Tech Olive

Chances are you’ve already read about this game from when it released on Xbox 360 back in June, but PC gamers have only just been deemed worthy to play the game. In Red Faction: Guerrilla, you assume the role of Alec Mason, a mining engineer fully licensed to work with demolitions. Because earth’s natural resources have run low, you’ve been sent to Mars to help the mining effort there.

At the start of Red Faction: Guerrilla, your main character arrives on Mars, which has been turned into a mining world where metal salvage is the new currency and thanks to terraformed areas, there is oxygen to breathe in the air. Shortly after your arrival, your brother is killed for participating with known guerrilla movements against the Earth Defense Force. Shortly after, you are also marked as a guerrilla, so you join the rebel uprising and fight back in an attempt to liberate the planet and avenge your brother.

The story seems like it would be interesting, deep and make you so much more attached to the liberation and its goals, but it falls short. To quickly summarize the game, I would say it’s GTA IV on Mars but unfortunately, it does not offer the same story progression or interest let alone the progression of characters and their lives as is usually found in the GTA series.

Like GTA, Guerrilla‘s main offering is straight, undiluted action and chaos with plenty of destruction and even stealing cars. The vehicles in Guerrilla are perfectly designed to fit the overall theme of the game — not to mention you have a nice wide range to choose from. This helps because you’ll find yourself driving a lot, but with such a large world, the travel time is not unbearable and that is an accomplishment.

While on the surface, the game seems deep, complex and new. For the most part, it’s really just a collection of many gameplay concepts that have already been with a new and admittedly interesting world. The only real interesting feature of Guerrilla is the massively destructible environments. Driving your vehicle into an enemy building and through the other side does not get old. Unfortunately, the rest of the game can become monotonous.

Scores

- Graphics: 8
Great visuals, graphics and effects. The physics system is only made better by the great looking explosions and particle effects. Unfortunately, without a PhysX dedicated physics processor or Nvidia card, it’s hard to enjoy the PhysX physics system for all it’s worth.

- Storyline: 4
Really, the story makes little attempt to interest you. The beginning of the game is well crafted, but the rest of the game just doesn’t have that same feel.

- Gameplay: 6
Gameplay is good, but once you get past the novelty of driving through walls and destroying gargantuan bridges, repetition can start to ruin the initial excitement.

- Controls: 7
The controls are well placed and nothing is more complicated than it needs to be. If that’s not enough, the game features full controller support.

- Lasting Appeal: 7
Despite the slightly disappointing singleplayer story that will offer even less replay value, Guerrilla does feature online multiplayer and even a small local multiplayer game mode.

Overall: 6 Olives