Red Faction: Guerrilla - This time we get what we heard!

Written by: Finn Orfano • Edited by: Michael Hartman
Published May 31, 2009 • Related Guides: Red Planet | Gaming Industry

One of my favorite studios is back on stages. And it's not like their previous project was unsuccessful, just the opposite – it sells good. Lets not forget that Volition are authors of classics like Freespace. And when you've done such a game – the expectations for a new game are very high.

Introduction

When Red Faction was released back in the millennium, it was one of the biggest disappointments. The great promises for innovative gameplay and graphics were followed by great criticism when the game was finally released. The destruction in the game that had to change the levels were nothing more than a cheap trick to full the audience.

When people heard about Guerrilla, they probably thought the same - only promises.

Few years later

There we are, few years later with the continuation knocking on our doors. The game should be released in June. Many thought the series are burred and gone. I didn't expect much despite the promises from the last Games Convention until the day I saw the demo with my very eyes. One word – wow!

The new Red Faction is indisputably one of the greatest doings this year, and this time you can believe anything Volition said. And their promises, under an old tradition, are very strong. One of the designers even said that they've passed all other games with five or more years, and that playing Red Faction ruins the fun of anything else.

Believe it or not, it's more or less like this. Even the option for destroying buildings in some other games looks like small cosmetics when its compared with the total destruction you can do in the new Red Faction. It's not just an interactive atmosphere – you can break absolutely everything. You will look at it with perplexity.

Gameplay and Features
Rating

Gameplay? It's there, don't worry. The new third person point of view fits perfect the general conception. And this time we have a real sandbox experience. Simplified – the twelve square kilometers all yours during any point of the game.

We will see also something modern in the gaming industry lately – the games are finally smart, in our case – it really hurts more when you hit the enemy in the weakest spots, and our hero will bring down the morale of the enemy troops by doing it.

Talking about the enemy, this time it's the EDF faction, Earth Defense Force. However, it ideas had changed and it made out of the Red Planet a working camp. Alek is on the side of Red Faction, which fights for the planet's independence. We can't say much about the story here, but I'm sure they will surprise us with it also.

It's the right time to mark also the innovative artificial intelligence – it looks more than promising. Those little soldiers are saw were one of the most smart enemies I've ever had in a game. Those heroes were not just hiding and covering, they were also combining this with sneaking behind my back. There is also a macro aspect of the artificial intelligence – at first it will be very easy to fight the enemies, but as soon as EDF notice how dangerous you actually are, they will start sending more and stronger forces against you.

Rides and Arsenal
Rating

Another feature of the so called sandbox games are the rides. In Red Faction: Guerrilla they are twenty – from strange futuristic rides, through tanks and up to robots. In the demo you can see a mission where you have to steal a robot and escape from a horde of enemies.

When it comes to the weapon, they are just as dangerous as you are. Alek starts with his best friend – a hammer. Remember Half Life? The weapon is very fun to use. I also saw a carbine, something like shotgun and a normal gun. The rest of the weapons are just on paper, but they sound more than promising. I'll mention two of them here. The grinder and the Arc Welder, the second works as a chain lightning in close range and the second. The Grinder shoots sharp disks which are very useful against live enemies and useless against buildings or machines

Conclusion

So far so good, eh? I assure you that you will be quite as happy as you should be after reading this short review and try the game for yourselves. I don't want to compare the game with some popular titles because the game needs no comparison. Volition did a great work and should be proud of it.