Red Faction Guerilla
Red Faction Guerilla
Yes the game has finally been released on PS3 and Xbox360(the PC version is still in a unknown state as of yet).
I decided to pick up the PS3 version for this one(I know the picture says Xbox360 but that doesn't matter).
And I have played it alot since I got it both it's single-player and it's multiplayer.
So I decided to sit down and write a little review for it.
Let's start first with the basic.
Story
The story is really quite simple. And if you think "oh no, spoilers", don't worry this you will learn the first 5 minutes into the game.
It's 2128 and Mars has become a colony under the rule of the EDF.
You play as Alec Mason. A miner that has just arrived to Mars after the death of his father.
You are greated by your brother who tried to settle down there.
However as soon as you arrive you will notice things are a bit off and your brother quickly fills you in.
The EDF are simply up to no good. Kidnappping people, executions, torture etc etc.
You also find out that the Red Faction is up and running in Mars with the full intent on liberating it from the cruel hands of the EDF and that your brother has joined them.
After a quick search for scrap, your brother is brutally gunned down by a gunship and you are branded as a red faction member and is about to get executed before the RF saves your butt.
You take up arms with the RF and set off on your mission to make Mars the paradise it was suppose to be.
The story is as simple as it gets. Unfortunately it's pretty weak.
While Alec is a person you can easily relate too but the other characters however leaves much to be desired. There are some plot turns here and there but again overall, nothing special.
So overall a weak story with overall uninteresting characters.
Gameplay
Now if anyone has ever played any of the red faction games before you will know what you are in for.
Complete and utter destruction and this game does not fail in this regard.
The game is a sandbox game and there are 6 sectors on Mars that you need to liberate.
To do so you will have to complete missions.
There is the standard story missions which will drive the story forward and there are side-missions.
The side-missions vary from raiding with a group, protect areas, free hostages, destroy supply convoys and so on.
In order to liberate a sector you have to drop the EDF's control over the area and at the same time raise the people's morale. Killing civilians naturally lowers the morale so watch your fire. Generally you don't have to think about that.
Just do the missions and don't kill civilians and you will be fine.
The side-missions can get a bit repeatitive it's saved by the game's amazing destruction.
Yes not enough can be said about the destruction.
Everything except the terrain can be blown to bits and it's all down in real-time.
The buildings all have physics to them and will come down based on where you do damage in a realistic manner and it's rare you will see the same type of building come down the same way thanks to this.
Put explosives on the right places and you will bring the building without wasting too much explosives.
Put them in the wrong places and you will find yourself out of explosives and the building still standing.
Now you might think, "oh it's only explosives that does the job", no it's not.
If you have no explosives then go find yourself a vehicle, the bigger the better and ram the building.
You haven't lived until you take a truck and rammed it through a barracks, I'm just saying.
And if there are no vehicles around then Alec always has his trust sledgehammer with him which can also be used just fine.
However watch out, debris will hurt or even kill you.
Just because half the building is still standing doesn't mean it will do so forever. It might start crumbling down by it's own weight.
The guns in the game are your standard weapons. There is the pistol, machine-gun, shotgun, rocket launcher etc.
My favorite weapon and is the game's more unique weapon is the Nano rifle will deconstruct anything it hits. Humans, vehicles and even buildings.
Overall the weapons got a nice feel to them.
As mentioned before you also have vehicles. It's a big map afterall and would be boring if you had to walk.
The vehicles have a nice look to them and handles differently.
They also has their own weight to them.
If you try ramming a building with a light sportscar and you will find that you barely make a dent in the building but pick up a truck or a APC and you will find yourself cutting through the building like a hot knife through butter.
There are also walkers scattered around. These vehicles are heavily armored wrecking vehicles really.
Using the shoulder buttons and triggers you swing it's arms(or rockets) and cause heavy damage.
They are rare however and most of the time you get them when doing mission but you can still find them even when not on a mission.
When you destroy buildings or vehicles you can pick up scrap metal from them.
With scrap metal you can purchase upgrades for Alec like stronger weapons, the ability to have more explosives, better armor and more.
These upgrades are unlocked by doing side-missions so there are a good reason to actually do these if not for the morale/control thingy.
