Red Faction: Guerrilla

I recently reviewed Prototype for the ps3 and compared it with this game as they are both 3rd person free roaming games so I thought I had better post a review on here for completeness. As a simple statement I would just say this game is fantastic.
For me the level of realism in the environment is what matters most, that includes physics and bot A.I which in this game are both done perfectly or as close as can be expected.
The ability to destroy entire buildings is simply superb, it isn't bodged or looked over, all the materials and methods of destruction interplay well and come together to let you orchestrate your own symphonies of destruction (where did that come from :S)
The A.I is perfectly tuned to react at just the right level depending on your behaviour, it is so well done it actually stops you doing what most games allow, which is to let you just fight your way all the way through regardless. But at some point in this game when you are in a fight you will always become overwhelmed by the EDF or Marauders and be forced to retreat and use actual guerilla tactics in order to accomplish your objectives, which is fantastic game design.
Cant say much about the graphics other than they are among the best gameplay graphics to date, its nice to see Alec Mason's clothes blowing in the wind and the light bouncing of shiny surfaces and dust coming of explosions and collapsing buildings, it is all done superbly well.
The actual gameplay is good you are required to do a certain array of missions in each region to reduce enemy control there is enough variation and choice of mini activities and sub missions to keep the game from getting too repetative and boring, the main missions keep the storyline flowing and general rate of the game at a good even speed. at no point does this game start to feel repetative or like you might not want to play on it.
For the freedom of how you go about accomplishing your missions this game has what is for me becoming increasingly important in games, the ability to start again and for it to be a whole new experience, you can play this game time and time again and find new methods and techniques for dealing with every situation.
Simply Superb, a great buy. Happy Gaming, hope this was helpful for some of you.

I just picked this game up upon it's release and was very impressed with the quality of the game throughout.
I'm predicting this to be the big sleeper hit of the summer.

This game is made by the developer called Volition who are makers of the Saints Row series ... another title I love to play.
Unfortunately even though I love the Saints Row games , they are riddled with numerous bugs/glitches and freeze ups and I was wondering if this game would suffer from such poor quality testing.

Luckily the quality of this game overall is much more superior than those games. I haven't found any bugs/glitches so far and the game hasn't froze up on me once yet. It runs at a very smooth frame rate too even with all the chaos going on. ( Sure it doesn't have the prettiest graphics ..... and character models look kinda plain/basic/generic and landscape kinda looks boring .... but even after those criticisms aside .... i still think the visuals in this game still look great especially as it maintains such a steady and smooth frame rate throughout the chaotic carnage.)

The single player campaign is a big open world and I see myself having fun over the next few weeks/months exploring the surface of Mars playing my part in the Rebellion. This is a sandbox game where destruction is it's selling feature ... so if you like blowing up stuff , this is the game for you. Anything man-made in this game can be destroyed into dozens of pieces , which is great fun and never gets old. It will wake up the little vandal in you , and I'm just amused just thinking about the target buildings I will demolish later in the week ... heh ...

Besides the fun and mindless destruction .....there are missions, activities and side quests that can be undertaken just like other open world game. Although the activities themselves aren't as varied or intersting as say other sandbox games like saints row and GTA, it's still nice to give them a try.
Overall I'd like to say the single player experience is a lot like if you were to cross Crackdown with Saints Row 1/2.

Well I knew the single player experience was going to be great regardless since I was familiar with the companies work beforehand ..... but the multiplayer is a nice suprise because it is indeed very decent.

Nowadays you get alot of really great games that excel in having a great single player experience and a mediocre/ sub-par multiplayer distraction. ( Example GTA4 and Saints Row )
I thought Red Faction would be one of these games .... but I was very suprised to find that Red Faction's multiplayer was indeed actually decent and worthy of regular play.

All your regular game types are there from your usual kind of shooters , presented in different ways suited to this style of game. What really makes the multiplayer fun is that alongside your regular weapons , you can equip backpacks that each have their own special ability. So creating weapon and ability combos in this game is especially satisfying.

The selling feature of the games destructible environments makes multiplayer a lot more thought provoking aswell.
Numerous examples of free thinking to improves your chances of survival and obtaining your objectives come to mind !
For example breaking into a base ..... you can make any wall into a door way for quick entrance/escape.
Also don't rely on cover too long .... a few minutes later the battlefield will go from looking brand new to looking like a dump / ruins.
Snipers can't keep high ground for long on buildings , if you decide to bring the building down beneath them !!
Destroy a bridge can be a strategic advantage in controlling territory or a chase.
Destruction isn't the only way of improving odds too ... with the instant repairing Reconstructor tool , you can repair your damaged structures and even repair destroyed bridges to help you make shortcuts to your targets.
So play smart in multiplayer with the destructible and repairable environment ! Being good at fighting and shooting is just half the battle.

Also I do the find some of the game types in this game encourages strong teamwork and strategic thought, that's very easy to get to grips with. I hope the pool of players/community in this game stays strong and grows. I know it can't stand up to the big boys like COD4, Halo 3 and GOW2 ... but I think this Multiplayer still deserves some worthy attention.

This game has to be applauded for value for money too .... not only having a huge open world to explore full of missions and activities ..... the multiplayer has a great number of playlists/gametypes too, just like the big name shooters. Except in this game all the game types seem worthy of your attention. ( None of them I don't enjoy playing ..... in most shooters there's usually one or a few gametypes I don't particularly like playing ... this game .. I don't seem to mind playing any type. )

Multiplayer does seem to do a good job of tracking stats and has loads of leaderboards also, which alot of online games seem to just give brief details. This game seems to keep track about everything .... so if you want to check your leaderboard progress , experience , bonus rewards achievement stats , weapon kills ,... etc ..... you can look it all up !

So there you have it. A suprise hit for me this year and great value for money. I admit it wasn't on my most anticipated , but even so , it's ended up making a big impression on me. I've ended up loving this game , give this game a try too and you might like it too.
Any gamer who likes big open worlds and shooters should at least give it a go. There's definitely lots of fun to be had.

This is a very very good game the story is ok but its only ok in my opinion, its the gameplay which makes it memorable, the obvious stand out piece is the geomod2.0 engine which allows for a fully destructable environment but only of man made environment not of the actual surroundings, this is excellent though becuase if for example you get stuck somewhere you simply smash your way out but it can be very frustratingwhen you are being gunned at by what seems like legions of enemies and you are trying to demolish a building using nothing but your hammer and it somehow manages to stand up on nothing but a cocktail stick thick piece of steel , and with the rest of the building being gone you are a sitting duck for the edf( bad guys ) , but overall i would say it hardly detracts from the game , the loading times are also very long i feel which i feel is unfair after a 10 ten installing process i underwent hoping the loading times would reduce, the variety of trophies are also good but seem to be a very tall order for a bronze eg. mine 300 ore locations ....300 for a bronze trophy seems a little unfair.
But if you are looking for a game which looks good, will keep you occupied, and smiling at the destruction you can cause i would have to say this is the game for you.