Red Faction Guerilla Preview

Launching on previous generation hardware, Volition’s Red Faction franchise offered some of the most interesting titles in the FPS genre at the time. Utilizing a Geo-Mod engine that allowed to player to destroy and deform the environment in some pretty cool ways, Red Faction changed the way that players used cover and their environment, as well as how to get from Point A to Point B. Now, Volition is hard at work at the third title in the Red Faction universe, as well as the first one to land on current-gen hardware, Red Faction: Guerilla.

Doing away with the first-person perspective that the first two Red Faction games utilized, Red Faction: Guerilla instead opts to use a third-person behind-the-character viewpoint. Additionally, the game does away with the linear elements of previous games in the series in favor of a more open-ended sandbox style of game, similar to games like Saints Row or Mercenaries. The change is quite a departure for fans of the series, but the varied missions and great environmental destruction effects should keep them coming back.

Red Faction: Guerilla puts you in control of a newcomer to Mars, Alec, who comes to the red planet at the behest of his brother and in order to find some work. However, soon after informing Alec of the underhanded nature of the dominant powers on the planet, namely the once noble EDF (Earth Defense Force), Alec’s brother is killed, and it is revealed that he was a member of the Red Faction, a guerilla terrorist organization looking to kick the EDF off of Mars and restore the power to its residents. Alec then takes up arms with the faction, helping them in their cause to drive out the EDF and avenge the death of his brother.

Red Faction Guerilla feels a lot like EA and Pandemic’s Mercenaries games in terms of general structure. The game puts a heavy emphasis on driving and utilizing vehicles to get around the different areas of Mars, as well as some pretty heavy duty weaponry. You’ll have access to weapons like shotguns and assault rifles, but also mines and other explosives to help you become a demolitions expert. One personal favorite in the game’s arsenal is the Sledgehammer, which doubles as an infinite ammo destruction device for taking down buildings and an effective melee weapon. There are few things as rewarding at knocking a foe through a wall with one of these.

The mission structure in Red Faction: Guerilla is pretty open-ended. You’ll have six different areas to liberate from EDF control, and in order to get to the final mission in each where you drive out the EDF once and for all, you’ll have to complete a variety of side missions in order to gain the support of the area’s populace. These include bombing or otherwise laying waste to a variety of EDF hotspots, rescuing hostages, assisting the Red Faction in raids, and so on. The missions are quite varied and offer quite a bit to do. Additionally, as you gain support from colonists, they’ll even take up your cause and help you in a firefight.

We also took a brief look some of the multiplayer modes in the game, namely the Capture the Flag and Team Deathmatch modes. These work as you’d expect them to, but the main difference is the use of backpacks. You use backpacks that you pick up on the map to gain certain special moves on the map, including the Rhino (which allows you to charge in short bursts and knock your way through any building or enemy), or the Jetpack, and a firepower increase. There are several different types of backpacks, which will definitely help out in a hairy multiplayer match.

Another fun mode is the Wrecking Crew mode. Wrecking Crew works like a cross between Jenga, Boom Blox, and Burnout Paradise, requiring each alternating player to take one weapon type and one backpack and cause as much collateral damage as possible and rack up a high score. This mode feels like it will definitely have a lot of legs in a party game setting and should be a lot of fun with a group of friends.

So far, it looks as though Red Faction: Guerilla will take the elements that worked well in its predecessor and apply it successfully to the “go anywhere, blow up anything” formula. Look for it to launch this June.