There are also crystals scattered all over the map, hit them with your hammer or whatever and they will drop red crystals. These counts as scrap metal as well and alot more profitable.
Now you might think, does the morale and control matter that much ??
Yes it does.
Since most of the side-missions takes place in populated areas and the EDF rarely let's you blow up their buildings without a fight having extra guns is useful.
Some people even come from a nearby road and most the time their vehicles will cause mayhem or help block off EDF reinforcement.
The AI in this game is ruthless.
While it's not the smartest it's aim is very good and will fill you full of holes very fast even on normal difficulty level.
While they won't do anything if you are just driving around or walking around however as soon as you start shooting, walk into a restricted area(which most EDF targets are) or just happen to touch their vehicles with your car they will open fire.
While a firefight with a few soldiers will not be a problem, reinforcement are never far away and the longer you stay in that area the heavier the reinforcement. And if you are being really stubborn tanks will be brought in. But it's rare that you survive that long. Thankfully the health regenerates.
When the heat is on your best bet is to find a vehicle and head for the nearest RF safehouse where you are safe and will remove the heat off you.
Overall in the gameplay area the game really shines.
The destruction is unmatched, the gunplay is solid and the weapons are fun and you will exprience some intense firefights thanks to the aggressive AI and morale system.
Graphics
As mentioned the game has 6 sections you need to liberate.
Each section has it's own distinct look with differently looking buildings and vehicles.
However you are on Mars, the red planet. Even if some areas looks more green, the sectors are still overall redish.
Despite this the graphics holds up and looks good.
As does the effects and seems to maintain a steady framerate 90% of the time even during heavy firefights and heavy destruction.
It dips occasionally but again overall it's fine.
Sound
Voice acting is most part decent and sound effects like explosions, gunfire etc are great.
My favorite however is the EDF radio station.
Pretty much in any town or RF stronghold you will find that everyone is listening to the same EDF sponsored radio station.
On this station you will hear a lady report on the latest action you did however since it's a EDF station she will twist everything you do so that it's in EDF's favour.
I don't know I just enjoyed that.
The music is fitting and sometimes very nice.
Multiplayer
I saw some gameplay videos of it's multiplayer and to me it felt like it was just thrown in there because every game has to have multiplayer these days however I couldn't be more wrong.
Alot of work has gone into this and is a joy to play.
The destruction is still there and you have your standard deathmatch, team deathmatch, CTF and some that takes more advantage of the destruction like demolition.
In Demolition you are 2 teams, one member in each team is designated demolition man. The DM's job is to destroy as much as possible, everytime you punch a hole in something you get a point so your job is just to get as much points as possible while your teammates has to both protect you(if the DM dies another member is picked as DM) and to repair the buildings using a special gun.
If you are not a DM you don't get points for destroying things.
There are more modes that uses the destruction however I just wanted to point that one out.
16 players is max and overall it feels right due to the size of the maps and there are no vehicles.
However there are backpacks, now these things are loads of fun.
There are several different backpacks you can get such as jetpacks, a pack that makes you run faster, one that heals you and anyone close to you but you also have some more offensive packs.
For example Rhino which enables you to run through anything in your path inclueding buildings and people.
Or Tremor which causes a earthquake which is good for making buildings crumble.
And these packs aren't one-time, you just have to wait a short time before using them again.
There are more of course but just wanted to go more in-depth with a few.
And when you kill things or complete objectives you gain XP and with XP you unlock weapons and other playable characters for MP.
Overall I'm very impressived with the MP and is really enjoying it.
Conclussion
RF:G had the potential to fail big but thankfully it didn't.
While it has a weak story and landscape that is pretty similar throughout, the destruction just makes it all worth it.
Put this together with a AI that can kick your butt even on Normal difficulty level and a fairly long single player campaign as well and you got yourself a game that you will have alot of fun playing.
And if you finished the single-player there is a very good multiplayer to go along with it.
So I give it a 8.5/10 and recommend it to anyone who loves to blow things up.
There is a demo available on Xbox Live and PSN.
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. But I actually read all of it and loved it nice review +rep might actually get this game. But you never said if it was a FPS (i'm guessing it is)
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Originally Posted by Dewy
