It pleases FPS enthusiasts, those with a taste for post-apocalyptic games, RPGers, and other demographics. It definitely felt like I was venturing through the scraps of a displaced civilization trying desperately to survive the constant onslaught of mutants, bandits, and the endless winter. The game designers made sure to use realistic "barricades" such as destroyed cars, collapsed tunnels, or locked doors to let me know where the boundaries of the game where.
The screenshot archive can be found at:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~pastorek/RFG/Session 10/
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I'm driving into the Irradiated Zone. The last time I bought the armor plating that will protect me from the radiation, but I don't see any visual depiction of it on the vehicle I'm driving.
I'm entering Marauder territory now.
Warning signs. They look somewhat aged but it's likely they haven't been properly maintained given where they are.
A radioactive symbol appeared at the top along with my health bar, but the health bar disappaered and only the symbol remains. I hear the ticking of a gieger counter, likely to let me know that this is dangerous territory and to remain inside the vehicle.
A Marauder vehicle literally spawned in front of me, giving me no time to react and causing me to collide with it. More Marauders joined in from behind and to the right. Although this ATV has a machine gun, it's weak frame is vulnerable to gunfire and I wouldn't survive for very long if I went head-to-head with them.
If I didn't know any better I'd say that's the outer hull of what used to be a starship.
They destroyed my vehicle. There are too many to fight so I'm going to try to outrun them.
That didn't work. What's the death count now, 16? Mason must be going on his third cat by now.
This time I'll take a dump truck because I know it can take a few hits and keep going.
It's durable, but not agile. I'll trade it for one of the Marauder vehicles instead.
That plan worked...barely. I slid off the road a little further up so I had to abandon it.
Apparently the leader of the Marauders, Vasha, is Sam's sister. The two of them debated over the nano forge and its use, and the agreement they made with is that the Marauders will ally with us as long as Mars belongs to them at the end. Not sure how that'll work out, but I'll let time run it's course. The story missions are back in Eos so I'll head there.
The first mission involves me protecting a Marauder truck that has stol..."borrowed" a missile from an EDF facility that will be filled with nanites and fired at the Hydra. Instead of directly protecting the truck, I'll be firing the Free Fire Zone cannons. Sam says they replaced the power cores I destroyed but the guns haven't been tested yet.
I keep getting scolded for shooting too close to the truck but, as you can see, area-of-effect damage is quite easy here.
The truck bumped into one of the carcasses of the EDF transports I blew up and Sam announced that it was destroyed. Whatsamatta? Can't drive around them?
We have the missile now. On to the next mission. After the EDF destroyed the safehouse last time, many Red Faction members lost hope. Sam and I are going to take over an EDF radio broadcast station and let them know that the Faction is still powerful.
Looks like they know we're coming. Good thing I'm fighting fire with fire.
How can Sam expect me to fight off the EDF when they're coming from all sides? The blue flashes at the bottom of the tower are the after effects of a singularity bomb. Once the tower fell I failed the mission.
At least it started me at the radio station. I'll use that homing rifle this time. The faster I can kill the approaching soldiers, the better.
Message broadcasted, but now I have to escape. This APC will do. Sam didn't waste any time jumping into the turret.
EDF control is at 0 - Time to liberate Eos. That's the last monumet; I should destroy it while I'm here.
Well, was the last monument. The EDF was waiting for me. Too bad they couldn't stop the rockets.
The liberation mission requires me to infiltrate EDF Central Command. A force field blocks non-EDF vehicles from entering, but Sam has procured a transport with a cracked IFF transponder.
There it is. I wonder how it determines whether or not a vehicle is EDF? For that matter, how does it stop unauthorized vehicles? I'd imagine that the in-game mechanic is just to treat it like a solid wall, but in real life.....
Now that I'm inside, I'm supposed to destroy the core that powers it.
"The force field is down. Here comes the cavalry."
A rocket mech. I won't pass up this opportunity.
Well that certainly didn't last as long as it did during the "destroy everything" missions, but at least I took down two tanks, several small vehicles, and I can't count how many soldiers were caught in the crossfire.
I took down a couple airships and EDF transports, but I'm not going to last long on foot.
Now that I destroyed the power core, Sam wants me to make a direct assault on the command building. She said General Roth may be inside. Someone conveniently left another rocket mech for me.
"What's the situation?" "Central Command is a pile of rubble, but no sign of General Roth." "He must have escaped."
I ditched the mech and took an EDF transport. This looks like it might be the last assault on the EDF. The Marauders are at the control tower at the top of the mountain, where the mass accelerator's barrel exits, and Sam wants me at the bottom to help set up the missile.
EDF soldiers are advancing on our position. I'm using the satellites to spot targets for the FFZ guns again.
The incoming vehicles are getting stuck on the corpses of those before them.
Sam disconnected me from the satellites and wants me to go to the top of the mountain to help the Marauders fight off the EDF.
I reached the top of the mountain with just a sliver of armor left in the tank. I'm on foot now, and Roth is threatening to destroy the planet if I don't give him the nano forge.
I'm glad they're on my side this time.
Now I'm facing off against the General himself. On foot. While he's in a tank. This is extremely unfair...
...for the General. Maybe next time I'll shoot with my left hand.
"I did it Sam. The launch tube doors are open." "We're ready to launch. Might wanna cover your ears."
This is a video I found of the ending since a montage of pictures doesn't do it justice:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyMSsgFjGxk
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On that note, for those of you who stuck it out with me through these 20± hours of gameplay, you now have an understanding of Red Faction: Guerrilla and, if you choose to buy it, will be better prepared to overcome the challenges I had to overcome.
I didn't find all 300 crystal growths or destroy all 300 EDF storage crates, but those are tertiary accomplishments that would just be a mundane "search & destroy" with a guide open that points out their locations.
I didn't complete all the missions, but since I did a few in all of the categories (demolition, hostage rescue, raid, etc) there's really no point to doing the rest other than a sense of completion.
I didn't upgrade all the weapons, nor did I buy all of them, but this game was designed so that I didn't have to. Given that every gamer differs from every other gamer, there will be some who prefer the remote mines to the rocket launcher and some who prefer a shotgun to a machine gun, but to each his (or her) own.
What I did do, however, was free the colonists and miners of Mars from the tyrannical grip of the EDF. I gave them a chance to prosper without the weight of the police state on their shoulders. I removed the checkpoints, the random beatings, the document inspections, and so on. I gave them the freedom they'd been wanting for years.
I am the voice of Mars.
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