Review: Red Faction: Guerrilla Xbox 360

Written by Chip Loan on 09 July 2009

Red Faction: Guerrilla puts you in the shoes of protagonist Alec Mason. After receiving word from his brother about employment opportunities he makes the trek to the red planet. Unfortunately for Alec his brother wasn’t total honest with him and he lands in the middle of a Mars uprising. Oh, and then his brother gets gunned down, within the first five minutes.

That’s how you’re thrown into the story of RF:Guerrilla. Your brother has just been killed and you are tossed head first into a Martian civil war that you never even knew existed.

From there it’s onto the explosions, demolition and all around carnage. The feature highlighted the most in this game is the ability to destroy almost anythything in your enviroment. Afterall, it’s the whole reason Volition Inc. moved from a first-person view to a thrid-person perspective.A decision that was made so that the player could see more of what was happening around them. Which usually invaolved balls of fire and buildings crumbling.

The Martian landscape is sometimes drab and decolite. Your only real enemies and the EDF (Earth Defense Force) who was responsible for the murder of your brother, and the marauders. A band of theives who pillage and harass anyone who gets in their way.

As Alec Mason you travel to each of of the Martian sectors to free them of EDF rule. With plenty of side missions to accent the main objectives there is plenty for you to see and do. WIth generic steal this car and bring it from point A to point B missions, to demoloshing buildings in a certain amount of time and the more important Guerrilla objectives which help progress the story.

As you complete the side and main missions you’ll collect salvage. Which is your currency in this game. Salavge can also be found by destroying EDF buildings and picking up the scrap, as well as from mining ore that is scattered throughout the open world enviroment.

With your salvage in had you are able to upgrade your weapons as well as unlock new ones. Anything from new and improved sledgehammers to rocket launcher and jet packs. The wide array of weapons was one of this games finer points. They really allowed the player to be creative in the way they used the tools they were given.

As you progress through the story you’ll find fun new toys ready for you to confiscate if you see fit. From the mech-like walkers to tanks and other vehicles. Although it isn’t until much further in the story that you can really take advantage of these fun gadgets. It would have been nice to see more variety in the vehicles department. But overall there is enough of a variety to keep you busy.

The gameplay as a whole is fun. But nothing about this game really stood out as memorable to me. There are some “wow” moments as you take down huge structures and watch them crumble, but the rest of the game seemed lack-luster to me. You never really connect or even care about the characters around you. I can’t even tell you anyone else’s name now that I think about it. Except for our hero Mason that is.

As I was preparing to write this article I scoured the web and read reviews from other gaming sites. And I had to ask myself if I even played the same game these folks were talking about. Although the game has it’s fun moments, there wasn’t really anything new or exciting for it to offer. Sure the game isn’t bad by any means but it’s not excellent either.

Red Faction: Guerrilla puts you in the shoes of protagonist Alec Mason. After receiving word from his brother about employment opportunities he makes the trek from Earth to the red planet. Unfortunately for Alec his brother wasn’t total honest with him and he lands smack in the middle of a Mars uprising. Oh, and then his brother gets gunned down, within the first five minutes.

That’s how you’re thrown into the story of RF:Guerrilla. Your brother has just been killed and you are tossed head first into a Martian civil war that you never even knew existed.

From there it’s onto the explosions, demolition and all around carnage. The feature highlighted the most in this game is the ability to destroy almost anything in your environment. After all, it’s the whole reason Volition Inc. moved from a first-person view to a third-person perspective.A decision that was made so that the player could see more of what was happening around them. Which usually involved balls of fire and buildings crumbling.

guerilla

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The Martian landscape is sometimes drab and desolate. Your only real enemies and the EDF (Earth Defense Force) who was responsible for the murder of your brother, and the marauders. A band of thieves who pillage and harass anyone who gets in their way.

As Alec Mason you travel to each of of the Martian sectors to free them of EDF rule. With plenty of side missions to accent the main objectives there is plenty for you to see and do. With generic steal this car and bring it from point A to point B missions, to demolishing buildings in a certain amount of time and the more important Guerrilla objectives which help progress the story.

As you complete the side and main missions you’ll collect salvage. Which is your currency in this game. Salvage can also be found by destroying EDF buildings and picking up the scrap, as well as from mining ore that is scattered throughout the open world environment.

With your salvage in had you are able to upgrade your weapons as well as unlock new ones. Anything from new and improved sledgehammers to rocket launcher and jet packs. The wide array of weapons was one of this games finer points. They really allowed the player to be creative in the way they used the tools they were given.

red_faction_guerrilla_1

As you progress through the story you’ll find fun new toys ready for you to confiscate if you see fit. From the mech-like walkers to tanks and other vehicles. Although it isn’t until much further in the story that you can really take advantage of these fun gadgets. It would have been nice to see more variety in the vehicles department. But overall there is enough of a variety to keep you busy.

The gameplay as a whole is fun. But nothing about this game really stood out as memorable to me. There are some “wow” moments as you take down huge structures and watch them crumble, but the rest of the game seemed lack-luster to me. You never really connect or even care about the characters around you.

The most fun to be had with this game is in it’s multiplayer modes. The online experience was far more addicting then the drab single player storyline. It features your standard deathmatch (called Team Anarchy) and capture the flag type modes. As well attack and defend (Siege) and Damage Control mode. Where teams try to capture or destroy points on a map. There are six modes altogether. All of which were a blast to play. The learning curve isn’t steep and almost all of the modes are inviting to a fun run and gun style of play.

As I was preparing to write this article I scoured the web and read reviews from other gaming sites. And I had to ask myself if I even played the same game these folks were talking about. Although the game has it’s fun moments, there wasn’t really anything new or exciting for it to offer. Sure the game isn’t bad by any means but it’s not excellent either. I’d recommend it as a rent. Unless you are someone who is obsessed with repeating the same missions over and over again you may tire of the single player campaign too soon. It’s the online multiplayer that’s the saving grace here.

OVERALL SCORE: 7/10