As the second sequel to 2001’s winner of the “Most Popular Shooter Developed By THQ with the Initials R.F.” award, Red Faction 3, formally known to the masses as Red Faction: Guerrilla, has quite a legacy to stand up to- a legacy full of Geo-Mod physics, taco-phone ports, moon hammers, and the world’s least lucid storyline.

A few days ago (August 9th, to be exact) FilePlanet dropped the Red Faction: Guerrilla multiplayer beta out for public consumption, and I was lucky enough to get some hands on time with THQ & Volition’s latest space-base shooter. Hit the jump for my impressions.

Though the game doesn’t give a look into the single player aspect of the game, it does throw you into the multiplayer aspect with 3 maps (Deadzone, Radial, and Crash Site) and two game types, Damage Control and Team Anarchy, (the former being a capture-the-flag type of match, while the latter is similar to Halo’s slayer.) Right off the bat, the Live component, being the only component, is a bit buggy in its execution, taking a while to get into a match, since the game sets a 40-second limit to find 8 players for a single match.

Sometimes, I’d even get dropped from matches just as soon as I entered them. Red Faction: Guerrilla also employs a veto system similar to Halo’s, in which it requires a certain amount of people to change the map, as well as the inability to veto twice in a row. The game also features a party system, which, like most of the other multiplayer aspects, is very comparable to Halo’s system. Fortunately, that’s where the similarities stop.

Red Faction’s main selling point is the destructibility of everything- and I do mean everything. From giant skyscrapers to the smallest buildings, the only thing that you can’t actually smash are the backback recharge stations and rocks. The feeling that comes from smashing a giant building to the ground with a couple of hammer swings is outstanding, and I’ve never been so embarrased, yet proud, to be smashed under tons of concrete.

The sledgehammer is definitely the most popular weapon in the game, and with reason, too- one fell swoop will bludgeon your opponent’s head in, and possibly send them flying in a proud display of the new Geo-mod physics system. Its also the main weapon used for taking down buildings in the Damage Control mode, before recapturing and rebuilding centers with the reconstructor, which, in combination of every one of the game’s backpacks, is reminiscent of the Ghostbusters Proton Pack.

As I’m sure everyone is more interested in the actual gameplay rather than how it feels to beat the shit out of stuff with a hammer, (Jackie T., eat your heart out) I must say that the gameplay is a little less fast paced than other shooters, but the third-person perspective works great, especially since the first-person perspective would’ve greatly taken away from experience.

One of the great things that Guerrilla can achieve due to a third person perspective is the addition of backpacks into the gameplay. These backpacks temporarily give you an extension of skills you already have, or give the addition of skills that would be impossible otherwise.

The beta only sees the introduction of 5 backpacks- Rhino, Concussion, Fleetfoot, Jetpack, and Firepower. Rhino allows you to temporarily ram into people or buildings to act as a human sledgehammer, Concussion essentially sends a shockwave that hits all opponents within a small radius, Fleetfoot essentially turns you into the Flash, Jetpack, which, well, its a jet pack, and Firepower, which doubles the strength of your guns. It also makes them glow red, which, admittedly, is one of the only reasons I ever actually used it.

The backpack I found most useful was the jetpack, because if used right, you can travel far and high to a point where you have the upperhand. Fleetfoot was also useful during Team Anarchy to outwit players and smash their heads in from behind. Strangely enough, this is the first shooter that I’ve played in which melee plays a rather large part in the gameplay itself. Almost everyone uses the hammer, which means that timing is of the essence in making sure that you hit them before they hit you.

Fleetfoot plays a large part in getting the upper hand in melee battles, though the Concussion backpack is often used to stun opponents, then bash their heads in as well. Damage Control’s capture-the-flag-esque stylings take full use of the game’s destruction-centric gameplay by instructing you to smash your opponents buildings to the ground, then use the reconstructor to rebuild the buildings in your team’s visage. Rather than using a distracting HUD to direct you to your opponents’ base, the map has inobtrustive indicators to show which way to go and how far you have to go. They’ve even adapted the health system that Gears of War used- desaturating the screen to show a diminishing level of health.

The Red Faction beta has a surprisingly large range of weapons, which I hope will be expanded in the beta as the backpacks and maps will. The beta featured 9 weapons, the assault rifle, the pistol, the rocket launcher, the sledgehammer, the reconstructor, the remote grenade detonator, the shotgun the mines, and the Grinder, which is essentually a fucking Shuriken shooter. IT SHOOTS NINJA STARS, DAMN IT. If that’s not awesome, then I have no idea what is. Its also really easy to switch between weapons using the two bumper buttons, and if you want to select weapons different from the two that you used last, you can use the bumpers combined with the face buttons.

As I mentioned before, there are three maps in the beta, Crash Site, Deadzone, and Radial, and while all bring about an oh-so healthy color palate of red, brown, and what I like to call Super-Bloom™, they play exceptionally different. For instance, Radial is better suited for Damage Control gameplay, as it’s the game’s widest map, with large walls and few weapon selections scattered across the map.

Deadzone is bleak, dark, and crowded, so its more fitting for Team Anarchy gameplay, in which you run around eliminating opponents to a point/time goal. It’s also full of weak buildings to smash and hide behind. My favorite map was definitely Crash Site, as it wasn’t necessarily dark, but definitely brown, and it was full of buildings. It’s not too large of a map, and there are cliffside buildings that hold weapons and backpacks that can be used well. Since the level is full of buildings and a wide range of weapons, you can’t really go wrong with any particular weapon/backpack, meaning that the level is pretty balanced as far as levels go.

Overall, as far as betas go, Red Faction: Guerrilla is definitely a great one, and has alerted me to keep an eye out on the game as it develops. I’ll definitely be checking the game out when it’s released, if even only for a short period of time. While the game was somewhat buggy, that is to be expected with an early beta release. I’m sure that Volition and THQ plan to fix these bugs before the game releases in Q1 of 2009 for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

Tags: impressions, red faction guerrilla, THQ, volition

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