Blowing Stuff Up Never Loses It's Charm
Having disliked the first two Red Faction games, I came into this game skeptical. The promise of being able to destroy anything eluded the development team in those games, and the shooting wasn't enough to make the game stand out. In this game, you know the developers are onto something the very first time you take a swing at a building with your hammer. In short, the combination of swinging a hammer, barreling through a building with vehicles, and detonating a symphony of explosive charges is a potent gameplay combination that made me ask why someone hasn't done this sooner. The physics engine allows you to pick apart buildings board by board, brick by brick, which is something I've never seen executed quite so well. Early on, you quickly realize that any semblance of a plot was abandoned by the development team. While it doesn't detract from the game, it does highlight the fact that I rarely cared whether I was advancing the story.
The mission types become repetitive, but the ones that have you riding on a gun turret and aiding the resistance in a building raid never get old. The hostage rescue and vehicle rescue missions aren't very fun and I quickly began skipping them. My biggest complaint with the game was that the weapons (aside from the hammer and remote charges) didn't feel quite right. The rocket launcher seemed unpredictable, the electricity weapon seemed like a watered down taser, and the rifles didn't pack any punch. While that was the most dissapointing part of the game, it also gives you more incentive to use the hammer, which can hardly be considered a bad thing. In short, I think that anyone owes it to themselves to give the game a shot. Even if you don't finish it, I think that anyone would have some fun spending a couple hours demolishing buildings.
