The Return of the Red Faction series is a very welcome change of pace in the gaming world, even if it stumbles some.
-You can destroy everything
-Massive open world
-Better graphics than the Demo had
-Very long campaign
-Great selection of weapons and upgrades for them
-Did I mention the destruction?
The Bad:
-Frustrating side missions
-Damage system totally un-balanced
-Empty landscapes leave much to be desired
Graphics - 8.5
Not the best, sure not the worst. The demo had my slightly worried that they were sacrificing graphics quality but it was minimal. But in the final release, the graphics, especially the texture quality seem much higher than the demo presented. Still, facial work is slightly bland and details on textures get sketchy at times.
Story - 7.5
While the story could have been so much more, at least it existed. So many games today that boast something like cutting edge graphics, stylized game play or in this case highly destructible environments tend to omit story all together.
Game Play - 8.0
Ah yes the gameplay. Both it's best suit and it's worst. If the game play stayed much like it is at the beginning through out this would have been a much better game. But as time goes by the game suffers from a serious problem, you start taking more and more damage. Eventually it will get to the point where the only way for you to survive missions more than a few seconds will be to constantly be in a vehicle to use it as a external armor. The games best play is on foot, but sadly this will be missed by many as they dodge from vehicle to vehicle during the games latter combat. Your armor just does not keep up with the damage output of your enemies. Still, when you get a good moment in the combat it makes everything worth it. The sight of a building crumbling to the ground due to your handy work is just so rewarding. Finally there is the games cover system, a nice idea but poor done. Fact is, if you stick to cover you can only shoot from behind it if you come out from it and you take full damage as normal, you get no defense bonus to damage. So while the cover system is there, I honestly never use it, it is more a hinder to be stuck somewhere taking shots than to be able to shoot and run.
Overall
Hey, it's a good game. Just about anyone should own this title, just be prepared to get frustrated at times when you die within the first 15 seconds of a fire fight breaking out. Still the open world, plus the fully destructible buildings make this a gem. I think years from now people will still play this, so many companies are so scared of the destructible idea. My major let down with this title (other than the damage system) was that the original Geo Mod Engine was fully destructible, this one, which is actually Geo Mod 2.0, is only highly destructible. While the building are amazingly detailed and worked on, as they fall apart from damage and take real time damage. The world it's self doesn't take any damage, it doesn't even scar. Just black burn marks from ammo hitting it. The old titles would let you blow apart everything, except certain things. This one is basically JUST the buildings, and sadly building are rather rare in comparison to the size of the world. Sure you will constantly see buildings, but you'll never find yourself in a budding city with city streets, only rural out posts.