Red Faction: Guerrilla

"If you like to drive cars, blow stuff up, or shoot things, this game has it all."

Many hands (with bombs) make light work (of blowing up buildings).

First I will say this, this review is based 100% off of single player. I have yet to play multiplayer, so don't expect a review over that portion.

**Graphics: 10/10**
One word, stunning. The vehicles and buildings have great textures. They might be re-used quite a bit, but they are great nonetheless. The weapons are straight up awesome. Every single weapon that you use meets and exceeds expectations. Explosions in this game are very cool. They almost feel like futuristic explosions. Nothing is more fun than setting charges in a building and seeing the windows and sides blow out while massive explosions engulf the entire lower floor of the building.

The terrain gets a little monotonous and repetitive, but you ARE on mars right? Luckily, they varied the elevation and roads enough to where once you've been around a while, you can "learn" the lay of the land. Just don't expect stunning forests and dazzling mountain ranges. As I see it, the terrain is only there to keep you from falling, and the rest of the game is where it's at.


**Sound: 10/10**
Well the sound in this game really is perfect for me. Every single weapon sounds like it should. Probably my favorite is the rocket launcher, which really just "chunks" (it makes sense when you hear it) the RPG out of the barrel, which then proceeds to "fire up" when about 8 yards from you, and blast off to wherever you were aiming it. The vehicle weapons sound really cool. Mech walkers sound very mechanical and powerful when you use them. Explosions sound and feel big with lots of bass, like they should. I feel my feet shake when I blow up a building, I like that!

**Control: 10/10**
As I was sitting here, I was trying to think of some reason to flaw the controls, yet I couldn't. Using an Xbox 360 controller gave me a perfect experience. The learning curve for controls is about 5 minutes, once you've tried it once, it feels 100% natural. Driving is AMAZING. I just enjoy driving around Mars' (slightly boring) landscape at high speeds. The controls are mapped similar to most first person shooter games, with left trigger being melee and "B" being detonate charges. So you can blow up that building you mined while driving away in your getaway car before they even know you're there!


**Gameplay: 10/10** (Why can't I do 11?)
Alright. Here's where it's at. From beginning to end, this game had me grinning like a kid with ice cream. First off, I am a pyromaniac, I love explosions, guns, stuff like that. Therefore I knew this game could be a blast with destructible buildings right? Well I grossly underestimated how awesome it was.

I have never seen such realistic physics in any game. In this game, when you smash a wall with your hammer, only places that you hit actually fall apart. Sometimes you have to hit thicker walls multiple times. You have to take out the supporting beams or else a building won't fall down. Each building is built like a real building, and comes apart like one too. When you drive a vehicle through buildings, you have to have some major speed (and mass, size of the vehicle makes a huge difference), or you won't have enough power to smash through walls and supports.

So just destroying buildings makes this game awesome. But the combat is great too. You have a nice trusty radar that tells you where enemies are, and a nice trusty sledgehammer that knocks the enemy "drones" (not actually drones, but that's what the good guys call them) halfway to the moon. Many weapons that can make your enemy infantry, vehicles, or buildings meet a nasty end.

The vehicle system in this game works great. Pretty much you always need a vehicle. Luckily, the safehouses scattered around the map always have some, the enemy EDF bases usually have some (sometimes a tank or something equally awesome). And then if you get stuck without a vehicle, find a nearby road, and some fellow citizens will lend you their car if you run in front of it just like your mommy told you not to do. So vehicles are never too much of an issue to find, but sometimes you wish they were just a tad faster.

The upgrade system is great too. You collect "salvage" from destroyed ore mines, buildings, and finishing quests. You can trade in salvage for new weapons, upgraded weapons, more ammo, better armor, etc. etc.

Questing is quite enjoyable in my opinion. There are different types of "guerrilla actions" that you can perform, each one being in a unique location. And once you do it, usually the EDF control of the zone drops and morale is raised. Do enough of these and you can have a party in an EDF base and they won't care! My favorite type is demolition, where you are given a challenge to destroy a structure in a certain amount of time, so you go blow stuff up. I've seen many other people say that the quests are all the same and you end up getting frustrated and bored, not me. I can do EDF assaults or house arrests all day. Most quests end up with you killing EDF, smashing buildings with explosives or trucks, driving at high speeds towards or away from enemies, and all around mayhem. While the majority of experiences consist of the same thing, for some reason, to me, it feels different every time. Every encounter is in a new spot, you have new buildings to destroy, and new people to kill.

**Replayability 8/10**
Well to be honest, I haven't had a change to "replay" it yet. But I know I will. First off, the fact that the game's fun revolves around PURE FUN. It's still there even if you've done it before.

The reason I only gave it an 8 is because I know that the variation in buildings/areas that kept me interested from zone 1 to zone 6 won't be there for the replay. Also, there won't be new weapons to discover and new vehicles to use. It will still be unbelievably fun to blow buildings up, but they'll be familiar buildings.

One tiny problem: Alright, I'm not an architect, but this game has a few slight problems with the way buildings fall down. No matter how easy you think a building in this game will fall down, it won't be easy. Sometimes I've had a cylindrical building missing all but about 60 degrees around one side of wall/support, and it stays standing. Buildings fall and collapse realistically, but the strength of supports and beams seems to be much higher than could ever be achieved in real life. Sometimes you'll look at a building and think "Why is it not falling?" If you saw something like it in real life, you'd wonder why it's standing.

But really, that's my only problem with this game...

****Overall: 10/10****

BUY BUY BUY it! Volition is a great company (They made Descent: Freespace, another great game) and deserves your support. And this is a great game and deserves your money and lots of your time! Happy destruction!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/24/09

Game Release: Red Faction: Guerrilla (US, 06/02/09)