Ambitious and Immersive, this is a very good surprise of a game!
- The most realistic building destruction simulation system to date. You can have a blast spending hours just destroying buildings different ways and seeing how they fall.
- Immersive. The "sandbox" effect is here, but there are also good missions, a decent story, and a live world (faction control, population morale, etc) you directly affect and feel part of.
- Freedom, sandbox game. Go anywhere do anything in any order you wish. But the storyline is here if you want to be told what to do.
- Varied missions. Destroy bases, intercept spies, annihilate military convoys, capture vehicles), etc.. There are 9 types of missions and you can do your favorite kind of missions only if you want.
- Nice selection of weapons with different strengths and effects.
- Vehicles, lots of them, and done right! You have everything from jeeps, to futuristic buses, to the awesome bipedal mechs.
CONS
- Feeling of lack of details sometimes. Especially in the slightly blurry textures when compared to recent games.
- The building destruction simulation is great but not perfect. Sometimes a building will not collapse even if you destroy 95% of its base.
- A few technical problems. I crashed a few times to desktop, it kept going back to window mode each time i restarted, and I had a strange sound problem when I was hearing a car engine very loudly all the time. (obscuring all other sounds in the game and giving me a headache.)
- Bad coverage of the game? I almost missed this game, and gamespot has not even a review yet. Chances are this game will be overlooked.
REVIEW
Honestly, I was only expecting an average game here at first.. and I ran into some technical difficulties (surround sound problem) that made the game almost unplayable until I discovered the fix on the net. But after that point, I was hooked and I could not let this game alone until I finished it. A very good surprise!
This felt like a sandbox game similar to far cry 2 (or assassin creed), but done RIGHT. The missions are so varied that you don't ever get bored of them, and the ones in the main story are always fresh and different from what you have done before in the game. And even without missions or story, the game is still a lot of fun just driving around destroying EDF (the bad guys) structures.
THE WORLD & IMMERSION
The world is very immersive, and everything you do has an impact on it. If you complete objective, attack the oppressors, destroy propaganda, or rescue hostages, morale of the population will rise. High morale means you will Get help in fights (civilians will pick up weapons and turn into guerilleros to help you), get better loot, and more ammo from ammo crates. However you can lose morale if you accidently kill civilians, lose guerilla allies, or die yourself.
There are 5 major sectors in the game. Each with its own morale and EDF control level. By doing missions and destroying EDF structures, you make the oppressors lose control of the area you are operating in, and eventually when control level drops to zero you get to do one final mission (more difficult, but also more rewarding) so the red faction take final control of it. At that point you get to move to a new, more challenging area, but you can always come and go in all areas as you please. Speaking of travel, it is worth of mention that there are no loading screens at all in the whole game.
COMBAT & DESTRUCTION
When destroying buildings and vehicles, you collect metal. As you collect enough metal you can unlock new weapons and upgrades.
The weapons are varied and have different uses. Want to set an ambush? Mines are a great choice. Want to capture a vehicle (tank?) the electro gun is perfect to kill the men inside without damaging the vehicle too much. Want to drop those annoying helicopters? The rocket launcher is the tool for the job. In this game guns are NOT just an excuse to do varied amount of damage... they have different effects and are all useful in the right situation. However, you are limited to 3 guns (additionally to your hammer), so your hardware might vary and should vary depending on the missions you are doing.
The upgrades you can buy with metal go from weapon upgrades (make the electro gun spare friendlies, multiple rockets for the rocket launcher, hammer upgrade, etc) to armor upgrades and even to unlock some technology necessary to continue the story missions like the nano-factory.
THE "DEMOLITION SIM" ASPECT
This aspect is obviously this game's biggest strength. Nothing is more fun that busting into an enemy's base with a truck covered with demolition charges or a bomb, destroying defensive walls and crashing into the main building, then detonating the explosives. Or running around throwing demolition charges and blowing everything up buildings, vehicles, and soldiers included (demolition charges stick to them too!), then running away laughing as an overwhelming force is chasing after you.
The destruction aspect really adds some fresh gaming sensation that you won't see anywhere else. A few examples :
- You need to rescue hostages in a building, you don't want to bother looking for the door so you just pick the hammer and make a hole in the wall, opening an escape route by the same occasion.
- You are at the 4th floor of the building and need to escape fast. Instead of the stairs, just bust a hole in the ground with the hammer or demolition charges and you can get at the bottom in a couple of second instead of 20.
- Enemies taking cover? demolition charge on the wall and you can both kill and bury them with one boom. Valid also for any number of ennemies standing behind, next to, and under a wall or any kind of construction.. the rubbles will kill them.
I already mentioned that sometimes a building will not collapse even if you destroy 90+% of its base. Some fans theorize it is because Mars has low gravity, others say because materials in the future are more resistant.. it sounds somewhat plausible.
But more seriously this is probably because we do not yet have the hardware to fully simulate destruction. The developers might have been forced to take some shortcuts with how destruction is computed. But still, this is the best destruction sim out there right now. :)
BOTTOM LINE
Red faction guerilla might look modest at the surface, especially with the little attention it is getting, but there is no doubt : it is a solid game that has a lot to offer and it is a must for any gamer's collection.
Good story, varied missions, lots of vehicles, immersive world, sandbox playground, and the excellent multiplayer, there is nothing missing here. The building destruction system alone is a milestone in gaming history as another important step for games towards becoming a more realistic and engaging experience, and this alone merits to be seen.