Red Faction Guerilla: Re-Mars-tered is ridiculously fun to play. Its story and world are as dull as dirt, and the audio quality of the Switch version is nebulous, but that doesn’t stop Re-Mars-tered’s core destruction-based gameplay from being some of the most over-the-top fun available on the Switch.
Red Faction Guerilla: Re-Mars-tered
Developer: Volition, THQ Nordic
Price: $30
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch (reviewed), and PC
MonsterVine was Provided With a Switch Code for Review
Originally released during the previous console generation, Red Faction Guerilla was a game that I didn’t expect to receive a remaster. It was, and still is, a decent game; it just wasn’t memorable outside of its gameplay. That said, Re-Mars-tered is still plenty of fun in 2019, despite many of its original issues still being present.
It’s difficult to summarize the story of Red Faction Guerilla, because I found it to be painstakingly forgettable in pretty much every way. You play as a large man named Mason, who comes to a colonized Mars to begin a new life with his brother. His brother is secretly a revolutionary who wants to free Mars from the oppressive EDF, which gets him killed, thrusting Mason into the organization. From there, the story is just a very simple “rebels vs rulers” tale, with bland characters and a lackluster world. Don’t play Re-Mars-tered for an intriguing narrative, because you’ll be sorely disappointed.
On the other hand, if you play Re-Mars-tered purely for fun, you won’t be anywhere close to disappointed. Almost everything, and I mean everything, in this game is destructible, from statues to buildings to individual walls. Using your trusty sledgehammer, you can plow through anything and everything that gets in your way in a manner that can only be described as euphoric. Walls crack and crumble, buildings collapse, and you get rewarded all the while. By destroying things, you lower the EDF’s presence in any given region of Mars, which encourages wanton destruction at all times.
“The demolition missions, which challenge you to destroy something with specific limited weaponry, are easily the best side-quests, as they make you think creatively and give you new ideas to apply to your destructive campaign.“
The weapons are a large part of how fun Re-Mars-tered is, from the trusty sledgehammer to a chainsaw gun, or my favorite, an atomizer that dissolves whatever it hits into dust, which essentially lets you be Thanos. I found myself constantly jumping between different weapons because of how fun it was to experiment with each, providing plenty of replayability beyond the boring story.
Re-Mars-tered is an open world game, meaning you can freely go between completing missions and destroying everything as much or as little as you want. A lot of the missions are pretty similar (defend x from waves of enemies, escort a vehicle to x location, etc.), so being able to do them at your own pace keeps Re-Mars-tered from becoming too repetitive. The demolition missions, which challenge you to destroy something with specific limited weaponry, are easily the best side-quests, as they make you think creatively and give you new ideas to apply to your destructive campaign.
The visuals are adequate for the most part, though the characters’ faces are somewhat off-putting during cutscenes. Mars itself is entirely brown and red, which doesn’t exactly make for the most diverse setting. It’s difficult to tell areas apart, with only the occasional landmark standing out as visually interesting. The Nintendo Switch version of Re-Mars-tered also struggles with audio quality, as most of the dialogue is of low quality and constantly peaks, which is a tad annoying.
The Final Word
The story is a bore, but Red Faction Guerilla: Re-Mars-tered makes up for this with its incredibly fun gameplay and wide variety of weapons. The Switch version has some audio quality issues, but being able to take wanton destruction on the go is a pretty nice feature.
MonsterVine Rating: 3.5 out of 5 – Fair
