Those that remember the original Red Faction will recall a strong title with a great story line, action packed game play and a long campaign mode. Since then, the sequel didn't hold up and, to be honest, this new title wasn't something I was looking forward to at all.  Volition is the developer behind the Saint's Row titles and the idea of them bringing Red Faction into the sandbox format didn't thrill me at all.  However, the end result is actually rather good and better than Saint's Row by far.  That sounds like a bold statement to make, but let me explain.  You see, Saint's Row was an attempt to cash in on Grand Theft Auto and while it was a good game, you always had the sense that you were playing GTA, only a little different.  With Red Faction Guerrilla , even though the actual structure of the game is the same as a GTA title, the setting and plot are very different and work really well. 

The plot isn't particularly thought provoking but it does offer something new for the franchise and works quite well.  The game is mission based with all the missions available found on the GPS mini map.  You play as a miner thrown into the midst of a war to take back the planet.  In the first red faction you are helping the Earth forces take back Mars but in this game, set 10 years later, the earth forces have become an oppressive regime that needs to be driven out.  With each mission you erode their stranglehold on a region of the planet.  When you have driven them out of all regions, you win. This will take about 16 hours on normal difficulty, maybe a little longer.

The strengths of this title lie in the AI of the NPCs and the destructible environments.  Pretty much anything you can see can be blown to bits.  Each building, barrier and vehicle can be destroyed but the truly remarkable thing is that they all have realistic physics.  Driving a vehicle into a building or blasting is with detonators won't necessarily destroy it, unless you hit it with a little thought.  The buildings have a real weight to them so if you take out the support struts on one side the building will crumble under its own weight.  The great thing about everything be destructible is that you can really play the game any way you want.  If you have to infiltrate a building you can try and shoot your way in, blow a hole in the side of the building or drive a crane right through the front door.  The possibilities are endless.

All the destruction is encouraged in the game play.  In fact, it's a major part of it with most missions focused on taking out buildings.  Also, when anything in the game is destroyed, metal salvage is left behind which the player can pick up and use as a currency to get weapon and ability upgrades.  You tend to get better weapons and more ammunition quite quickly and always when it seems you will really need them to move forward in your progression to the next region.  It is done really well too as it doesn't feel forced or convenient that you just got the right weapon for the job.  Instead it feels earned.
A large part of the game involves driving to the location of each mission.  The driving physics aren't all that good as the vehicles feel way too light and keeping them on the road without ploughing into traffic or pedestrians can be a challenge.  However, it's a means to an end and isn't that big a problem.

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