On the Download

Red Faction: Guerilla

The shooter genre, despite its unyielding popularity with hardcore gamers, shows all signs of running out of tricks. The best shooter games from the past few years had few defining characteristics that set them apart: BioShock had story and art going for it, while Left 4 Dead had relentless action and nearly perfect multiplayer action. Luckily Red Faction also has a trick: abject destruction. The question that follows: Is this one trick enough to sustain an entire gaming experience? The short answer: no.

The long answer?

You play as Alec Mason, a destruction expert recently relocated to the habitable surface of Mars who is quickly sucked into life as a rebel against the Earth Defense Force’s tyrannical rule. Plot details are unnecessary since the story offers little to keep the player engaged. What does engage is the destructive power you can wield, be it with a simple sledgehammer or Armageddon-bringing missiles shot from jetpacks.

Previous games have attempted reckless destruction, but there were always limits. Red Faction takes a more Grand Theft Auto, open-world approach. Everything is fair game, and everything (bridges, watch towers, etc.) falls with a realism that makes you stop to watch a building that you so lovingly fitted with explosive charges tumble on that munitions depot right next door before ramming your vehicle through a storage facility.

You can ignore orders and run amok, shooting EDF soldiers and wreaking havoc, but the thrill wanes. Follow your fellow rebels’ instructions to proceed speedily to bigger and badder weapons: the real impetus for playing at all.

The multiplayer modes stand out only in that the usually static battlefield can be molded by your destruction to offer a better vantage or strategic position. Nothing is solid, everything is blow-up-able, and the returns again diminish quickly.

What it lacks in finesse, the game partly makes up for in large-scale obliteration, but you’re left hoping there’s a bigger building around the corner when there’s probably just another standard shootout. – J.R.

This article appears in July 10 • 2009.