Red Faction: Guerrilla (ex shelf stock) reviews

If you derive even the slightest bit of pleasure from blowing stuff up in videogames, you owe it to yourself to check out Red Faction Guerrilla.

Basically, this is a GTA-style sandbox game set on Mars, where some naughty tyrants are exploiting the great unwashed, who in turn are not particularly happy about said exploitation.

Which is all well and good, but what this game really boils down to is an open license to level buildings in any way you see fit, whether that be via sledgehammer, remote charge, rocket launcher, or vaporising laser-gun thingy. And no matter how many buildings you level, it JUST NEVER GETS OLD.

The main campaign storyline has a good mix of missions, including driving, firefights and demolitions, but there's just as much fun to be had cruising around Mars and partaking in the various side missions. Especially those that involve – you guessed it – blowing stuff up.

The main story will probably take you 15 hours or so to finish, but add on the many side missions and the multiplayer component and there's more than enough to keep you occupied for ages.

Overall, Red Faction Guerrilla is a helluva lot of fun. Not the greatest storyline of all time, but it doesn't really matter when the fun factor is this high.

After the oppressive EDF, who control Mars with an iron fist, kill your brother, you join the Red Faction. The Red Faction are a bunch of freedom fighters committed to ending the rule of the EDF and liberating Mars.

To win the game, you must throw the EDF out of the 6 sectors they control. Each sector has a number of ‘missions’ you can complete in any order and by doing so, you gradually reduce the EDFs influence to zero thus forcing them to leave allowing you to move onto the next sector. Missions range from destroying important or strategic buildings, to hi-jacking convoys, delivering captured vehicles to a certain location in a set time and kidnapping EDF officials. I think Red Faction should have been subtitled ‘Demolition’ instead of ‘Guerrilla’ as demolishing structures is such an important and fun part of the game. Not only is it required in order to liberate sectors, damaged or demolished buildings create salvage which is used to buy essential new weapons and upgrades. Completing certain missions also rewards you with salvage.

Positives: Graphically, Red Faction looks great. An expansive world to play around in. The game chugs along at a decent framerate and I didn't have any problems with slowdown even with quite a bit happening on the screen. The nano-rifle is fantastic fun to use. Every vehicle can be driven and they handle quite well and with the lower martian gravity, the driving is actually more fun than it ought to be. Enemy A.I. is quite good although stick soldiers in a vehicle and they can suddenly become quite dumb. Audio is good with some nice pieces of music playing at times, soldiers having conversations with each other, radio reports playing in the background etc.

Negatives: The only real negative I can come up with is that some people MIGHT find the gameplay becomes a little repetitive. There seem to be a stock number of mission types you'll repeat over in each sector. Not enough emphasis was placed on doing truly unique missions in order to propel the story forward. I'm over half way through the game and not bored at all but I thought I should mention it because it is a potential downer for some people.

Overall, I really like Red Faction, nice graphics, good audio, lots of destruction, fun driving bits, interesting missions that can be tackled in various ways and in any order you like. This is simply a really fun title that is well worth owning. Don't rent it, buy it, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Two thumbs up!

Forget all you know about red factions one and two. Guerilla is just a way of saying… This is an awesome game, just like the previous red factions! The latest technologies are out in the most amazing sandbox map! Whilst playing I found it similar to CrackDown. But with better graphics, gameplay, and far better story line. If I had the money I would buy this game another fifty times to give it away for others to play, contribute to the next red faction funding, and to help it gain awards. Thanks Mighty Ape!

Personally i didn't get hooked onto this game. I like the storyline for the beginning, but i hadnt got round to playing it and never got the urge to. The actual gameplay was rather nice. 3rd person worked well for it.

While the storyline is rather throwaway, the physics used in the world more than make up for any shortcomings.

People move and buildings collapse realistically, weapons are all fun and effective, and the cutscenes are beautiful.

There's more than enough content for weeks worth of play.

Definately worth the purchase price.

Red Faction Guerilla was worth the wait and I felt that this game has been built properly from square 1. I believe that THQ has struck Gold with not only Red Faction Guerrilla but also UFC Undisputed. The game has that open world feeling and not too GTA cliched. Lets hope THQ doesn't drop the ball with the successor UFC & red Faction games next time round and hope that THQ can strike gold again with WWE SvR 2010.

