Where this sci-fi open world shooter lacks in story, it makes up with fully destructible environments with great physics
Contains: Moderate Action and Fantasy Violence
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Red Faction: Guerrilla is a third-person, open world game set on Mars, which centres on the realistic destruction physics where every structure can be destroyed.
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STORY - 2/5
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Red Faction: Guerrilla takes place in the year 2120. The Earth Defense Force (EDF) were initially supportive of the Martian miners, but Earth's natural resources have run scarce, and as a result, its world economy has collapsed from rampant speculation of commodities and lack of production. Under pressure by Earth's corporations and leaders to acquire the resources of Mars at any cost and at a pace to meet Earth's high demand, the EDF has forced Martian society into a permanent state of unfree labour. The newly-reformed "Red Faction" arises to rebel against the EDF, drive them off the planet, and begin fairer negotiations with Earth. Mining engineer - and protagonist - Alec Mason comes to Mars hoping to start a new life with his brother Dan, but not long after arriving, Dan is shot down by the EDF, and Alec Mason is rescued by the Red Faction Guerrillas and reluctantly becomes a freedom fighter for the group. A section of Mars' surface has been split into sectors, and the Red Faction's main goal is to liberate each sector, which will result into driving the EDF off of the red planet for good.
The plot unravels with very few interesting ideas, and is overall rather weak, and with only a handful of story missions to complete, it seems evident that the developer's intentions were solely on the destructive gameplay. Fortunately, the gameplay pays off with fantastic results, so the weak plot isn't something to change your experience by much, although it is the most heavily criticized part of the game.
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CHARACTERS - 2/5
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The characters, including the protagonist, are largely forgettable, which ties in naturally to the weak storyline. Alongside mining-engineer-turned-red-faction-guerrilla Alec Mason, is inventor Samanya "Sam" who is always around when you want to purchase upgrades; Rambling psychotic Jenkins, who has a strong liking for the destruction of EDF property and always relies on you to do it; and Commander Hugo Davies, who debriefs you before missions and sends out new objectives during them, to make sure each mission is effectively completed, which will lead to each sector getting liberated efficiently.
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GAMEPLAY - 5/5
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The game plays in a sandbox style open word representing a terraformed area of Mars' surface and is full of opportunities to cause mayhem, collect resources and above all, bring down buildings in awesome and realistic fashion. Many unique tools and weapons can bring down EDF structures, and your first tool, and also one of the best, is the Sledgehammer. It may seem a bit too easy taking out buildings with such a blunt object, but its force can't be attained from anywhere else but yourself, and once you get swinging, it can prove extremely addicting to continue swinging away until the building has collapsed. Enemies can be brutally punished for shooting at you with one swift blow to the body, and vehicles can be destroyed with a continuation of blows to its frame. Other weapons in the game are well known such as Assault rifles, shotguns and sniper rifles, but there are also some very interesting designs to some of the more powerful guns. One weapon utilises special nanite technology, and when you fire it, the nanites make quick work of eating away at the metal and dissolving it to dust. If you find a building's weak spots, then this gun can bring it down within seconds. Enemies and vehicles can also be vulnerable to the nanites.
In most cases, destroying EDF property will leave behind salvage - the game's form of currency which can then be used to purchase upgrades. Destroying EDF property not only leaves traces of collectible salvage, but lowers the EDF's control of the sector, which is displayed in a bar on the right hand side whenever you do something that can lower it. Destroying there more high valued targets will lower it quicker, but these opportunities have to be taken with caution as they are heavily defended. Lowering it can also be accomplished by destroying various instances of propaganda and completing missions. Although there are few main story missions, there are lots of guerrilla actions (side missions) that can be completed whenever you want. These are all varied, worthwhile and enjoyable and are consistent throughout the game. These range from transporters (time limit to get a vehicle to a safe house), House Arrest (freeing captives from the EDF), Guerrilla raids (travelling with companions to take back EDF property) and many, many more. Also if you are just roaming around outside of a mission, radio calls will come in, which could mean they want you to intercept a convoy and get a vehicle they have, intercept a courier with information, and even destroy convoys. Timing is everything though, and sometimes a well planned assault on enemy vehicles is better than charging in without thinking it over, especially since the game proves very challenging sometimes leading to deaths very quickly, although this is only a problem towards the end of the game.
Completing guerrilla actions will lead to the lowering of EDF control and also the rise of morale for that sector, and the higher your morale, the more chance there is that civilians will join you in assaults and assist at defending you while you do damage to their structures. Completing tasks rewards with you with new unlocks and salvage, but killing innocent people will lower your morale, although this will most likely only occur by accident when you get a bit trigger happy with bullets and explosives. Once you have worn down the EDF presence in a sector to zero, a final mission will be available allowing you to completely secure the sector. Once this has been completed for a sector it will be freely traversable, with little danger of EDF conflict. While destruction is a key aspect of gameplay and truly awesome to watch the physics of buildings crumble down, solid gunplay makes everything work equally in well balanced situations. Ideas are key for success, and so if you want to fully appreciate the environments, you can use it to your advantage. For example, in a two-story building you could establish a point on the second floor, and destroy the stairs which will prevent the EDF from following you up and leaving them helpless below to a barrage of bullets and explosions.
