Red Faction Guerilla | Review (PS3 version)

Red Faction | Review (PS3)

It's been over 8 years since I played the first Red Faction for the Playstation 2, and though nostalgia may fade with time, I had a great time with that game. Originally a FPS, fast forward to 2009, and the third installment (never played the second) shifts a few things.

In Red Faction: Guerrilla, the gameplay goes third-person, and the world opens up and invites you to its red sandbox or destruction. You play as Alec Mason, having just arrived on Mars, hungry to begin a new life, Alec's future quickly spirals out of control after a tragic encounter with the oppressive Earth Defence Force (EDF). Players of the original should recognize that you were fighting with the EDF against a then evil empire, the Ultor Corporation. Now Alec must join and eventually lead a revolution against the EDF using every available "guerrilla" tactic and weapon of destruction at his disposal to take back control of Mars.

The name of the game is destruction, or "what's the fastest, and funnest (sic) way to level every building in the vicinity to its knees" This is Grand Theft Saints Row on Mars, with a heavy dose of nitro glycerine. You can destroy ANY building and do so with a slew of cool equipment. Starting off with a giant sledgehammer, remote mines, thermobaric rockets and even nano rifles that disintegrate anythign it touches.

The singleplayer campaign unfolds as any typical sandbox style game does, you can run around and just do whatever your heart contents, but you have to take missions to progress the story. And as far as story goes, I'm not a huge fan of this one. It's standard fare, nothing really stands out. It's really about the gameplay (even though at times it is repetitive).



The game does shine a bit brighter in it's multiplayer mode "Wrecking Crew". You pick a map, how many players, your weapon and support config, and go in taking turns destroying the map for as much points as fast as you can with multiple modes, such as "destroy as much as you can in 1 minute with unlimited ammo", "destroy as much as you can in 3 minutes with limited ammo", etc. It's a great time to play with some friends.

Bottom line: Mashbuttons gives Red Faction: Guerilla 7.5 out of 10 (overall)

Red Faction Guerilla is available now for the PS3 and Xbox 360 from THQ