Metareview: 'Red Faction: Guerrilla' avoids being 'birdf*cked!'

by Alexander Sliwinski on Jun 10th 2009 5:00PM

Sorry, we couldn't help but reference Volition's absolutely brilliant April Fools video in the headline. Anyway, the reviews for Red Faction: Guerrilla are fairly solid. The Mars liberation simulator is being recognized as good summer fun with plenty of explosions. Now, "get your ass to Mars."

1UP (A-): "Guerrilla isn't a terribly deep game, but as a "summer blockbuster," it works just right. It doesn't expect you to get lost in a deep, engaging sci-fi world -- you're on a mission to Mars to watch stuff explode. A deeper story might have made it more enjoyable in some respects, but it might also have killed the momentum of the demolition action."
GamePro (5/5): "It's become a rare thing for me to actually stop playing a game to call one of my friends and gush about something amazing that happened, or how much they need to play it when it comes out, but I did this countless times while playing Guerrilla"
GameInformer (90/100): "The single-player campaign is lengthy, and continually rewarding. Don't be surprised, however, if you shun this experience for multiplayer. ... No matter what mode you enter, Red Faction: Guerrilla delivers on its promise of destruction, and offers an experience unlike anything else out there."
Giant Bomb (4/5): "While there are clunky bits at the fringes of Red Faction: Guerrilla that give it a handful of frustrating or disappointing moments, the core moments of the game are exciting and well-conceived."
Edge (7/10): "Red Faction plays its hand early, letting you blow a building to pieces in the first few minutes of the game. Though the explosions scale with progress, and the act of detonation continues to be a giddy pleasure, Mars could do with a thicker atmosphere."

Red Faction: Guerrilla

Source

Tags: metareview, red-faction, red-faction-guerrilla, thq, volition

Reader Comments (84)

Why am I not surprised to see Edge and Eurogamer at the bottom of the scores for a highly rated game? They're so cool, giving good games lower scores than everyone else most of the time.

You could say they're "Edge"-y.

Ha.
Ha.
Ha.

Giving low scores is not an issue - the real problem is inconsistency. There are just too many of these from EDGE and Eurogamer (leave aside the 10/10 for Halo 3). 2 very clear instances for pairs of games that are very similar:
Prototype and inFamous (both 7 from EuroGamer): read the reviews and you can scarcely believe its the same score, inFamous has better graphics, story, setting, controls, but no imapct on the score
- 6 for Resistance 2 versus 9 for Left4Dead from EDGE: so, both have great coop mode, which is a bit deeper for R2 with its classes. Apart from that, R2 has better graphics and a a far meatier single-player and multi. I can understand EDGE being unhappy with the game, but just cannot figure out how they scored these 2 titles so differently (leave out EDGE scores, and both titles score the same on average)

Edge and Eurogamer need to learn how to enjoy a game for what it is and stop dwelling on what it could be. So many otherwise great games are hobbledn by expectation, but if you focus on what you like about it the rest is trivial. Guess I'm not as cool as them...shame. I try so hard too...

Imagine, review "scores" being useless.

A review should simply omit all scoring, period.

Explain the game, like most reviews do, and end with simply saying whether the reviewer enjoyed the game or not and whether they believe others might or might not.

If you want to get CRAZY, go ahead and list similar games and whether the game is worth purchasing or renting.

When Rotten Tomatoes takes their system and applies it to video game reviews... that will be what I'll listen to.

score aggregators suck, that's why i prefer joystiqs reviews, because the talk deeply about it instead of assigning a meaningless arbitrary numbers

lol @ Edge and their 7's for everyone who doesn't pay up.

Edge's 7 does not mean the same thing as IGN's 7. 7 for them is a good game.

Unlike most reviewers, Edge's scale actually means something. 7 is a good game, even a 6 usually means it's not bad. Anything above an 8 is quite rare, which is how review scales SHOULD work!

Eurogamer on the other hand are very questionable.

Edge gave Halo 3 a 10.

I rest my case.

