Become a demolition man! But be warned, it can get tiresome due to the repetition of the single-player missions.
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[*][*][*] [FUN] [*][*][*]
{MAY CAUSE INSOMNIA}
• Destroying environments using real physics is awesome and fun to experiment with. The camera shake and vibration really brings you into the experience. This mechanic can really be abused to help your fight with the EDF. Like blowing up a bridge as a vehicle is crossing or a big tower to block an entrance. Sneak in the back of a camp by destroying a wall with your sledgehammer and grab the hostages without killing anyone. This is what Red Faction is known for, so enjoy it by experimenting or you'll miss a big chunk of the fun factor.
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• Open-world so you're in control of how things get done, for the most part.
• The currency is "salvage" which you get from destroying buildings. This allows you to purchase equipment which is then always in your safe houses and ammo crates (limited) to restock from, free of charge.
• As morale increases, ammo crates will be better stocked and your fellow colonists will join you for the fight against the Earth Defence Force (EDF).
• To remove EDF from a territory, you must reduce their control to zero. This is done by doing missions and destroying EDF structures. More important EDF structures are better guarded and therefore reduces control more. When you take over a territory, another area is open to explore.
• Surprise timed missions over the radio give a spontaneous feel and a welcome change to the usual objectives.
• Your sledgehammer is your best friend. Turn a person's face into jelly or destroy a piece of wall that is holding up a structure. Using this weapon to destroy environments makes you feel like a fireman for some reason. Maybe it's the jacket ^_^
• If you smash a target with a sledgehammer that your fellow colonists are shooting at for practice, they stop and walk away.
• You can only use a limited amount of remote charges at a time (upgradable), adding a strategy of where to place them to bring the structure down. You can detonate them off as you have a different weapon equipped or even in a vehicle.
• Is a structure guarded too well for you to place remote charges? No problem. Find a good vantage point and launch some rockets with your rocket launcher. They're not "thermobaric rockets", which are like mini nukes, so you'll still have to fire the rockets at strategic places because of the realistic physics and small explosion radius.
• Different types of jetpacks! "Thrust" makes you to fly upwards in an explosively fast way which destroys anything above you. "Rhino" makes you fly forwards for a small amount of time, destroying all that stands in your way. And "jetpack" is what you think it is – flies for a medium amount of time in any direction.
• The controls for the vehicles is responsive but at times, bigger vehicles can seem stiff, not swaying left or right when doing sharp turns.
• Mechs! (only one)
• Aiming is a piece of cake and the cover system is good. You can also "sprint" for an unlimited amount of time - good if you're stranded because the EDF scum blew up your ride.
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• Objects from above fall through you, removing a sense of danger and excitement of bringing structures down. Big structures will do some damage but it's not consistent.
• No way to grab misplaced remote charges
{BREAKING OF THE CONTROLLER}
• Hostage(s) will sometimes get trapped behind an object that came from an explosion. And you will likely be in a middle of a fight when this happens, leaving you to either fight off the barrage of enemies and try to free the hostage with your sledgehammer or kill the hostage(s) and run.
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[*][*][*] [ENDURANCE] [*][*][*]
{MAY CAUSE INSOMNIA}
• Online multiplayer that supports up to 16 players with a variety of modes. It is set up similar to Halo 3 with regards to matchmaking and party system. There's ranking and leaderboards. You can also customize your character and icon, giving you some uniqueness. In multiplayer, there are also different power-up stations that give you different "backpacks", like stealth, firepower, vision, speed, jetpack and more. This is explained in the training videos that are under "online".
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• "Wrecking crew" is an offline multiplayer mode that supports up to 4 players on 1 controller. 1 person plays at a time to try and get the best score. There are 4 modes and 6 maps. Also has LAN.
• Unlockable "insane" difficulty.
• "Enter code" allows you to input cheats so that you may better enjoy the game.
• Lots of upgrades to weapons, armour and miscellaneous things like better radar to spot enemies from further away.
• Trophies for completing side-quests and unique objectives.
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• Single player missions can get repetitive at times.
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[*][*][*] [GRAPHICS] [*][*][*]
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• Pretty cinemas.
• Lots of debris that look realistic flying around from explosions and hammer hits.
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• Bad choice of color for the reticule with no option to change it. Reticule disappears when you hold some throwable objects making it hard to aim.
• The smoke from structures falling and blowing up looks good but from up close, you never feel enveloped by it and your screen flickers – changing the lighting back and forth.
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[*][*][*] [SOUND] [*][*][*]
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• Excellent voice-overs
• The sound from structures crumbling is nice.
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• The music could be more engaging – it is dull at times.
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[*][*][*] [SETTINGS ] [*][*][*]
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• Some amount of customizable controls (preset) and has a enter code menu.
• The Guerrilla Handbook has all the information you need. Video tutorials make it easy to understand the games mechanics. It has information about challenges, weapons, vehicles, symbols, summaries of different places and a tab to view previous cinemas.
• Statistics to keep track of everything you do. Also has" trophies" section that lists objectives and side-quests.
• The map is easy to navigate, allowing you to zoom in, out and place beacons.
{POWER OFF}
• Loading times is long but has a slideshow of pictures.
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