A fantastic concept of repetition and glamour
Red Faction Guerrilla has opened my eyes to the possibilities of gaming, the only remarkable thing being its engaging sense of frustrating destruction. I cannot emphasize how much fun I had driving a large truck into a building only to come out the other side and demolish everything in my path, landing inside my target objective, then blowing it all to bits with the mines armed on that very vehicle. Only to be thwarted by a single piece of tiny sheet metal that somehow managed to hold the building up until my demise.
Playing this game on easy presented its own challenges, having no experience with the game and little desire to pursue a serious challenge, I was surprised to find that the game could turn rather difficult in the stickiest of situations even on easy. Surely I could just run, gun, blow up my way through any mission, however, the tacky sense of what the game perceives as "destroyed" left me massing so many troops that it was suicide to focus on the objective and not deal with the mounting hostiles in the area, however numerous they may be.
The games storyline was a sub par script, which I imagine could have been written on a half folded bar napkin without leaving out too much. The ending was only acceptable due to the lack of plot the game had, along with the tacky motivation given to your character (Alec Mason) to join the Red Faction (who's brother seems to be some sort of horse dick creature).
The game itself provides numerous opportunities for game play with its many attack, defense, interception, transport (boring) and achievements. All for which could translate into weeks of solid game play, however, I would not go so far as to say this game could be beaten as quickly as half a day if the drive to commit arson was so present in your body that your burn and grind through the missions and enemy facilities.
A rather larger disappointment is the hype around weaponry in Red Faction Guerrilla, while it is true you can be creative and use the range of around 9 weapons to complete each mission, Red Faction Guerrilla also further limits itself by giving you few opportunities to use the greatest and most exciting in weaponry, namely the walkers and satellite strike beacons which are used on as few as two occasions the whole length of the game. Giving you a sweet new grasp on destruction only to be taken away when the missions up.
Overall Red Faction Guerrilla is a good play, a worthwhile look at what could be in the future for all games that would be willing to put in the hours to put in a interactive, destructible environment. If possible, try and pass the game along with several people to get the worth out of this definitely RENT of a game. For unless you have imagination and great fortitude, multi-player provides little satisfaction over a great period of time (5 days). So do not banish this game from your house, but rather enlighten yourself and embrace the fun that is monotonous destruction of a whole civilization at your very will and keep in your memory that these things will all come together in a joyous tear jerker that will make you so happy your tears will drown you in your sleep... Tearfilly Joyfully...