Both Edge and Eurogamer seem to dock points for non-European games in genres that they consider to be primarily the domain of European developers, like open-world games and racing games.

Edge's 5/10 for Saint's Row 2 is a particularly glaring example, where the reviewer spent the whole article complaining about the tastelessness of the game. Let's conveniently ignore that they LOVED the equally tasteless PS2-era GTA games!

"Anything above an 8 is quite rare, which is how review scales SHOULD work!"

I know this is debated often and I do think 10's are given too freely, but I don't really think scores are inflated as much as some people think. For example, we only really see these Metareviews for bigger titles and you would expect games with bigger budgets to typically turn out better... at least at a higher rate. Think of all the trash that doesn't even bother to get rated by the big guys, I think that also skews the perception that scores are inflated. Heck, just go browse the any of the review lists at a place like IGN and you'll see plenty scores in the 3-5 range... people just don't pay attention to those.

Also, remember Edge just did that breakdown where, for example, they showed that only 13% of 360 games scored 85 or higher. That doesn't seem unreasonable, expecially considering many of the truly bad games get scrapped before they even get completed.

"Edge gave Halo 3 a 10.

I rest my case."
Maybe it's because they actually really liked the game and you're just a paranoid prick.

Halo 3 was many good things, but a 10 it was not on any stretch of the imagination.

Ico and Oddworld Abe's Odyssey = Only games to deserve a 10 rating EVER.

Halo 3, I would give it 5,5 for at least trying...

I don't know. While Halo 3's campaign may not be the best, the multiplayer is out of this world. It's still on top of Xbox Live's most played list, after almost 1 1/2 years. I think that deserves a 10

I wouldn't say that they gush over European developed games. In many cases it's hard to tell the difference between an American, Canadian, British, or even a German game, particularly AAA ones, and it seems a very bizarre metric to be biased on (even if Euro is in their name).

You want to talk about "harsh" reviews? PC gamer takes the cake. I've never seen anything score higher than a 9.2, which is fair. Fallout 3 was their past GOTY, and it scored a 9.1- and they praised the game like it was the best thing since sliced bread. However, their reviews are worth it, mainly because '6' games are considered good, and '8's' are great (har har).
Love PC Gamer, but would love to see a game that deserves a ten lol.

@F1

There's still a difference between a game that is good, and a game that you like.

Lots of people like Halo 3, but that doesn't mean it's a great game.

How is Halo multiplayer "out of this world?" it's like any other team mp game. Only thing it did first was vehicles.

Heh, I was asking to be downvoted i guess. ;)

Don't mess with the rabid bunch of slightly overweight 12-year olds also known as the the Halo fanbase.

they don't give extra to all european games. killzone 2 got a 70 from edge. granted, it did get a 100 from eurogamer portugal but still...

Claiming Halo shouldn't have recieved a 10, is no different from saying Half-Life 2, Mario Galaxy or MGS4 shouldn't have. They're all big franchises with a lot of fans, obviously some people aren't going to like them as much as others. Disagreeing with someones opinion about them is one thing, but flat out calling them wrong is another.

I'm still playing Halo 3 to this day, it was definitely worth a 10 in my books, and I'm happy that we'll finally be seeing new single player content for it, even if it is a stand alone expansion.

I plan on picking this up after a price drop, game looks great.

I loved the demo.

Me too, bit of light hearted destruction can't be bad... didn't bother with the MP demo..

MP demo is worth checking out. Has a party system like COD or Halo that makes it a breeze to jump in and play. Not to mention all the backpacks that you won't find in the campaign.

Ok, am I thick, or is there a reason I didn't see the MP demo onthe EU store when it supposedly went live? I mean, Irwland has the same EU store that playststion.joystiq covers, right?

@Levi: There were matchmaking issues in the Playstation demo, thus they took it down. I'm not sure if they were able to fix it before release of the actual game.
The 360 demo worked just fine though, and it was awesome.

ah, thank you.

OP: sorry for being the vehicle for my inadequacies. :D

I have been long awaiting this game since the original came out.

I loved the first Red Faction for PS2 and PC, but RF2 simply didn't deliver all the fun of the GeoMod the original had.

