Red Faction: Guerrilla (Xbox 360) > Reviews (6)

The original Red Faction was the first title I ever had for my PS2. At the time I bought it, I didn't have enough money to get a memory card (and in those days, systems didn't come with them or have HDDs), so I literally spent 12 hours straight hammering through the game. I was drawn in by something revolutionary, the GeoMod engine, which allowed you to basically drill your way through the levels.

It set up staged events (who can forget blowing up walkway and watching that APC fall to its demise) and grabbed you by the short and curlies, forcing you to believe in the factions cause. Multiplayer was awesome too, blowing your way into secret areas, smashing your way into hidden sniper spots. Red Faction defined my next gen playing experience.

I was incredibly disappointed by Red Faction 2 however, and felt that after the smashing (no pun intended) hit that Red Faction was, they didn't build upon it, instead deviating away from the games central concept of blowing stuff up. When I heard that Volition had started work on a third title, I watched with interest to see if they could replicate the first's success.

Red Faction Guerrilla is set back on Mars this time, 50 years after the events of Red Faction, and 45 years after the events of Red Faction 2 based on earth. My first though on starting the title was that they had stuck with Red Faction 2, rather than the original Red Faction. The game is set within an open ended world ala Grand Theft Auto or (surprise surprise) Saint's Row. It puts you in the role of Alec Mason, who after landing on Mars in look of work, finds his world shattered and forced into life as a Faction member.

Graphically the title looks impressive, which characters, vehicles and the Martian surface modelled extremely well. Loading times are non existent when driving or running, however there are a number of loading screens between missions, cut scenes and deaths. Missions are plentiful, with the game giving you the choice of guerrilla actions, which can range from defending/taking an area, to delivering different vehicles across the maps.

Gameplay wise, the faction requires you to knock the EDF (the earth defence force) out of specific areas in the game world. By completing specific guerrilla actions, lowering the EDF control in the area and raising the people's morale will allow you to do this. It is the same as any other sandbox style game, which some of the minor guerrilla actions being rather repetitive, however this being mainly an action game, blowing stuff up never really gets boring.

Speaking of which the GeoMod 2 engine speaks volume of the work Volition has done. Every building in the game can be destroyed, by pretty much anything you can get your hands on. Hammers, guns, and even cars can be used to wreck destruction upon the EDF. My only niggle with this, is that once again, the actual world can't be destroyed. Many times during the campaign I found that the best way into the EDF stronghold would be to hammer my through the actual rock and pop out the other side - but yet, in this world of destruction and minery, I find I can't actually smash the rock...

Little things present themselves to do during the game as well, such as destroying specific ammo caches, mining ore and collecting radio tags (which along with giving you a bit of a history lesson, allow you to find MOABs (Mother of all Bombs) which do massive damage where ever you decide to deploy them.

All in all, the sand box style game seems to suit the direction Red Faction is going in, and although this is a deviation of the original idea, it seems the direction the game is going is a good one.