Red Faction: Guerrilla Demo Liberated

My Impressions

First, the destruction is totally amazing and a revolution for gaming. Everything can be destroyed, from buildings to things as simple as a large crate or concrete wall. It is dissapointing that the terrain cannot be destroyed, ala making an infinite tunnel to the centre of Mars like in the first game, but it really didn't add much to the gameplay so it isn't a big deal. There are no craters and the like to be made in the terrain, so you can't make a trench like in previous games, but there really was not a time while playing the demo that I felt like I needed to.

The cover system works wonderfully, you cannot switch between cover like in Gears, but it works well and actually seems more fluid when behind and going over cover than in Gears. The weapon select is really well done as you hold down the right bumper to bring up the menu and then press one of the face button to choose a weapon. The AI is good, they take cover, flank, dodge and call in reinforcements. The best thing is that they have been programmed to walk through all the wreckage you leave behind and use cover that has been made from said destruction.

The walker and vehicles work well and cause massive amounts of destruction. There is a lot more to the game than the demo leads to, which is sad if people do now know what the game features when playing the demo. There is a morale metre for the workers, you collect the wreckage to sell for upgrades, the world is totally open ala GTA/Saint's Row, there are multiple side missions, there are specific buildings to destroy for bonuses, etc. etc, and you are basically liberating each sector of Mars at your leisure. Its your open world game with total destruction, something that I have been waiting for along time and was sorely missed in GTAIV. Also there are multipliers for killing more enemies in a row to get a rampage mission going, and other neat side missions that play into the main mission you are on. Also, the map works just like the one in Saint's Row 2, will great improvements and great features that GTA adapted like the directional route on the map. The controls are tight, on par with Gears. Loved it, Volition has done some great work with Saint's Row 1/2 and now this. The graphics are also very nice, with very detailed terrain. For the amount of physics at work in the game, its amazing how good it actually looks.