Looks like the wait will be worth it.

It was totally worth the wait. Best $60 I've spent in a long time.

Surprisingly, I'm having more fun with the multiplayer than the campaign. Really, this is a brilliant game and damn near triple-A material. I hope it doesn't get overlooked.

I remember liking what little I had seen and played of the first game. My bro had the second one for the GC, so I tried it. I couldn't last more than 20 minutes. I thought it was awful.

So when I tried the demo for RF:G, I was pleasantly surprised. :)

I would say that the single player is a bit rough around the edges (although it's still a blast), but the multiplayer really is AAA material. It's just incredibly solid (certainly more solid than Gears of War).

fuck EDGE and Eurogamer.. I never really cared much for reviews but those guys at EDGE and Eurogame seriously must not be playing the same games as the rest of us

edge does, it's just they're sorta like what review scores should be. 7 is good, really good, a 10 or 9 is for something mind blowingly phenomenal, something that changes the industry. It's not like most mags where 6 or 7 =fail, that's 4s and 5s.

That's why they gave Halo 1 and 2 both 10's, right Wayne? >_<

Red Faction reviewed better than I thought though.

Yeah, Halo 1 revolutionized console shooters, and Halo 2 revolutionized console multiplayer, but other than that, you're right, they both sucked.

yeah it is nadril, like it or not there's a shitload from halo in other games, not the least of which is the regenerating health system that's in every fucking game ever.

@wayne

I don't think any of them deserved a 10 based on a few design choices. Especially not Halo 2. It's good that they're considering their impacts on game design, but they should be scoring for the whole game overall.

And Halo wasn't the first game to use regenerating health.

no it wasnt, and it wasnt the first console either, but it certainly was the one that made it popular, I agree though, scoring purely on design isnt a good idea, but considering it in your score I think is important.

Like I hope this game sets a precedent for real time physics based destruction, with realistic building structures, rather than scripted gone or not destruction like Bad Company

I'm enjoying it, of course the destruction is the highpoint, but im enjoying the multiplayer much more than I expected. The single player is so so, the story isn't really all there, and it's waaaaay shorter a campaign than youd expect, there's only like 4 missions per sector and what, 6 sectors? The missions are really short too. I found the weapon system limited as well, with a game like this you want to have all the awesome explosive stuff, but if you do that you arent going to be able to survive long against basic troops which forces you to go with an assault rifle or shotgun or whatever which really puts a hammer (cwutididthar?) on the fun. All in all I think id give it a B-

Have you been doing all the side missions? I just finished the campaign at a nice 24 hours, though I have been taking my time with it.

Also, that's why you carry a good mix of weapons. I usually carry an automatic weapon, remote charges, and a rocket launcher. You also just have to be prepared to grab the enemies' weapons when/if you run out.

I think they wanted to limit the amount of ammo you can carry to emphasize the idea that you're supposed to hit and run, not stay and fight. Unfortunately this really works against you for several of the missions.

ive been doing a lot of side missions, the only ones I really care for are EDF raids or demolition master. I understand what they were trying to do with weapon loadouts, and what you described is usually what I go with, except nano rifle instead of charges, but that really didnt make it enjoyable. I guess maybe I had the wrong idea, because I was trying to go into bases and blow up every building all at once but i quickly found that was fucking impossible

All this game asks is to destroy, destroy, and destroy. How can you say no?

"MY NAME IS NOT QUAID!!!!"

Any other ArnoCorps fans out there, listening to Total Recall right now
Get your ass! Get your ass to Mars!

Game looks good though and the demo was really fun, looks like a good rental.

Two weeks!

Two weeks!

This was the first time I was introduced to the "Ostrich-sized!" joke.

I almost feel like rewarding them for that creative stroke alone (the introduction of the ostrich hammer, not the pun).

Damn... am I the only one who didn't really enjoy the demo? I think I am just a little bit over saturated with shooters...

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Metareview: 'Red Faction: Guerrilla' avoids being 'birdf*cked!'

Red Faction: Guerrilla

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