Freedom of total destruction has forever acted as a tight leash on
the neck of action-based videogames. Growing up, I always heard friends
talk about how much more fun taking a rocket launcher to a building
would be if it crumbled to the floor on impact. Back then, games like
Blast Corps on N64 proved to be the best cure for such wanton
destruction, providing satisfaction on a scale even greater than
demolishing Lego sets during my years as a tyrannical infant just years
before.
But now, after two first-person shooters and floundering around with limited ‘Geo-Mod’ technology on last generation consoles, Volition have created an open-world third-person shooter that seeks to re-invent those old ideals for a new breed of consoles and breathe new life into a series which has been left loitering for quite some time.
It’s 2125 and as protagonist Alec Mason, you come to Mars looking for an honest life of work under the wing of your activist brother. When your brother’s conveniently timed murder comes about early on however, you are soon assimilated into the Red Faction, a group of freedom-fighters who collectively seek to take down the tyrannical Earth Defence Force (or EDF). No, you won’t be fighting off any giant red ants, but the call for utter deterioration of the EDF’s lifelines quickly becomes your most important objective.
This is where the open-world aspect of Guerrilla comes into play: completing missions scattered around the map weakens the strength of territories dominated by EDF forces. As a result of liberating areas, the morale levels of the Red Faction become increased, meaning random soldiers join you during battles against the EDF and help defend or overtake specific strongholds.
‘Salvage’ is essentially Mars’ currency and allows the purchasing of valuable weapon upgrades and unlocks. To accrue Salvage, you’re required to be as unashamedly destructive to the surrounding EDF property as you can possibly be: blowing up targets in the grandest way possible permits more Salvage to be collected on the ground amongst all the debris.
But if you don’t completely total a building, potential Salvage may left strewn about, so being as ‘thorough’ as possible with a battered building pays off in several beneficial ways. As you can imagine, blending solid third-person action with an extremely robust and accurate physics engine is where Guerrilla comes in its own. Bearing witness to a building crumble to the ground and at the same time trying to dodge the falling debris from crushing you is almost a game in itself. And even when a large chunk of the ceiling does (rarely) land for a fatal blow, it’s more humorous than it is annoying.
Venturing out into the red plains of Mars however can be a little underwhelming to explore and its population of workers and stragglers don’t necessarily appear to be as down-trodden on a day-to-day basis as much as the narrative might lead you to believe… but honestly, even though the geometry is little more than a battleground for riding around and fighting on, it’s ultimately not required to be anything else but that.
The cornerstone of Guerrilla is its sheer moment-to-moment chaos, a pedigree that revolves around Guerrilla’s destructible core. Your trusty sledgehammer can not only diminish an entire building to rubble, but laying into a fleet of oncoming EDF can be a very gratifying way to go about liberating. Next thing you know, you’re tumbling a space-jeep into the side of an enemy base; or jet-packing over an expansive bridge gap which was penetrated thanks to the remote charges you laid down and detonated just seconds before.
Beefy mech-walkers also become available from time to time, causing swift ploughing justice through the defences of troops and vehicles with the greatest of ease. Even when undertaking some of the more tedious side missions, there’s always moments of ‘Did you just see that!?’ peppered throughout, something which is important to the ‘anything goes’ nature of a sandbox adventure.
Even when a visual barrage of explosions and bodies litters the screen, not only does the game look very slick and run at a respectable frame-rate, but the degree of polish applied to the game’s technical feats is joyfully evident the first time you level even the smallest complex.
Truly, these high production values are of similar penmanship across the majority of game’s technical facets. All weapons – even the humble pistol — feel robust and effective to shoot; and while the vehicles that run course around Mars offer little more than a means of ferrying you from Point A to Point B, they handle efficiently enough to make the journey worthwhile (although a fast-travel option can be unlocked later on as well). And without trying to convey any cynical overtones, what would a third-person shooter be in a post-Gears landscape without an over-the-shoulder aiming model and contextual cover system?
Sure, when you extract some of Guerrilla’s more elusive bullet points, it becomes more of a straight-forwarded affair, but when these aspects are combined, the end result is an exciting campaign that in turn eclipses the throwaway narrative that lingers on throughout the 10-hour campaign. That said, the story-based missions are arguably the most enjoyable part of Guerrilla’s campaign; and despite repetition seeping in once the grind hits, specific side missions are worth pursuing for the sake of racking up some more Salvage so you can better equip yourself for the tougher levels later on.
On that note, the default Medium setting can get extremely tough down the line, becoming a test of endurance that almost ruins the joy of blowing everyone to kingdom-come without the need for too much headwork. So, if you’re not one to enjoy having your mind numbed by constant onslaughts half-way through the campaign, then you may just be better off beginning on the Casual difficulty and simply enjoying the ride as opposed to wanting to jump off it.
16-player multiplayer is also a big component of Guerrilla and will likely be what maintains longevity for many. A very robust matchmaking system works around a levelling system and there are customizable options to tweak that perfect space marine look. Amongst a total of six modes, the focus on destruction is not lost in the multiplayer side of things either. Team-based capture-and-defend action in the form of ‘Damage Control’ is where Guerrilla’s form becomes properly flourished, where opposing sides vie for the power of specific plots of the map and utilize the game’s seasoned arsenal to do so.
This includes a menagerie of power-ups that are exclusive to the multiplayer portion. For instance, the ‘Rhino’ pack enables you with a momentary physical push that barrels you ahead as an unstoppable force, meaning you can smash through building sides and kill enemies in front of you, knocking them off far into the distance. Others grant abilities like invisibility and a vertical thrust, allowing you to reach higher places with a single activation. Unfortunately, you can only use one pack at a time, but there is enough variety in each pack to ensure that the players who learn to strategize with each pack will have the tactical edge over those who don’t.
Alongside a fully-functional and fleshed-out multiplayer, a mini-games collection of sorts under the name of ‘Wrecking Crew’ is available for a group of 4 players, which involves a pass-the-pad series of challenges that are meant for party play. They are actually a lot of fun and succeed as an enjoyable distraction from the competitive multiplayer.
In the most basic sense, the pure glee that arises from knocking down buildings and seeing them crash with visual splendour instantly makes Red Faction: Guerrilla a legitimately fun experience. There are certainly paths left less travelled with Guerrila, such as the hollow story and the empty world, which both fail to be incredibly interesting. But as far as delivering on its promise of unbridled destruction both offline and online, Volition have done a remarkable job in creating an accessible tour-de-force of explosive action that you won’t soon forget.