Red Faction: Guerrilla [360]

07 Jun 2009 at 10:49:20 by
Systems used to review this title: (360)

Man I loved the first Red Faction game on PS2, back in the day when I was a true Sony boy, circa 2001. It was an awesome FPS, using developers Volition's new Geo-Mod tech that rendered pretty much everything in the environment destructible and with its theme of Martian rebellion it was just like playing Total Recall. Due to the success of the original we were treated to the cross platform sequel, Red Faction II a year later, which continued the Geo-Mod trend but now set on earth. Again devs Volition and publishers THQ delivered another sound gaming experience.  I still have fond memories of the riot that I had with the rail gun (pinning enemies to walls) in RF and in the mech like battle armour in RF II. Well seven years on and the third installment is with us, and itis a total franchise re-boot. Red Faction is no longer an FPS; it's gone all third person. On hearing this I was dismayed, how could they do that to my cherished FPS experience? Well they have and it plays like the bastard offspring of Grand Theft Auto and Super Bomberman 3, and that is not a bad thing at all, mostly.

Those familiar with the first installments will recognise the story line. In RF Guerrilla you play as Alec Mason, just an ordinary guy who has come to terra-formed Mars to find work as a mining engineer. Mason's brother Dan is already working there and it soon becomes apparent that he is part of a resistance movement called Red Faction. You see, the money grabbing conglomerate fat cats on Earth are milking Mars and exploiting its population for all its worth, treating them as slaves to feed Earth's needs (Marx would have a field day). These corporate bad guys rule Mars with an iron fist and enforce it with the EDF (Earth DefenceForce), their military lap dogs. Mason sees his brother get brutally murdered by the EDF and soon gets swept up into the Red Factions ranks, initially seeking revenge but ultimately fighting for the liberation of Mars from the tyranny of Earth. And so your quest and destruction dealing begins.

RF Guerrilla is an open sandbox game of the GTA mold, with the emphasis on blowing buildings, vehicles and people to kingdom come and who doesn't like blowing things up? If in your youth you ever fantasised about demolishing your school, or dismantled a box of crappy fireworks in order to put them back together to make one big one or enjoyed playing with ammonium nitrate before it was difficult to get hold of, (sorry but I am guilty on all three accounts), then this is your idea of a wet dream. Volition and THQ have done a sterling job with the new Geo-Mod tech engine. Virtually everything can be satisfyingly blown to smithereens, and there are many ways to do this. There are a huge amount of weapons and explosives on offer, most of which can up graded to do some serious damage to the EDF.

The more damage you deal to the EDF, the closer Mason comes to his goal of liberating Mars (more on this later) and the more damage you do, the more salvage you collect. In RF Guerrilla salvage is the currency and fundamental to your progress, once a building or vehicle is decimated it will leave behind scrap metal which can be picked up and exchanged for upgrading weapons, armour and abilities. This is needed as the EDF really do start to swarm you in later levels.

To kick off with Mason isonly armed with his trusty sledgehammer and some remote charges, but even in later levels with many other weapons becoming available, I still found myself relying heavily on these two. Mason always carries the sledgehammer (which is a very handy one hit kill on EDF troops) but can equip himself with three other weapons allowing a good variety and approach in death dealing. Do you carry an assault rifle and an arcwelder to keep the EDF in check? Or do you go for an all out explosive combination, wielding a rocket launcher, remote mine and thermo-baricrocket (basically a mini-nuke)?

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