The plot may not be “interesting” but to its credit it is fresh. The graphics are amazing and the physics is a lot of fun. The missions are a bit samey and the offline multi-player is minimal, I don't know about the online multi-player but am eager to check it out. And a question I've always wanted answered is: what would happen if i could go on a maniacal rampage on a colonised and terraformed mars, with explosives and a hammer…-

Answer 1: Irresponsible use of said explosives leading to a lack of useful bridges and cover.

Answer 2: a damn good game, well worth anything you paid for it, whether it be $20 or a leg.

Answer 3: a stats screen that shows that Alec Mason has been killed by falling buildings 43 times in the almost 2 days (more like 6 hrs of gameplay) I have been playing it… however, it does not say that 39 of those deaths were my fault. woops.

With a fun story line and some nice weapons to play with Red faction is a beast of a game.

Being able to roam around Mars freely destroying everything in sight just for giggles is an amazing feeling.

Sure the story is a bit thin – but if you are buying games, you probably don't mind so much :)

Here, destruction is the order of the day – just get out there blow things up! Hours of fun that will put a smile on your face.

This is just pure fun.

The game is just epic, heaps of missions to do, tons of builds to destroy (sledgehammer, explosives or hydrogen canisters, pick you poison) and even more enemies to kill.

If you have played either GTA or mercenaries and like either then get this as good if not better.

I got Red Faction: Guerilla as an escape from linear gameplay and for the chance to just have fun running around doing whatever I want. However, filled with invisible wall and insurmountable objects, the free roaming ability I expected was diminished. However, the destruction engine is superb and satisfying. See a bridge. Destroy it. Simple as that.

So yeah, great fun, but not as great as I expected

Here's a question you probably already know the answer to: do you like to blow things up- Yes- Well, then Volition's Red Faction: Guerrilla is for you, since smashing apart buildings and detonating large quantities of explosives is basically what it's all about. If you're familiar at all with the previous games in the franchise, reaching back to the original released in 2001, you'll find quite a bit different with this third entry. Guerrilla isn't a first-person shooter; it's a third-person action game that plays out entirely on Mars' surface. While you can't tunnel through the ground in this one, you can break to bits pretty much anything built on top. Set in a Grand Theft Auto-style sandbox environment, the game offers a number of side and story missions in its single-player component along with a multitude of multiplayer options that, though there are issues, makes for some of the most explosive action around. Its truly a great game but still has a little bit of bugs here and there but its still fun to crush your rivals under ruble. 8.5 / 10

Two words

MASS DESTRUCTION!!!!!!

Red Faction is a good game if your like some role playing action and have plenty of time to play as some of the story mission can take alot of time.

Only unlike GTA you are not an ex-con in the big city, you are a pesky rebel on a mining planet. But like GTA you set the pace of your progress and choose the order of missions or alternatively, you can just run around like a maniac and cause havoc wherever you like.

This game has has all the good things we loved in the GTA series – big maps – assorted missions – firefights and fun vehicles but the real bonus is that you can also pretty much destroy EVERYTHING!! And boy, it is very satisfying.

The game has seriously good graphics, decent plot and it seems huge – I guess it would take someone like me who might play 2 hrs a day, a few weeks to get through the game. I paid about $35 for this one – thats great value.

Definitely worth a crack.

Remember games where you used to shoot at walls and a little scratch would appear and disappear? well.. this revolutionizes the meaning of ‘Destruction’ if your a big fan of shooters, or environments this is defiantly the game to pick up, plus with a robust online community theres endless amounts of gameplay just waiting to be played!

The best of the red faction trilogy by far, the devastation that can be caused to a building by a mear sledge hammer is breath taking .thanks to Volition for making another destuctalbe eniviroment game you guys rock

Fully destructive environment makes this an enjoyable game for anyone who loves breaking stuff, shooting things or blowing buildings up, however, there is a tendency for the missions to become repetitive due to the similarity of the objectives. A mission typically involves driving somewhere and destroying/ki­lling/rescuing the objective – fun for sure but the subtle repetitiveness won't keep you playing to the early hours of the morning.

Story line isn't bad, but doesn't draw you in emotionally (think Gears 2) and not nearly as gripping (think Halo 2) as some other recent titles but for all that for sheer madness and action I give it a full 10. The fact that any structure can be blown apart or reduced to rubble with your sledgehammer means that this game redefines strategy for an action-shooter (you can't for example, hide forever behind something as it will likely blow apart on you). Beautiful scenery and big explosions make this a game to have whilst waiting for the next big shooter titles to come out…