Red Faction Guerrilla
by THQ
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Video Game Reviews of Red Faction Guerrilla
Customer Review: Best game I've played this year
Summary: 5 Stars
The game got me hooked pretty quickly. I'm usually not a big fan of these huge open world games, but this one has a few big things going for it.
1. There are lots of different types of missions and things to do to progress through the game, so you never feel like you don't know what to do next, and there are always lots of things to try out.
2. The difficulty of the missions is pretty good, there are a few easy ones, a bunch of medium ones that take one or two tries, and enough difficult ones so you're not just blowing through everything. You actually feel like it's a real challange.
3. If you ever get stuck on one part, or just feel like driving around and blowing stuff up there's lots of targets all over the place just waiting to get smashed. With the great destruction engine it's very satisfying to destroy buildings, and there's a whole bunch of different ways to destroy things; explosives, walkers, trucks, sledgehammer, etc. Plus random destruction helps you get further in the game.
4. Unlike the GTA where you're a criminal just killing random people left and right, in Red Faction you're a freedom fighter, so you feel good about smashing all their junk. And you can't just randomly kill anyone, most people on the map are colonists just like you that you have to avoid/protect. And if you're doing a good job, they'll pick up arms and start helping out.
5. This might seem silly, but there're lots of background comments made by other colonists, or overheard on the radio that really help set the tone. things like "I don't understand people, if you want things to change, you need to fight for it" - and I'm like yeah! lets fight for it!
I actually haven't played the multiplayer as much as I would like, just because I've been playing through the single player so much, but the online play is lots of fun as well. All in all a highly recomended game.
Customer Review: Great addictive gameplay.
Summary: 4 Stars
This game has great, absolutely addictive and fun gameplay. With the destruction engine, you never ever have to worry about finding a door or stairs to reach your target. The assault pattern can vary on any way you want and especially with a jetpack, there is just a lot of different ways to approach a mission. The enemy AI isn't dumb and they come from all over the place. Mars is beautiful with imaginative vehicles and landscape. However, the main setback is the large amount of driving and running that is required to get from mission to mission. The other major thing is that it's very undercooked in the story section.
First of all, the destruction engine is really good. The destruction is limited to buildings, walls and pipings and such. The vehicle destruction is the same as other games - it explodes after a certain amount of damage. The landscape cannot be destroyed - so no tunneling through the mountains and such. However, the building destruction is really great - it also has the strategic advantage that in a firefight, one can make a hole in the hall and run out of the building. The main advantage of the destruction model is that it radically changes combat. Instead of running around buildings, just make a hole in the building and hide in one of the rooms for a while or just keep blasting. The main character doesn't have a stamina meter for running or sledgehammering so the sledgehammer is going to be your favorite weapon as it doesn't run out of ammo. This is clearly the strongest aspect of the game. The approach to missions aren't limited to a frontal assault through front door. You don't have to memorize the building structure or pathways since chances are with different approaches the building structure will be affected differently.
The bad part of the game is the repetitive amount of running and driving that is required - to get to missions and as part of missions. In Fallout 3 and other such games, once you've been somewhere you can quickly go there. It's only possible to do that with safe houses and sometimes the mission objectives are really far away from the safe houses. This involves driving over and over again which can get really annoying and repetitive.
I love how the landscape is mountainous and approaches to a target can be from different angles and elevations, however some mountains have invisible walls and have places where there seems to be a bump to stand on but it's not really there. The mountains really increase the driving time since there is a lot of driving around the mountain but it's not always clear when you can scale up the mountain and when there's an invisible wall. But, it's not a big problem.
Finally, the other shortcoming of the game is that it has very little story and character development. It's so hard to care about anything since most of the missions are one man missions. Fallout 3 managed to infuse a large amount of humanity to the game but RFG eschews all of that. People die, people say momentous things but you can't really get yourself to care about it besides the next mission parameters. During the whole process of liberation of Mars, there is only 3-4 people that you even know the names of. The rest are just interchangeable people.
