemies inside the bubble. Additionally there is another type of shockwave that stuns enemies and sends them floating in the air for a few seconds while they are immobilized. And finally you have a berserk ability that increases your attack power. These powers are useful and fun to play around with but I don't think I gave them enough attention they deserved. I preferred to use weapons, but since each of these powers just takes a few seconds to recharge then they are definitely a viable attack method.
One additional note is that you collect scrap metal from fallen buildings, objects in the world, or killing enemies (somewhat like the metal in RF: Guerrilla). As you progress through the game you use the metal you collected to upgrade your abilities. There are four rings of abilities to upgrade and each ring will unlock depending on how far in the story you've gone. So this gives you some customization and decision, making you decide which upgrades are most useful to your play style.
The AI is interesting to note, too. The majority of the enemy creatures you encounter have a very distinct way of moving around the map. The basic weak grunts just crawl along surfaces and come at you. The next higher ones cling on ceilings, shoot projectiles and are very fast. They are fun because it's not like a typical shooter enemy that just runs at you on the ground. You have to find where they are hanging on the ceiling, and try to kill them before they jump to a new location. There are also wraiths that attack and then go invisible for a little bit. And beyond that there are some larger creatures that take quite a battle to kill. I liked how each enemy had their own role when fighting you, and you had to approach each in a slightly different way because of how they moved around on the map.
And finally I want to mention the HUD. It was one of the best-designed HUDs that I've seen in a long time. It provided a lot of information to the player and was still completely noninvasive. Your nano special powers had a meter on the left side of your cross hair at the center of the screen. And your ammo count was a meter on the right side of your cross hair. Both of them were very easy to see, were not distracting, and provided enough information at a quick glance. There was also a meter which served as enemy detection for your surroundings. It was a straight line at the top of the screen but when you rotated it would give you information in a 360 degree arc (similar to the mini map in Oblivion or Fallout 3). Enemies will show up as a red circle and the closer they are the bigger they will appear. And if you are completely lost then you can press Tab and a short path will display in the world pointing you to where you should be heading. And finally, and perhaps most importantly, whenever you are firing a gun like the assault rifle, whenever your clip is about to be empty then the gun will begin to play a different sound file rather than the sound file that plays when the clip is full. This is a very minor thing but I found it fascinating and extremely useful. Sometimes the fights grew really intense and I couldn't always keep track of everything, but being able to hear a distinct clicking sound when my ammo was running low and I needed to reload was invaluable. Small things can go a long way, and for the HUD elements I was really impressed.
Overall the core structure of gameplay here is amazing. There are really not many faults to list because everything seems like it was considered carefully in order to maximum the fun and creativity. Sure there are some things that you might not like or might prefer elsewhere, but I found enough originality and potential in this game to outweigh the negatives.
Story/Presentation: 3.5/5
+ The story is definitely the best out of all the Red Faction games, but that really doesn't say much. Red Faction games were never known for good stories, and in fact I found most of them to be particularly weak. Still, this game does a good job at taking a step forward in the storytelling department. It doesn't do so in leaps and bounds but it does offer a coherent story with characters that begin to grow on you. Sure it's not the best but the effort is there and it's definitely not horrible. I thought the pacing was appropriate, too, giving you enough motivation to keep going without constantly trying to go over the top. So overall I was satisfied with the story but there still is some room for improvement.
Graphics: 4.5/5
+ I already mentioned how great the HUD was, which is both a game feature and a graphics feature. But as far as how good everything looks, I really could not find much to complain about. Everything looked really high quality from the models to the environments to the effects. And the cutscenes really stood out as impressive, to me at least. Again, it doesn't really strive to be the best graphics ever but I was still impressed with how everything looked. And I felt like they did the best job they were able to do to make the game look great.
Value: 3.5/5
+ The problem with linear single player campaigns is that they tend to be short. And so it only took me about 8 hours to play through, and I was really hoping to at least get over 10 hours. I think perhaps some of this disappointment was caused from RF: Guerrilla having an open world where you could spend a lot more time exploring. The game does offer you to have a New Game+ feature after you beat it once. And there is some replayability in deciding which upgrades to choose whenever you collect scrap metal. And there are a few extra modes they added (both single-player and multiplayer) but I didn't try them. I would have preferred to have an extended single campaign with fewer bonus modes.
Overall I was very pleased with the game. I thought it did a lot of things right and I had a lot of fun playing it. Do I think that it could be improved in certain areas? Yes. Do I think the lack of substance in those certain areas make this a bad game? No. But you do have to keep in mind that while it does borrow a lot of technology from RF: Guerrilla it is a very different game and I think that's what a lot of people will be disappointed with. It's no longer a sandbox game where you just run around blowing stuff up, but it's a linear campaign-driven story. If this sounds like a big let down for you after playing Guerrilla then perhaps you should just pass by this game. But I really encourage you to give it a chance because it has a lot of great features to it that might surprise you.