The truth is Red Faction Guerrilla is a masterpiece that got ridiculously unlucky. It was overshadowed by bigger games of its time when it was released in 2009, and later misunderstood and hated by modern gamers who don’t know how it’s meant to be played. Most reviews say this word for word: “The only good thing about this game is the destruction, and everything else ****.” Let’s talk about why that’s completely false, why so many people don’t understand this game, and why I can argue it’s one of the best shooters ever. First of all, keep in mind you’re playing a 2009 game, not a super polished modern game. 90% of players completely forget that and call the gameplay broken. If you don’t play anything outside of the modern era, it is going to feel way more janky and hardcore then what you’re used to, sure, but compared to other games of its era, Red Faction Guerrilla’s gameplay has aged shockingly well. Secondly, this is not a Just Cause game. RFG isn’t a simple run around jumpy shooter, cover and strategy matter a LOT. Stand out in the open without a plan and you will die FAST. Understand those two things and you’ll suddenly realize most of the hate for this game is based on misunderstandings. There’s four main reasons I think this is one of the best shooters ever: The combat: The combat is genius. It’s the main reason I consider the game as good as it is. One of the most common complaints for this game is that the combat ****, but that’s because most people **** at it. Most people expect it to be as simple and dumb as Just Cause when it’s the entire opposite. It’s a very unique, strategic, cover heavy, style of combat, and since everything you take cover behind can be actively destroyed, every fight feels different. You have to think strategically about how you’re utilizing your surroundings to your advantage and your enemies disadvantage, and as fights go on the battlefield changes overtime and you have to actively adapt to that. For example when the building where the whole fight is taking place suddenly collapses leaving you standing out in the open with very low health you better think of a new plan FAST. You can easily take a lot of damage, so you have to plan out every engagement and be precise. You always want to know what your next move is, and when something happens that makes that move you had planned a bad one, you have to suddenly remake an entire new plan. The key to winning fights in this game is being in control when everything around you is completely out of control. This style of combat is entirely unique to this game, though there are games that have some of the attributes of this combat. There’s actually a name for this style of combat. The game names it Guerrilla style combat in its description, but doesn’t really elaborate on what Guerrilla style combat actually is. Overall the combat is utterly brilliant and ridiculously fun once you understand it. Seemingly few people understand it though. Most players expect a run-around, jumpy, shooter, play the game with these expectations in mind, and get completely destroyed in every firefight, and then proceed to call the combat brokenly hard, unsatisfying, frustrating, etc. If you can understand it you’ll love it. The world and artstyle: No clue how, but everyone seems to overlook the unique atmospheric world. The world looks scarred, lived in, and harsh but in a beautiful way. The world seems like it has a lot of history about it. Especially with all the Ultor ruins in the Badlands. Everything is futuristic but industrial at the same time, like my futuristic car runs on propane and sounds like it’s about to break down or something, but not completely steam punk type futurism. The world feels very lived in and interesting, and combined with the soundtrack it's just really cool to look at before blowing up. The soundtrack, gaming’s best: I genuinely believe this game has the greatest soundtrack composed for any game ever, and literally no one knows about it. I want you to know this is coming from a guy who has listened to a LOT of game soundtracks. The combat scores are the most polyphonic music I've come across, it's not just traditional combat music it's sort of like a badass remix of normal combat music, and the ambient music is so emotional in a sad/nostalgic way but it's also haunting or eerie at the same time. It's really unique. The ambient tracks make it seem like Mars is hiding something horrific or tragic. Some parts of it, especially the music that plays during the night, make exploring the world feel like a horror game. And of course, the destruction: It’s jaw-dropping even by today's standards. I don’t need to elaborate. I’m not saying the game is perfect, but the good things about the game far outweigh the bad, the only problem is most people overlooked the good aside from the destruction. Thus the common false statement: “The only good thing about this game is the destruction, and everything else ****.”

Going into this, i didn't really know what to expect. I'd played the original Red Faction, and quite enjoyed it, so I gave this one a try. The most I knew was that it was an open world game. Frankly, I didn't expect what I got, but I wasn't exactly disappointed. The gameplay is relatively fun, despite a basic story. The only real issues being with the xbox 360 itself rather than the game. The graphics make it hard to differentiate an enemy and a part of the world. And the item wheel kept **** up when I was in the middle of combat. But other than that, it's an alright game.

Un bon sentiment de liberté et de destruction à la just cause sans les véhicules volants