Video games get a bad rap for not being inventive enough. Sure, plot lines often take blatant cues from major science fiction and fantasy films – Aliens, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars have their fingerprints all over the videogame industry as we know it. But what industry critics rarely, if ever, seem to acknowledge is that while a lot of games keep to familiar ground plotwise, the gameplay of these supposed genre exercises keeps on evolving into something new all the time. Gears of War did not win any originality awards for its plot, but the campaign took players places they had never been before – true cooperation, over the Internet, where one player literally cannot advance at times without the help of his squadmates; a cover-based system that had only been dabbled with in earlier games; subtle symbolism about the pains of leaving one’s youth behind. The inventive gameplay is anchored by a familiar plot, the better to draw in suspicious and skeptical gamers to an otherwise strange and, at first, intimidating gameplay system.
It is in this “familiar plot, new gameplay” style that we find Red Faction: Guerilla. The game puts you in the middle of a rebellion on Mars and in the shoes of a miner named Mason, and the game certainly takes some obvious plot cues from the obvious source material of Total Recall. Mason’s job is to run around Mars undermining the evil Earth Defense Force, an oppressive regime that, at the game’s outset, calls all the shots on the Red Planet. Like Cuato’s terrorists, you’ll get into firefights with the Po-Po, and like the Governator you’ll uncover *gasp!* technology from an ancient alien race that may, may be able to help the rebellion stymie the EDF once and for all.
So yeah, you could imagine pretty accurately where this one is going while you take a gander at Red Faction’s box art. But you’d be missing out on something unique – not to mention a lot of fun – if you passed it up. Developer Guerilla Games took the sandbox gameplay style of Grand Theft Auto – go anywhere, drive anything, kill anyone, etc. – but they added a terrific twist. Whereas GTA players are generally stuck destroying vehicles or humans, Mason and his fellow rebels are able, and ordered, to destroy the EDF’s actual buildings. Accumulating scrap metal – the game’s version of gold coins, basically – allows you to upgrade your arsenal as the game goes on, ensuring Mason becomes an ever more dangerous one-man wrecking crew.
Mason’s primary weapon is a sledgehammer, and I had, and continue to have, a complete blast tearing down every last structure I could with this primitive tool of destruction. I found it immensely satisfying to run up to EDF barracks, mess halls, fortresses and the like and smash away concrete pillars, steel beams and glass windows, weakening my targets with each and every swing. I had just as much fun running up to enemy soldiers and whacking them in the chest for one-hit kills. Mason swings horizonally and diagonally with such vigor and power that pretty much anything you take a swing at is going to feel the pain, and inflicting it is thoroughly satisfying.
The other weapons help diversify the mayhem. Mason can acquire, among other things, a machine gun, an electricity-spewing device that can electrocute multiple enemies at once (this is useful when you want to clear out a circle of EDF cronies), a wicked-cool rifle I can’t even discuss for fear of ruining the surprise, a rocket launcher, and, from the start of the game, remote-controlled explosives. All of these tools of destruction ensure you have many options when deciding the how you want, or need, to pursue a given objective. On one of the game’s handful of rescue missions, for example, the machine and electricity guns may be ideal for helping you clear out a building’s narrow quarters without exploding the hostages you seek. But remote mines, when strategically placed, can topple heavily fortified structures in a matter minutes, if not seconds. It’s all up to you. Mason must always carry the hammer (you wouldn’t want to leave it behind anyway – I know I never would) and three other weapons. The others are easily accessible at both rebel camps and early Resident Evil-inspired swap boxes.
And you know what else? Total Recall was a good flick. And though it’s easy to poke fun at it, I have thoroughly enjoyed Red Faction’s story. Mason and his band of rebels benefit from nice voice acting, and the mustache-twirling villainy of the EDF ensures you are not burdened with a lame morality play about the complexity of war. There’s nothing complex characters or plots. There IS something inherently wrong with convoluted, bullshit storytelling, and Red Faction sidesteps a Metal Gear Solid or Final Fantasy-style mess by keeping things straight forward. For a game about breaking stuff with a really big hammer, this K.I.S.S. approach is a good idea.
It isn’t all sunshine and roses in Mars, however. While the source material (the planet, not Total Recall) only gives Guerilla Games so much to work with, the backgrounds become very, very repetive very, very early on. Guerilla gets away from the red rock scenery in different sections of the game, and there’s one pretty nice way ditch the barren wasteland style inherent to the planet late in the game. But ultimately, this game is a missed opportunity to explore the wonders of what the real life Mars might be like. There are mountains far taller than Mt. Everest on the real Mars, and vast, frozen rivers that run through awe-inspiring canyons. None of that sense of scale is every really conveyed in Red Faction. If there is a sequel to this game – my money and my hope is on yes – I hope Guerilla takes a cue from not only Rockstar Games, but Sony Computer Entertainment’s forthcoming God of War III, and really makes an effort to incorporate a much larger sense of scale.
I must also take issue with the game’s difficulty. This game was so tough early on – I found myself often attempting missions three or four times each, which grew very frustrating, very quickly – I found myself doing something I haven’t done since I was about eight years old – I lowered the difficulty. A hearty applause to Guerilla for letting the player change the difficulty on the fly – I didn’t have to start my game over, and I sincerely hope every game from hereon includes this magnificent feature. Conceivably, I could even up the difficulty at some point to see how I stack up to the most challenging foes Red Faction has to offer. But this feature does not change the fact that when I changed the difficulty from normal to casual, my Mason character went from Hit-and-Run Specialist to Unstoppable Killing Machine. Make no mistake, I had an absolute blast playing through almost all of Red Faction in this way. And I still died plenty. But it would have been nice to have a slightly more forgiving “normal” difficulty so I could have spent more time trying the game it was (presumably) meant to be played without tearing my hair out. I’m a big time gamer, but I’m also employed full-time. And though I love a good challenge, I have to draw the line somewhere if I’m ever going to get anywhere.
Make no mistake – I concede that game developers could stand to mix up their plot formulas with some new influences – maybe next year’s Heavy Rain, Red Dead Redemption and the indefinitely delayed LA Noire will deliver them? But Red Faction brings more than enough new gameplay ideas to the table to distinguish itself as something unique. Oh, and it also has that other quality that helps games stand out from the competition – fun.
(Note: I have not messed with the game’s online multiplayer, and I doubt I will. You don’t want my opinion on it anyway. I get bored very easily with most multiplayer modes, and fail to see why almost every game released these days feels the need to include one.)
and the first Uncharted game for PS3. Yep, another great game I just haven’t gotten around to yet. Whenver they arrive, you’ll get my impressions right away.
