Red Faction Guerrilla REVIEW

The perfect game does not exist, mostly because everyone has their vision of what the perfect game would be. Therefore, no one should qualify a game of being perfect, or even close to perfect. That is my rule when reviewing, and I think it should be yours too. That's how I see it at least.

That was until I played this game. I am so sorry, but I will be breaking my rule today: Red Faction Guerrilla is damn near perfect! This game is not only awesome in so many ways, it uses old and new to deliver a perfectly balanced package with pretty much everything expected today and more. Needless to say it is now one of my favorite games, next to Halo 2, Final Fantasy VIII, Tales of Symphonia and System Shock 2. Why is it awesome? Let's find out!

Yep, that's Alec!

The story begins with Alec Mason, as he lands on Mars, a human colony, ready to start a fresh life on this so called haven. He is greeted by his brother who quickly dismisses this, and explains that Mars is EDF (Earth Defense Forces) ruled, and that they pretty much own the place. You then discover he is part of a rebellion who wants to be free of the tyranny and get Mars back. After a violent encounter with police forces, he gets killed and Alec joins the rebellion, swearing to avenge his lost brother. And this is where you start. Pretty classic if you ask me, but solid premises nonetheless.

Is this not beautiful?

A big part of the game is about destruction. You have to complete story missions, and side quests, that usually involve you destroying EDF buildings. To do that you start with a sledgehammer (and trust me, even if that's your starting weapon, you won't be letting go of it till the end of the game!), and remote mines. Throughout the game, you can spend salvage (which you get from ruins and missions) on upgrades and new weapons. This ranges from proximity mines to rocket launcher to an assault rifle and much more, but I don't want to spoil it. To get to a mission, you can walk or drive there, at the same time exploring this wonderful open world environment that is Mars. Follow the road, or go off course and be careful not to crash! It really seems like whatever the game has you doing, the developpers found a way to make it fun.

Before...
...after!

The game runs on the Geomod 2.0 engine, which handles all the explosions from every single bit of debris to beautiful detonations. And boy does it do a great job! It simulates real life physics pretty well: if you start damaging the bases, the whole building will collapse. The engine is also responsible for the landscape (red desert, roads, rocky mountains). Being an open world game, you will often be driving around the different parts of Mars. You do have a fast travel option, but trust me, driving is fun, especially when you can get into any car you see! The engine does a pretty good job, and even though the graphics are not groundbreaking, they will never hurt your eyes (Prototype anyone?).

Sometimes, you gotta be sneaky..

"So all you do in the game is destroy stuff?". Well, no. A lot of missions involve intercepting convoys, getting to a destination driving as fast as you can, rescuing hostages, and even some form of stealth action! Trust me, this game does NOT bore you. Amd just when you thought you had seen it all, they surprise you!
------SMALL SPOILER CONCERNING ONE OF THE UPGRADES-----

I mean come on, when you least expect it, you get the choice of...a jet pack! I mean how cool is that. I love it, really gives a different take on destruction.

------END OF SMALL SPOILER CONCERNING ONE OF THE UPGRADES-----
The game features a GTA like police system, where instead of stars you have a color code, going from green (everything's fine) to red (EDF sent out helicopters and tanks!), and sometimes it gets pretty chaotic, but good chaos, not bad chaos. And if you are out of ammo, there usually is a weapon cache not far from you where you can replenish your inventory. That or pick up any weapon on the ground.
The game also shows you the occupation level, which goes up or down depending on your actions.



"So what, is this game perfect? Should I buy one for each member of the family?". Well, you should definitely buy it, that's a no brainier, but it's not perfect. There are some small details that came to my attention JUST BECAUSE I was really looking for cons and could not find any after a while.
One of them is the fact that if substantial amounts of debris happen to be falling on you, and you get hit, Alec will of course fall on the ground. But he has a very weird way of doing it. It's like the game cut the chords holding you up, and you suddenly drop in a very "I have no muscle nor bones" way. Even though getting up does not take long, it's not automatic. The same thing sometimes happens if you get ran over by a vehicle, but like I said, this is a small detail.

Another one I guess you could be bummed about is the story/voice acting. It's decent, the dialogues even have some humor to it, but when you see a white guy talk with a very guetto accent, you just stop and wonder "Did he really speak like that?" and the answer would be yes. But then again, those are details. Those elements will not make the game less enjoyable.