I really wish the game had was some aerial attacks. There are planes in the game but only enemy planes.
Overall, I think this is a great game. It lacks a bit on the story and character development but it does have great gameplay and an imaginative and beautiful Mars. I would recommend this game.
Customer Review: To break in?.....or break down?
Summary: 4 Stars
As games progress in technology and power under the hood, certain things just have to go into the game or it kills the illusion. Remember how you can have a grenade launcher or RPG in say a Resident Evil game but you couldn't access the door because there was some stupid medallion hidden in some bizarre puzzle on the other side of the mansion? In Red Faction: Guerrilla, it essentially allows you to the missions you want but also how you want. You could just walk into this mission and kill everyone floor by floor...but why not just set charges to the support legs and have the building cave in on itself? It's this level of destruction that drives the main hook of Red Faction but it also comes with its issues as well which makes this a fun romp but not really anything substantial.
Story: In 2120, Mars has been terraformed and taken over by the Earth Defense Force (EDF, naturally) who have turned to the dark side shall we say from the original and have now become the oppressor. Alec Mason, having just seen his brother killed for suspicion of being part of Red Faction, the rebel group against the EDF, and Alec tries to drive the EDF off of Mars and free the people.
Graphics: Red Faction's graphics can be divided into 2 categories: the physics...and everything else. The former is mighty impressive as the layout and the basic building structures are very realistic with the stone and the rebar and the support beams and everything things collapse will usually have a specific destructive look as opposed to "it just explodes". For the other graphics? They're impressive sure but they're not really "wow"-inducing. They look nice and character models are good though odd-looking but Mars itself just looks rather bland as it's all rocks, mountains and it's just not unbelievable looking but it's serviceable.
Sound/Music: The music in the game is pretty good but it's either barely there or it'll show up when things get all action-y but you're so wrapped in the action you might not even notice but when it is on you're like "hey yeah, that is kind of nice". The voice acting on the other hand is rather meh and the dialogue as well doesn't help since some VA's can make bad liners listenable (Gears of War, anyone?) but here it's just terrible or it's just not as good. The sound mix though is good and the sounds for the basic assault rifle has a really cool shooting sound and the destructive elements have a nice kick to them which is really all you need.
Gameplay: Typically, Red Faction games were first-person shooters but now it takes on a 3rd-person view similar to not so much Resident Evil 4 but rather even Silent Hill: Homecoming, the upcoming Alan Wake or if you want, a Zelda. The camera can frustrate since it has a tendency to zoom into you in tight quarters and when you're getting shot, it makes things annoying. But the shooting elements are quite fun with RB controlling your weapon wheel with your face buttons being your weapon selection. They're customizable so you can switch on the fly from your assault rifle to your sledgehammer and back without the game "pausing" so you can bring up your weapon wheel a la Ratchet and Clank or F.E.A.R. Cover is in the game though sometimes you'll be off your cover or you're being surrounded on all sides you might feel like "screw this" and just run around but it's definately needed in areas.
The game is a lot more open world like a GTA where you can take on side missions which range from time trials where you have to bring a building down or shooting enemy structures in a certain amount of time, side missions where you help faction members against EDF forces, bringing down important EDF buildings or the main missions. More you do, the more faction members will help out (Morale meter) and the less the EDF has a hold on the certain areas (Control meter) which would be good if your members didn't run you over, follow you INTO buildings you're trying to destroy and have them fall on you or stick so close to your vehicle that you can't help but run them over. The enemy AI is a quite ruthless; bit too much so actually since they follow you and more than once I went "oh just leave me alone already" and your members die rather quickly so they're not much help.
It's an enjoyable game, which was surprising cause I HATED the demo but the main game is surprisingly good but it does get a bit repetitive, even early on in terms of missions so be prepared to feel a bit deja vu in the structure of the game but it's still quite good. Keep in mind I haven't checked out the multiplayer yet so I might edit this once I check it out.
