Red Faction: Guerrilla (Xbox 360)

AI

The AI for the most part in RFG is solid, it does a good job of supporting you when the RFG turn up to help, being oppressed as the people of Mars often are and challenging you by throwing intelligent EDF opponents who use grenades, tactics and even try to shoot hydrogen tanks next to you if you’re stupid enough to take cover by them and remain hidden. I’ve seen it occasionally suffer path-finding problems in the RFG Safehouse or out in the wilds of Mars; this is rare and doesn’t really impact the game at all. In combat between the RFG and EDF the AI performs extremely well, delivering a living battlefield experience with the occasional idiot straying into your sights, fortunately this isn’t a detriment really, since these aren’t hardened soldiers, they’re just miners trying to free their planet. They use cover, they move around and it’s not a static fight.

The same can be said for Mars by day and sometimes night, fire-fights can break out, the EDF can oppress the people at any time if they feel like it and none of it is scripted. You can intervene and kill the EDF before they have a chance to call reinforcements and the AI will react accordingly, even thanking you for the help and rallying to your cause if you have a high enough morale in the sector. The non—combat AI is just as good and Volition have delivered a living, breathing, Mars full of character and atmosphere.

Sound

The sound in RFG is excellent, top notch audio and Mars is brought to life with a variety of ambient noises and effects. The guns have a distinctive audio feel and the explosions are loud and meaty. Vehicles also have a distinctive aural quality and the light purr of a sporty model is vastly different to the thunder of a large Walker or a grumbling truck.

Music

I wouldn’t mind a stand-alone soundtrack of this game, the music is excellent and the composer has done a top job of capturing each musical theme for the various sectors. The music is dynamic so it shifts to match what’s going on and can serve as an audio cue for impending doom.

Voice and Dialogue

The voice actors for RFG deliver their line with nary a stilted performance and they do with style and gusto, really bringing the characters to life. The NPC dialogue and various exchanges as the RF and people of mars go about their daily business are excellent as well. The script is tight and the story is a solidly designed one with some really good character interaction and effective villains.

Multiplayer

There’s no coop in RFG (boo!) but that doesn’t mean the game is any less fun in the multiplayer stakes. You can play pass the pad with Wrecking Crew and setup a variety of maps, weapons and conditions in the numerous modes on offer. The idea at its core though is simple – bust a set map, break as much as possible in a particular time limit and then pass the pad, whoever has the most score at the end of a certain number of rounds is the winner and they get to brag to their friends.

The true meat of the multiplayer is found online where all the physics from the single player game are smack bang in the design of the mp. There are numerous modes on offer with an expansive ranking system, experience point awards and other goodies to unlock through competitive play. Team Deathmatch (Team Anarchy) and Deathmatch (Anarchy) are present along with Capture the Flag and several new game modes. The mp content is highly configurable and there’s an expansive array of options for the host to create the perfect match for friends (and enemies) to enjoy.

With the addition of an Assault based game mode, a Destruction mode and the Control Mode RFG mp really takes things to an interesting new level. Volition have not implemented classes however, they went one better and created a backpack system that allows the player to customise their role in the coming madness. There are packs that allow you to sneak around like a scout type, packs that allow you to fly, to thrust up through a building as a wrecking machine or even packs that emit a subsonic signal that rumbles through the earth, great for disorientating players and knocking down buildings.

There’s even a heal pack that allows a player to act as a team healer.

What makes the RFG mp truly unique and fun is the inclusion of the Geo Mod 2.0 engine, cover is no longer a viable place to hide when your opponent can use a nano rifle to break the wall down into thin air. Or you can have a thermobaric rocket smash into the wall and kill you and your friends. Keep moving and taking pot shots when you can.

Do not do as the three unnamed gentlemen did in an mp test match, stand inside a building and snipe from the windows. A couple of singularity bombs and a few explosives brought the building down and killed them with the debris. In RFG you have to think differently to survive and be on the lookout for attacks from anywhere. Its fast, its fun and it’s incredibly frenetic. It has a good selection of interesting maps and with the configurable options and modes you can tailor a game to taste.

In the Assault mode you take turns to destroy an opposing team’s target/structure, in Control, you must maintain control of 3 points around the map. Destroy an enemy point and you can rebuild it with the reconstructor, in fact you can rebuild pretty much anything that’s not 100% destroyed with that thing. Having a problem with a building wall that’s open, fill the gap with the reconstructor?

The destruction mode sees one player nominated as the Destroyer and they have a variety of weapons to bring mass destruction down on the world. Protect them and try to kill the other team’s destroyer...the team with the most destruction tallied at the end wins the match.

There are other modes on offer but this is a tiny look at the excellent and addictive multiplayer in RFG.

I’ll be back

Mars without Arnie in sight is a breath of fresh air and RFG delivers action, story, destruction and fantastic multiplayer with insane goals and addictive experience tallying in one smoothly done package. Geo Mod 2.0 is the best thing to happen to gaming, sandbox or otherwise and whilst there are sure to be imitators, you’ll never look at another so-called physics based shooter again in the same way. I highly recommend this game to everyone, no matter what the platform, 360, PS3 or PC.

You owe it to Volition to check this out and appreciate the 5 years it took to make Geo Mod 2.0.

Just as a note: There are some Easter eggs in RFG; I’m not going to tell you what they are though.