The explosive and destructive elements are unrivaled but there still are a few things that are bothersome.
+ Unlike the other Red Faction games, this game is an open world/sandbox third-person shooter. Also, there is less emphasis on straight up shooting and more of an emphasis in destruction. This turns out to be both good and bad.
First of all, there is no denying that it is fun to blow stuff up in this game. They have built a complex architectural system where you can destroy a building piece by piece until finally it is unable to support itself, after which it will collapse. Seeing this in action is beautiful and fun, especially when you can plan out where to attack the building to make your attack efficient. Unfortunately, there are few moments when you actually have the time to analyze the building and decide where to place explosives. Most of the time you are caught up in a gunfight and must switch between shooting enemies and placing bombs, or you are on a full-on rampage where you are just destroying everything that touches you.
After each destruction of a building, scrap metal falls to the ground and you can walk it to collect it. You can also find scrap metal in containers and metal ore located at different places around the world. This scrap metal is used to upgrade your weapons, armor, explosives, and other various elements of your character.
The shooting in the game clearly has its weaknesses. There aren't many guns in the game, and you can only carry three at a time (in addition to your default hammer which you're required to keep). At the start of the game the guns you get are really weak and ineffective. Also, they have a severely limited amount of ammo so you constantly have to be aware of how many bullets you have. You do get more powerful guns later in the game but it does seem to take awhile before the combat starts to feel decent. In the end, I seemed to find a comfortable loadout with the Remote Bombs, Gauss Rifle, and Nanotech Rifle. The Nanotech Rifle is a complete blast to play with, and basically evaporates anything within a few shots (making it extremely useful against tanks, plans, and large structures).
One thing that took me awhile to figure out is how to approach combat, too. You really have to take it slowly and try to eliminate all enemies before moving on. You can't really just run by them, trying to tackle them all head-on. Instead, you should take some cover, kill the enemies that come near you, and slowly progress once your minimap shows that you are clear. If you don't, then it feels like enemies will constantly surround you and kill you faster than you can recover. In the end, the combat really didn't feel as solid as it should have. And a lot of times there are way too many enemies attacking you at once. Which means you will die a lot, but most of the time the damage you did before dying will remain once you respawn.
The other thing that disrupts the pacing and makes the first half of the game pretty challenging is the jetpack. I had no idea this was in the game, but then you unlock it after you free about 3 or 4 zones. The jetpack makes combat so much more comfortable and approachable. They really should have included it from the start, but unfortunately they give it to you late in the game after you've already done most of the hard stuff. That's just a small oversight I suppose.
As far as the missions go, they are hit or miss. You are supposed to free six different zones on Mars. To do this, you have two bars for each zone. One measures the control of Earth Defense Force in the zone (the enemies), and the other displays the support from the civilians in the zone. Different side missions raise or drop these two bars, or just give you scrap metal. In general, the side missions tended to be repetitive (drive a car here in a certain time, rescue the hostages and drive them to safety, attack the EDF, defend with the guerillas, etc). A few of them do have regular and pro accomplishments (most of the time-based ones), so that is a little extra. The main story missions, however, and all enjoyable and a lot more diverse. Which is to be expected, I suppose. But you are required to do side missions in order to eliminate the EDF, so it would have been nice if they added more diversity to it.
Finally, you do get to control a number of vehicles in this game. And some of most fun comes when you jump in a heavy mech-like walker. These suckers are strong, powerful, and you can basically just walk into buildings and destroy them. I would have loved to see more of this because it was just a complete chaos storm (in a good way) whenever I got in one.
Overall I would say that the game was a lot of fun but didn't really hit the full potential it could have been. Destroying buildings and structures is the real high point of the game, but the combat takes awhile to feel comfortable. Plus, at times it can be very frustrating and you will end up dying again and again.
Story/Presentation: 3/5
+ The story really serves as a backdrop to the game. It's not entirely engaging but it's enough to bring everything together. The characters don't feel really deep, but they are decent enough to pass by.
You play as a demolition expert who lands on Mars and meets his brother, who is immediately attacked and killed by the occupying Earth Defense Force. This leaves you to join up with the Red Faction and try to expel the EDF from Mars. In order to do this, you have to free six different sectors. There are only a few cutscenes to lend some idea of what's going on, so most of the story comes through mission briefings and radio communications. Like I said, it's not great but it's enough to push the game ahead.
Graphics: 4.5/5
+ Everything looks pretty good in the game. The reason I would rate this so high is the destructive elements that really make everything shine. Buildings break off piece by piece and can stand on just a few pillars until they finally collapse. After blowing up most of a building, then stepping away to watch it fall down is a lot of fun. Everything else looks "good", but the explosions and destruction looks "great" and the technology is impressive for wrecking buildings. The polish and the effects here are also noteworthy.
Value: 4.5/5
+ The game lasted me about 14 hours, which I was very satisfied with. Since it is a sandbox game, though, you can go back and complete all the side missions if you want to. You're required to do some to of these in order to beat the game, but in reality you'll skip most of the other ones. Also, there are a number of collectibles to find in the game. There are EDF crates to destroy, metal ore to dig up, special buildings to blow up, and radio tags to find. Plus there are a few bonus missions in the PC version, as well as a multiplayer mode. So if you like the game enough, you can easily spend a lot longer in this game.
In the end, despite the shortcomings, I would still say this game is a lot of fun to play. It may not be perfect, but it's still very notable. The game is $20 or less by now, and I would definitely recommend picking it up. It's the best Red Faction game so far and it will let you explode and destroy pretty much anything you see, which is always a treat.