Customer Review: Rampage+Freedom Fighters = Happy
Summary: 4 Stars
Red Faction remains on top of the massive destruction sandbox genre with Guerrilla. Mars is under iron fisted control by the once liberating EDF, who has now become a openly genocidal tyranny, because covering up mass civilian slaughters is apparently not worth the effort. You are Alex Mercer, demolitions expert and new found point man for the Red Faction, a underground resistance that you've been a member of for 11 seconds... wait, what?
Your missions are the basic story driven resistance on the run until you become the revolutionary juggernaut. Weapons are the basic plethora, either plundered from enemy dead or cobbled together from scrap materials, which are your basic monetary funding. The story however really, truly, desperately needed a runup, as you arrive on mars, brother dead, you, resistance, join, lead demolition missions. That story is rammed into your gullet in about as much time as it took me to write that sentence. At least doom had you on a boring seeming hunt for a lost technician before dropping you in the soup.
Prepare to destroy anything and everything in sight. Entertaining propaganda and spin stories from the controlling forces are hilarious, and background chatter takes a while to become repetitive, giving it a good feel of gritty, downtrodden rebels. Despite being instantly promoted to point man, you are treated with some disdain and contempt, and are sent off with sanctions to not screw up by just about everyone. Sabotage and insurrection actions actually make sense, and rather than send you against strongholds first, you can cut power, destroy fuel reserves and checkpoints, and generally cause mass chaos rather than charge headlong into heavily guarded meat grinders.
Graphics and audio are entertaining, though some buildings look pretty pathetic when they're collapsing, giving the feel of watching a scale model rather than a real building. Voices are well acted and appropriately emoted, though the blatant love interest side arc is about as subtle as a hammer to the face.
Nits are widespread, and cause enough teeth grinding to cost this a full five stars. Your sledgehammer is your best weapon by far, and theres not even a halfhearted explanation as to how you manage to plow through meter thick rebar enforced concrete walls with a lazy swing. You need scrap to get more pockets to carry more demolition charges. Hills with more than a 5% incline are unclimbable, and you can't exactly be sneaky when you have to plow through every wall rather than climb over them. Physics of building collapses are nice, but momentum physics are godawful. You can knock soldiers over the horizon with a well timed hammer blow, and an atv can knock a twelve ton dump truck out of the way like its a tinker toy. Alarm levels don't go down with finding good hiding places or killing off small patrols, but reentering a hideout with a small army on your butt drops it to zero. For a game that tries to be as serious as your basic medal of honor, it fails horribly in some portions of suspension of disbelief. There's no briefing on the main bad guys in your codex, or even on your sudden new found allies or superiors outside of loading screens.
Regardless of some major gameplay and story issues, the game is fun, which is what matters. Charging into HW without any backup or preparatory work will instantly get you killed, and while you definitely have superhero level endurance and amazing combat skills for a technician, this manages to be a game that will always make you giggle as you tear through buildings and army battalions like a wrecking ball. I'd still make this a rent first, as there are enough issues that can rub certain gamer types the wrong way.
As an aside, seeing as how almost every one of my reviews now reads 0 of 1 helpful votes, please comment why if you don't find this review worthwhile. Thanks.
Customer Review: Just Plain Fun
Summary: 5 Stars
If there's one thing that you can appreciate about Red Faction: Guerrilla, it's for cutting the crap and getting right to the point. It's unlikely that you'll be enthralled by the dime-a-dozen plot line, and the graphics won't make your eyes water, but for the team at Volition, that is completely missing the point. RF:G is about pure, unadulterated fun, and nothing more. It's actually a pretty refreshing breath of fresh air - RF:G doesn't take itself seriously, and doesn't expect you to either. It's the equivalent of a good Arnold movie - it's not going to win any Oscars, but one can hardly stop to care when there's this many explosions.
