Red Faction: Guerrilla (Xbox 360)

Get your ass to Mars for some out-of-this-world pyrotechnics, personality and gameplay.
6/4/2009 3:19 PM | 2 Comments | Page 1 of 4

Pound for pound, the genre of open-world action games probably has more quality titles than any other genre. I suspect that's because the barrier to entry is really high. It takes the experience of a veteran developer and the deep pockets of a publisher with resources. For a return on the investment, it often takes a prominent license, maybe something propped up by a big-budget summer superhero movie. You don't see a lot of indie Grand Theft Auto clones. At worst, you get tripe like The Godfather or Just Cause. But even when it's middling fare, you get solid games like Grand Theft Auto IV, Infamous, Mercenaries or something with Spider-Man or The Hulk. And when the genre is firing on all cylinders, you get unforgettable and amazing living-world playgrounds like Saints Row 2, Crackdown and Far Cry 2. This latter category of exalted open-world action games just got a new addition: Red Faction: Guerilla.

Life on Mars

The elevator pitch for Red Faction: Guerilla is Saints Row 2 meets Far Cry 2 meets Boom Blox set on Mars. The Martian setting is actually a wonderful stroke of luck (I say it's a stroke of luck because this is the sequel to a space-dungeon-corridor-crawl that happened to be set on Mars). Mars gives Red Faction a pass for a lot of things that might seem wonky in other games. The slightly floaty physics of jumping and driving, for instance, can be credited to the low gravity. The sense that everything is made from pre-fab modules bolted onto the terrain would normally feel like the art guys being lazy. But it fits perfectly with the concept of a faraway world in the middle stages of terraforming.

Non-player character behavior that might feel contrived in a real-world city works just fine on this Martian colony, which is occupied by a repressive military called the Earth Defense Force (EDF). It's a bit like the way Mercenaries takes place in a war zone. Cops and wanted stars have no place here. Plowing through pedestrians has a location-specific disincentive based on gameplay mechanics. The denizens of Red Faction: Guerrilla are split into two factions: the military and the citizens (well, it's not quite that simple, but I'll let you find out on your own). Each zone has a control rating based on the strength of the military, and a morale rating based on how well you've inspired the citizens to rise up.

These values unlock the story missions and inform how you play the game. Knocking down propaganda billboards raises morale. Running down pedestrians or killing them with friendly fire lowers morale. Dying lowers morale. Destroying military targets lowers military control. Intercepting dynamically generated convoys à la Far Cry 2 lowers control. Doing missions and side activities affects these values even further. Once you're reduced control completely, you unlock a liberation mission that will kick the EDF out of the region. Depending on the level of morale in a sector, other insurgents might show up to help you during a firefight. What begins as a quick shootout at a checkpoint can escalate into a full-blown skirmish as reinforcements show up on both sides. The artificial intelligence holds up admirably when it comes to dealing with the mayhem and destruction, although the EDF can make Grand Theft Auto's suicidally manic cops look downright cautious. The combination of low gravity, pokey trucks, and aggressive attackers can result in something closer to a rugby scrum than a pursuit.