Red Faction: Guerrilla [Review]

I fondly remember when the first Red Faction came out on the PC. It was my freshman year of college, and my suite-mates and I would play it over the LAN network, screaming at one another through our dorm’s paper thin walls. With the introduction of GeoMod technology into gaming, Red Faction delivered an entirely new, refreshing experience into the FPS genre that, in my fine opinion, has yet to be emulated in any other series. A lot of games have tried to use terrain altering components, and ultimately failed. Fracture, anyone? After time, you’d think this component would run stale, especially after three games. It doesn’t. And here’s why:

Red Faction: Guerrilla takes GeoMod to a whole new level, leaving the first person perspective of the original two games and delivering a third person, Gears of War style experience. Instead of using a missile launcher to dig your way into the ground or through mountains, RFG uses the technology on buildings. From tiny crates, to large bridges, to colossal-sized constructs, everything built by human hands can be broken down and demolished. As buildings tumble to the ground, they fall apart realistically. Slam your sledgehammer into the ceiling of an office building, and watch as the ceiling caves in, taking the next few floors with it. Place some bombs on opposite sides of a bridge, and watch as it crumbles down, taking a small army along for the ride. The physics are incredible.

However, does excellent gameplay, stunning graphics, and realistic physics make up for poor story telling and uninspired characters? Read on.

See all that stuff in the background? Yeah, you can blow it up.

In most cases, I’d say no. There’s no excuse for slacking on the story, or skipping out on character development. Not when you’re producing a summer blockbuster game. However, as we’ve seen with games like the first Gears of War or Bionic Commando, when the experience is this enthralling, you can get to a point where the characters no longer matter. You don’t care that everything seems to happen in a single day, or that you really know nothing about the main characters. The fact that you can tear down an entire building while enemies are inside, using nothing but a mining axe… well, that makes up for it. All of it.

For those of you who know me off the internets, you know that I teach literature on a college level. Narrative and characters… that’s the sort of stuff I live for. Saying that I can play a game without them… well, that says a lot about the game, let me tell you.

However, if you still want to grasp onto some sort of story, fear not. Red Faction G does deliver some truly excellent voice acting and brilliant cut-scenes. I was trying to locate the names of the actors playing the lead characters, because they were fantastic, but alas, Google has failed me. If you know the names of these folks, do let me know. I’d love to see what else they’ve done.

With some fantastic sounding DLC planned for mid-August that explores the past of the main character’s brother (some story!), and a ton of in game mini-games to beat, the replay value on this title is high. Is this game worth buying? Absolutely. Immediately.

Did you play the game? What did you think. Sound off in the replies.

Other Stuff You Might Wanna Know:
Available for: Xbox 360 / PlayStation 3
Price: 49.99
Rating (Buy It, Don’t Buy It, Rent It): Buy It