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GRAPHICS - 4/5
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The game uses Geomod 2.0 engine, which allows for buildings, cover, and other structures to be dynamically destroyed without barely any framerate problems. A structure will crumble in very realistic ways, throwing debris and dust clouds up into the air, and bringing a vibration to the screen and your controller when it begins collapsing. Remote charges and sledgehammers to its weak spots will initiate the start of crumbling motions, and the creaking sounds mean that the building toppling down is inevitable. Anyone caught within proximity of your remote charges or sledgehammer swing will be devastatingly trapped inside the structure, and the visuals of the debris breaking apart is really impressive. The destruction is a key aspect of the game, but graphics are also impressive besides that, even if Mars itself does lack much detail in the environments, and usually is prone to object pop up in distances where mountains are present.
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SOUND - 4/5
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In the background of all the mayhem is a well orchestrated set of music, some with an epic-like atmosphere to them which suits many of the chase scenes imminent after battles. In the foreground of the mayhem is all the gun blazing and destroyed property effects, which are all spot on and blend in with everything happening. Vehicles exploding look and sound great, and the explosion is enough to unsettle the screen just like the EDF property when its being brought down to the ground.
The visually stunning cutscenes are integrated with voice acting which isn't bad, but isn't anything impressive either, but since the game takes a more direct approach to destroying things, there will be less talking and more killing anyway.
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CONTROLS - 4/5
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Red Faction Guerrilla has a unique set of controls which are unusual and awkward at first glance. You can carry 4 weapons - your sledgehammer and 3 others of your choice, and can be placed into slots of your choosing (except for the sledgehammer). To get the weapon selector up, you have to hold R2, and maintain your hold on the button until you've finished selecting or organising. Then, while still holding R2, you press either square, circle, triangle or X to get the weapon in that slot. The sledgehammer is always going to be R2 and X, and the others can be moved around to whatever suits you. It can be tricky getting used to this at the beginning of the game, but it won't be too long before you admire the uniqueness to the controls. The game also features a cover system, however this is generally pointless for nearly the whole game, and you'll most likely find yourself running and gunning through the hordes of EDF soldiers until your health is low and needs recharging. Vehicle handling is very good, and driving is nice and easy, which makes traversing Mars' surface enjoyable with little difficulty.
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ATMOSPHERE - 1/5
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The weakest point of the game by far is unfortunately the atmosphere, which is severely lacking in terms of pedestrian commotion and activity. Mars is a barren place, but its made even more so by nothing happening. There'll be the rare occasion when you see a miner using a pick axe to try and extract some precious ore from one of the many locations, but its not enough to bring any life to the lifeless red planet which has so much possibilities. You'll drive around a fair bit of the game, but all you'll notice is other vehicles driving around with no destination attempts, with the EDF spread throughout each sector looking for you to cause trouble. It would have been nice to have seen other assaults or chase scenes occurring around, other than the ones you started or created, but unfortunately, nothing happens. These missed opportunities also make you notice just how boring the landscape is, apart from the distinct buildings you can demolish, the area around you is bare, which show an increased lack of creativity, and further state how important the destructive gameplay is to Red Faction Guerrilla.
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ENEMY AI - 3/5
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Enemies prove a problem when your faced up against huge numbers of them, particularly when the alert level is red, and many reinforcements join. Playing the game on easy is advisable, and is more enjoyable when you're not dying constantly during certain troubling missions where enemies seem to spawn all over the place and distract you from your primary objective. They are challenging, and have some degree and capability of adapting to your actions. If you surprise enemies with a silent sledgehammer kill, other enemies in the area will search for you, and communicate to each other notifying your position. There animations are well presented, as they cautiously approach where they believe you are hiding, and they always attempt to jump out the way, or roll out the way of gunfire, grenades and vehicles on fire.
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LENGTH - 5/5
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If you play the game properly and complete all available guerrilla actions aswell as the main story missions, Red Faction: Guerrilla will last approximately 15 - 20 hours. The length is great and not only do the missions stretch the game's length, but passing tall structures owned by EDF is too tempting to ignore, and before you know it, you're addictively destroying everything standing.
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REPLAY VALUE - 5/5
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If you prefer gameplay over story, Red Faction: Guerrilla is one of those games worth replaying again and again. Ignore the average story and forgettable characters, because its the destructible environments and action-packed missions that are the highlight of this sci-fi shooter, and mixed in with the overall fantastic presentation and menu layouts, this third person open world game is insanely enjoyable and recommendable to anyone with an appetite for destruction.
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OVERALL SUMMARY - 8.5/10
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Good Points: You can destroy anything whenever you want, Very realistic destruction physics, Huge variety of fun side missions, Fantastic overall presentation of in-game rewards and menu layouts, Lengthy single player campaign, Nice and easy vehicle handling, Lots of cool sci-fi weapons with destructive abilities of their own.
Bad Points: Weak story with forgettable characters, Cover system isn't really needed, Despite the possibilities Mars is barren and lacks an engaging atmosphere.