Notice the yellow arrows? They act as the ultimate GPS System! And as you can see, the game alternates day and night

After all of that, it really seems like there's nothing more to add. BUT WAIT: Red Faction Guerrilla has one more thing, multiplayer!
Yep, that's right, you can either duel your friend offline and see who can cause more destruction in the time given, or battle it out online with oh so many people. And thank god, the notion of lag seems to be absent from this game, and this is always a major plus.

I honestly think this game should get a Game Of The Year Edition, because it really deserves it. On behalf of the team here at Freestylelance, I thank Volition and THQ for delivering such a complete product. With 3 DLC announced for both 360 and PS3, the first scheduled to be released before the end of summer, expanding on the single player story with a totally new area to explore, all I can say is: the rebellion is not over! And with a Red Faction 4 announced, all I can think about is a map editor!



Appreciations: A, 9/10, Awesome.

Open World Gaming: the new trend?

Fallout 3

GTA IV, Fallout 3, Elder Scrolls IV, Red Faction Guerrilla, InFamous, Prototype. Apart from being awesome games, what do they have in common? They are HUGE. As in physically. All these games have a common component that really adds to the overall experience, and that is an open world. Why are more and more games featuring open world environments? Is this the new 2009-2010 trend? And what does it mean for the future of gaming? Let's take a look and see!

With the arrival of next gen consoles like the XBOX360 and the PS3, not only do they bring new graphical capabilities, features like WIFI and a better online gaming system, but they also have a power processor. Microsoft's Xenon (consisting of three sinlge core processor) and Sony's Cell (often seen as more powerful but more complicated to work with) have enourmous processing capabilities. They can process more information, faster.

That enables Game Studios to make bigger games, litterally, the main obstacle now being the size of the format (that is, untill the studios reach the limit of the processors, but we are not there yet!). The XBOX360 has the DVD format, and the PS3 has the bigger Blueray. You would think that with more space there would be more things, but all the games cited in the introduction are multiplatform (except for InFamous).

So great, you say (or not say as far as I know), the studios have better processors and bigger formats to work with. Why are not all games open worlds? And what is an open world anyway? Well let's define what that is first.

Red Faction Guerrilla
An open world game is a video game that features a big environment where the player is free to move wherever. If you take a game like Eternal Sonata, some of the levels are huge, but that is not an open world game. You can not run around in dreamland. But games like Fallout 3 that have cities that you can go to; or Red Faction Guerrilla where whenever you want to go to the far end of Mars, all you have to do is drive there, now that's an open world. It's pretty much the ultimate simulation of freedom of movements right now. You want to go to that place you see in the background? Then go!

Infamous
But an open world has to bring something to the game. For example in InFamous, the PS3 exclusive title by SuckerPunch (the makers of Sly Cooper), Empire City is a huge place to visit. The city is divided in three parts that all become accessible at some point in the story. But it's not grandure for gandure's sake! The people walking in the city react to you. That and pretty much every mission involves you climbing on tall buildings. The same for Protoype, where climbing up to the top of skyscrappers is a good way to escape tanks! And as for good games, they usually mean no or few loading times. Missions and story events start by physically going to the locations, whether it's walking, driving or fastporting there (Fallout 3, Elder Scrolls)!

So what, should all games be open world, and have that sense of freedom? Now that's just according to your own personal opinion, but I think not. I don't feel like Splinter Cell should be open world. How does the stealth element work with that setting? Or games like Bioshock, or RPGs are awesome experiences without the need of a big environment.

Upcoming game: The Saboteur
What does that mean for the future of gaming? Well, when you look at upcoming games like The Saboteur by Pandemic and EA, that takes place in World War II Paris, looks absolutely stunning. They need to fake the capital of France, and size helps a lot. And since it features GTA mission-like gameplay, the choice seems to be justified even more. The new installment of the Halo franchise, HALO ODST also has an open world component. You will be roaming the city, looking for your lost mates, therefore enhancing the feeling of actually 'looking' for someone and rescuing that person.

As you can see, Open World gaming now being a very feasible reality, and our consoles hardware making it possible, I think we are going to see more and more games like these. But the question will now become, who makes the best use of it? And that, dear readers, is a question YOU will answer.

What's coming up?

Great articles are coming up!

Open World Gaming: the new trend?

Red Faction Guerrilla Review

BlazBlue Calamity Trigger Review

Valve: what the heck are you doing?

Ubisoft: new studio in Toronto!

I also would like to welcome Z-Solo, the new addition to FreeStyleLance's awesome team! Expect great articles from him. (He'll introduce himself in the next post).