Kotaku
One thing the Red Faction series was known for (if you remember it that is) was its destructible environments. Aside from that though, the series was a pretty typical linear shooter with not a whole lot to make it truly memorable. The developers of the newest game in the series, Red Faction Guerrilla, have taken the game's original concept and turned it on it's ear, creating an open world environment that feels more like GTA type game than either of its predecessors. If you like plenty of explosions and running around in large environments wreaking havoc on everything you see, this is definitely the game for you.
You play a member of the Red Faction, a group of resistors who are trying to protect the planet and its earthly inhabitants from the evil Earth Defense Force. Weapon choices are wide and varied including a giant mining hammer, an assault rifle, sticky bombs and a rocket launcher. These were the weapons of choice in the portion of the game I played, but I was assured that there were plenty more to use to bring down the enemies and buildings around you. The portion I enjoyed the most in the game was the various vehicles one could pilot around. Of the few that I saw, nothing was more fun than the giant mining mech/robot that you could hop into and roam around crunching things under your colossal feet and fists.
Destructible environments are certainly nothing new, but Red Faction Guerrilla takes it to a new level. Hiting a building once with a bomb doesn't just send the building tumbling to the ground in a giant mass, oh no. These buildings must be torn apart and taken down piece by piece. It's really quite a satisfying feeling knowing that it will take more than a simple kick in the balls to bring these structures down to size.
There was certainly plenty to do in the game besides just roaming around causing trouble. There were many missions dotting my map's landscape although in the short amount of time I had to see it I didn't get to complete more than one. This seemed to be one of the games everyone wanted to try and the lines were quite long. Unfortunately, I didn't really get much of a sense of the story from what was being shown. This is something I hope will come more into play when the game is released sometime next year. As interesting and graphically pleasing and fun as Red Faction: Guerrilla was, it will need more than exploding buildings and giant destructive mechs to keep me truly captivated.
