Summary:
I liked it better when it was called Saint's Row 2 and I didn't die every five minutes.
Detail:
I was immediately impressed by the graphics. They're amazingly sharp and well-realized, making it look like a cooler version what you'd expect a real Mars mining colony to look like. The vehicles, for example, look like NASA versions of Tonka trucks. They've also used some nice glow effects here and there that really work well in the alien atmosphere.
Perhaps it's because I'm mainly an Xbox 360 player, but the controls never quite gelled. Using the shoulder button to fire, and the trigger to choose a weapon, just feels deeply unnatural. This is especially true because the vehicle controls are quite different: The right and left trigger control forward and reverse gears. Why not have the triggers always signal 'action', whether you're on-foot or not? It's a very strange design decision. There's also an odd multi-second delay between closing the map and when the action starts again, which never failed to throw me off.
While I laud the developers for their commitment to extreme environmental destructibility, that adherence caused some problems. During one rescue mission, I accidentally shot off the ladder to the second story of a building where a hostage was being held. That meant there was no way I could complete the mission. I couldn't seem to get up there without blowing out enough walls to destroy the entire structure, killing him. It's also frustrating to blow a bridge or walkway up only to realize that the structure you destroyed was the way you were meant to get up to the next level or across a chasm.
The weapons upgrade system is quite well-implemented. There's enough salvage for most players to be able to afford some (but not all) upgrades. Each of the weapons are useful under certain circumstances, and the choice goes hand-in-hand with your play style and mission preference.
Even after upgrading, however, they run out of ammo very quickly, turning prolonged fights into a "hunt weapon-laden corpses" mini-game. There are all-too-rare supply crates scattered about, but they seem to only give you one clip rather than fully refilling your supply. Time to head back to the safe point all the way across the map. Again.
The biggest problem of Red Faction: Guerrilla is the difficulty curve. Once you're past the tutorial, expect to die. A lot. It's not so much that you're fragile so much as the fact that you're facing an overwhelming force at all times. The EDF response escalates extremely quickly, from a couple of soldiers in a Humvee to an electricity-spewing mega-tank within a few seconds of fighting. If you're not in a vehicle or behind excellent cover when that happens, prepare to see the "Loading" screen very soon: They're more than happy to simply roll over you again and again, the rag doll physics engine preventing you from doing anything about it. Whee!
Speaking of the oft-encountered loading screen, the most frustrating thing about dying is that you're sent back to the nearest safe house. Mars, however, is a big place, and that safe house was probably several minutes away from where you died. Add in the incredibly aggressive EDF forces who'll often start attacking you on the way, and you have an excellent formula for seeing the same stretch of terrain again... and again... and again...
The difficulty issue is exacerbated by the morale system. Each time you or one of your fellow guerrillas die, the area's morale is lowered. It's easy to keep thwacking away at a mission until the area's morale is worse than when you started. "Yay, things are worse now!" isn't much of a victory cry.
I think that the intent of the designers was for you to improve morale in the area until you have a sizable guerrilla force before attacking. If your fellow freedom fighters didn't have the damage output and resistance of paper dolls, that would work well. Instead, their only function is to constantly lower area morale by joining, running around pointlessly, then dying within seconds. This often occurs at your own hand as they suicidally wander over to where you've set charges, are about to shoot, or in front of your vehicle. Thanks compatriots! With fantastic soldiery like this, I can't imagine how the bad guys took over.
There are solid assortment of side missions. The difficulty curve for some is quite high, though. The one where you ride shotgun and destroy designated targets virtually requires you to completely destroy every target as the driver slings the vehicle all over the road. That would be fine for mid-game and later missions, but... the first mission? Really? It'll add additional frustration for most players rather than the enjoyable change of pace that the designers intended.
After five hours of playing, I kept coming back to the same thought: "I wish I was playing Saint's Row 2 again." It's comes so close to realizing the potential of that previous title by adding much-needed polish. Unfortunately, it takes three steps back by adding a high difficulty curve that makes exploring its reaches an unrewarding experience.
Conclusion:
It's not a bad game, just one that's significantly inferior to Volition's previous effort. If I'd played this a year ago, I'd probably be singing its praises. As it stands, it's another entry in the rapidly expanding list of mediocre open-world games. Mercenaries 2 bids you welcome.