Yes, Red Faction is back, with some significant changes. It has become a third-person, open-world game, but other than that, it's got the same Red Faction feel. The fight is back on Mars, 50 years after the events of the first Red Faction. Revolution is in the air amongst the planet's miners yet again, and your character, Alan Mason, finds himself unwittingly at the center of it. Through a variety of missions, your goal is to raise morale of your fellow miners and take control of Mars back from the oppressive regime of the EDF.
How you do this is more or less up to you in traditional sandbox fashion - but it usually involves a lot of destruction. RF:G does a decent job of keeping the missions varied, occasionally stumbling into cliche sandbox territory where you can't help but feel Volition felt the need to adhere to missions the genre has come to expect. This is especially evident in "transporter" missions, where you find yourself driving a vehicle from point A to point B - sometimes across the entire map - resulting in rather dull and segmented gameplay. Other missions find you rescuing hostages, hopping in a tank or mech and wreaking as much havoc as possible, and raiding EDF buildings. "Destruction" missions are particularly enjoyable - the player is given simply a building, a limited weapon selection (sometimes as much as three bullets from a pistol), and an puzzle-like objective to destroy the building. Even the puzzles in this game explode.
Indeed, the real star of RF:G is the new "Geo-mod" system, a new take on the engine from the original Red Faction. In RF1, absolutely anything could crumble, but there was no physics engine to the buildings. In RF:G, you aren't allowed to tunnel through the ground, but pretty much everything else begs to be destroyed. Each building on Guerrilla's Mars is governed by a stress system crafted from the ground up by Volition, and the result truly is satisfying. To level a building for the first time by clearing out the supports on three sides and watching the weight slowly shift enough such that the whole thing collapses is truly an experience to behold. The fact that absolutely nothing is pre-rendered when you blow a hole into a building leads to some extremely interesting and fun scenarios.
And really, that's what this game is all about. The single player delivers an experience which will several times tempt you to tell your friends in a fit of joy what just happened (I've found they grow old of this). Volition does a nice job of slowly increasing the volume of destruction throughout the single player by introducing new weapons along the way, which can be bought using salvage. Salvage is the economy of Mars, and is obtained by completing missions and - you guessed it - destroying buildings. A noticeable lack of polish in some areas can mar the experience a bit - a few times I had mission-ending glitches occur, often I'd stumble into an invisible wall when trying to jetpack over a mountain, and a glitch at the end of the game currently prevents players from completing every mission (and getting an achievement). Retrying a mission is inexplicably difficult, and strangely incosistent across mission types. It's possible that Volition will patch these problems in the future, but as they are, they remain only minor annoyances. By and large, the single player is an absolute thrill.
The multiplayer is also very fleshed out this time around, with several online modes and an offline mode (in which you hand off the controller causing as much destruction as possible). Exclusive to multiplayer are backpacks, which act something like perks you might get in CoD if you were a superhero. One backpack lets you see through walls, another allows you to create an earthquake around you, and of course, the jetpack is there as well. Backpacks are littered across each map and can be swapped at any time. The combination of these backpacks with different weapons is half the fun of the multiplayer, and once again, creates simply outrageous scenarios that are an absolute blast to experience. All the destruction is still there, and Volition has crafted some interesting game modes around their geo-mod engine. One mode, titled Siege, tasks one team with destroying a host of buildings the other team has set out to defend. Once the round is over, the teams switch places. The matchmaking system, and the lobby in general could use some work, but Volition has promised improvements to this interface. If they deliver, RF:G sports gameplay robust enough to compete with the best.
Volition has packed a lot of content into Red Faction: Guerrilla. They've clearly spent a lot of time and effort to fill this game with as much raw fun as humanly possible. Some polish and a deeper plot would have been nice, but ultimately it's a game that revels in what it is. Yes, it's unlikely that RF:G will take home any GotY awards, but it's a surprisingly great game and one of the best of the summer. It's the kind of game where a description of the carnage and fun to be had here simply won't do it justice - and if that's not an indication of a must-play, then I just don't know what is.
9/10