I do not normally write reviews, but I want to mention this game to help its sales since I know it it not as heavily covered as some other game releases this year.
In short I agree with the other positive reviewers so far. I do not usually like open world games. I thought Grand Theft Auto IV was ok, but this seems superior. The mission types are more varied (to me), the weapons are more interesting (the sledgehammer alone is great!) and the ability to interact and demolish buildings is much more "real." Also the mech vehicles are well done.
The physics engine for the building is simply amazing. It makes games that do not have their buildings take damage now seem "off."
I like that the multiplayer has the standard fare, but also some newer approaches involving destroying or defending buildings. This certainly should help people get longer value.
I have not played the previous Red Faction titles so cannot compare. I will say the story is not amazing, but it is good enough. You can read other reviews about the story. And if I had to choose between gameplay and story, I would choose gameplay.
Cons: As mentioned, sometimes missions can be a bit repetitive. Also, sometimes there are way too many enemies that spawn. But you can still come out victorious.
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The third title from Volition's Red Faction can be summed up in one word, phenominal. Volition paced themselves and it paid off. They paid attention to every little detail of the game; the environment, the character movements, the weapon reactions and the automobiles.
A brief review of the game shows that it comes to terms with what gamers want now-a-days; destruction. Whats more fun that making your own door into a building? Tearing the building down afterwards, of course!
The game is set on Mars, thankfully. Volition has returned to its roots with this one, even including a glimpse of the Ultor mines. You get to return to Capek's lair and retrive something called a Nano Forge. For those who have played the first one may notice something, and I am sure they agree with me on this; The best part of Red Faction Guerilla, is that they incorprated the same infrastructure as in the first Red Faction. Upon returning to Capek's lair, yuo begin to notice this, as it is set the same exact way the original was. In my opinion, that is amazing. You begin to pick out the similarities as you progress further into the game. You return to the badlands, and even travel through the canyons where you first run into the merc's.
The story is not so much cliche in the beginning, but it starts to get a little repetative after the first territoy. But hey, you get over that as soon as you start smashing buildings down.
All in all, thisis Volitions best game yet. The set forth their real potential and it shows. This game is sure to go down, in my book, as one of the best games for the XBox.
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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.
Honest reviews on Red Faction Guerrilla - Xbox 360
take an open world thrid person shooter set on mars with the most advanced destruction engine to date, throw in some highly addictive multiplayer, and you have yourself the best shooter so far this year(as of June 2009).
forget everything you thought new about in-game environmental destruction. the first time you play Red Faction:Guerilla you will see the new age of destruction. see buildings break apart piece by piece as you tear down the walls of oppression.
in the time since the last red faction, mars has become victim to another tyrannical organization, called the EDF. you came to mars looking for peace and quiet, trying to settle down with a regular mining job. then a tragety comes about that causes you to stand up against the EDF and rain down all kind of destruction, they never bargained for.
controls handle great on the Saints Row 2 engine, whether your switching weapons, fighting, tearing down a building, driving a truck or mech (oh yeah.. theres mechs!!) they also added a cover system similar to GTA IV. theres very little to complain about in this game.
the story of one man fighting for not only his own freedom, but the freedom of an entire planet is inspiring to say the least. it truly is an evil government, and they simply cant be left to continue.
as you take the role of a terrorizing freedom fighter (think Gordon Freeman) you have a nice variety of missions to complete, from specific target buildings that need to be destroyed, to defending worker caps/invading EDF camps, various story missions, timed vehicle deliveries (ew), chase/tailing missions, ect.
overall its a great game. its got the most ambitious/advanced destruction engine to date with a good story, smooth controls, and a wealth of areas and weaponry to unlock.
gameplay 9.5/10
graphics 8.5/10 (considering the interactivity)
controls 9.25/10
sound 7.75/10
story 8.75/10
*destrucion 10/10
overall 9.25/10
replay value = high
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When you think of interstellar tyranny and galactic civil war, Red Faction isn't the first game that comes to mind. But when you replace those two things with Mars and unprecedented destruction, you have a different story entirely. Red Faction: Guerrilla is Volition's third entry in the series and brings with it the most unmeasured, gratuitous destruction this generation has seen.
The story isn't going to win any awards, but it does what it needs to do. For what it's worth it follows Alec Mason as he arrives on Mars to work with his brother. Shortly after, the Earth Defense Force (EDF) kills his brother and targets Alec for being part of the resistance, part of the Red Faction. From here Alec is assimilated into the rebel ranks and must help them push the oppressive EDF back. The only problem is, well, the EDF has an entire army. Guerrilla warfare anyone?
Unlike its predecessors, Guerrilla deviates from the conventional first-person viewpoint by going third-person. Along with this change comes the shift to a free-roaming, mission based environment ala Grand Theft Auto. If that sounds strange you're not alone. But surprisingly, the change works incredibly well and, if anything, infuses the game with explosive variety that many open-ended games lack.
Mars is setup into six distinct zones that must be liberated from EDF control. Each activity you undertake will earn you salvage (the game's currency and means of purchasing new equipment) and/or lower the gauge of control for the EDF. Lowering control allows you to gain access to the story-based Red Faction missions that will progress the game and unlock other zones. These missions are all very fun and in case you misstep, the checkpoint system is very forgiving. This setup works extremely well as you're given the choice of just running rampant, destroying EDF structures or partaking in the various activities around Mars.
It wouldn't be a Red Faction game unless it put a tremendous amount of effort into destruction and Guerrilla is no different. Every single building on Mars can be brought to the ground in glorious fashion. It looks great, feels satisfying, and simply never gets old. The only problem I have is when you're trying to destroy a building it sometimes is kept standing by just one or two supports. In that regard, the destruction physics can be a bit off, but for the majority of the time it's a blast to swing through obstacles and watch the debris fly.
If you're not one to constantly follow activities, Guerrilla rewards for taking out important EDF structures. These targets range from small, less important buildings to heavily fortified, high importance structures. Destroying targets is a quick way to unlock Red Faction missions and is quite fun at that. There's nothing like collapsing a power planet surrounded by EDF troops and making a quick getaway. If running off the beaten-path doesn't appeal to you as much, activities like Demolitions Master, Heavy Metal, and the rail-shooting rides with Jenkins are among the greatest in the entire game. Demolitions Master is probably the best activity since it's so unique. It's basically a puzzle that requires the annihilation of a building in a certain way.
There are also a couple different multiplayer components worth noting. One is called Wrecking Crew which is more of a pass the controller, party mode. It has various modes such as limited ammo or simply blowing up barrels, but they all deal with blowing buildings apart. It's a good time with multiple people but not something you'll be spending most of your time on. The other component deals with the competitive side of things. You'd think meshing destructibility with the diverse range of weaponry available would be something unbelievable. And it is it's unbelievably ridiculous and broken. It's setup like Halo and in that respect it works well. It also uses various unique backpacks, like the Rhino which can charge a short distance through buildings. But it all goes to hell once the games begin. For instance, on certain maps teams can spawn-kill the entire time. Weapons are completely unbalanced and make otherwise close matches into blow-outs. While I found the different gametypes very unique, the gameplay online was simply too chaotic and unrefined to be anything worthwhile.
The destruction and campaign in Red Faction: Guerrilla is unquestionable great and something definitely worth experiencing. Unfortunately, full retail price isn't justifiable as once you're 15 hour romp is done, there's little reason to revisit Mars.
