Alright, Red Faction: Guerrilla. In one word, Underwhelming. After the training mission to get the player used to the demolition mechanics, you are thrown into the Sandbox with a semi-clear goal, and a vague idea on how to achieve it. Oh, sure, the demo's ending made it seem like there are oodles of missions, and endless fun to be had, tearing up the surface of Mars, blasting any EDF in your way, but in actuality, there are only 20 story missions, if even. Most of the games's missions are filler, the generic Attack X; Defend Y; Blow Up Z; and
Move Item A to Point B. And the game makes you do some of the side-quests before you can continue with the story, a very bad way to lengthen a game IMHO. The story missions, the few that were there, were enjoyable to play, and each was a fairly different experience
The destruction mechanic is fairly fun though, with every building being destructible with many different tools, from the Sledgehammer to Remote Charges to Car Bombs, and on my first (and only) play through, it felt well integrated. There is a cover system, like in many of the thrid person shooters, but I didn't use it much, finding it easier to run in circles around the seemingly inept EDF. The Bad Guys's (EDF) are everywhere, and the game takes emphasis on you to act like a Guerrilla, as head on assaults usually resulting in Death, with Death resulting in respawning at the nearest safehouse.
If any parts of this game sound familiar, it because the games looks, feels, and plays much like Mercs 2, just less buggy, and on Mars. All in all, maybe worth renting, but I certainyl wouldn't have shelled out $60 USD for a reskinned Mercs 2.
