Red Faction: Guerrilla – Multiplayer Event

May 25, 2009 by Steve Milward
Filed under Articles

Sometimes as a gaming website you get the opportunity to go to a gaming event or press day courtesy of the publishers, attending them is always a pleasure. So when an email arrived from THQ asking if we would like to attend a community event for Red Faction: Guerrilla then there would be no prizes for guessing our answer or the speed of the reply. The event was held in Central London at the home of SCEE and to look at the outside of the building you wouldn’t think that it was the offices of one of the biggest computer entertainment company’s.

So once inside the names of the gaming traveller’s were taken and their journey to Mars was about to take shape in the form of a complete hands on preview of the Multiplayer game. Our hosts made some brief introductions and we were split into 2 different rooms and soon enough we were playing a free for all deathmatch game called Anarchy to get a good feel for the weapons and the backpacks but most importantly the environment, but more on the Red Planets scenery later.

Anyway after getting to grips with bludgeoning each other to death with Ostrich hammers everybody started to pick up the myriad of weapons found around the map and the buzz that was created when the devastation that weapons were causing was fantastic, with shouts and yells coming from behind the beautiful Bravia TV’s. With the Deathmatch over it was time to see another of the multi-player game modes called Damage Control which has recently been released as a demo on Playstation Network and Xbox Live marketplace. The object of the game is to traverse the map to one of 3 strategic points and if held by the opposing force you have to destroy it and then rebuild it and defend it, sadly our team lost all 3 of the games we played but thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Next up was a particular favourite game mode of mine Capture the Flag, it’s always had an appeal for me as it was one of the first multi-player modes that I ever played. Having started the game and grabbed the red flag I soon learned the art of not counting chickens, running for base and with only a bridge to cross then suddenly a rocket with an explosion of immense proportions destroyed my path to victory. This was surely my welcome to Red Faction: Guerrilla multi-player as not only did the Thermo-Barbaric rockets explosion have a great visual effect soon its devastation was clearly apparent. The bridge and my way home was gone, destroyed, obliterated and unlike other online games where you can nimbly make your way across the slightly charred brickwork with a few carefully placed jumps, Red Faction delivers a new element to online gaming, total destruction. This adds a complete new dimension to the game as now stood on the edge of a chasm where once a bridge spanned I have only a split second to think of a new route back to base, Red Faction: Guerrilla is now making gamers think as well as blast their way to victory.

The scenery is an ever changing dynamic environment with everything on the landscape being destructible, it’s a new way of playing online, don’t look for a way round a wall or building anymore simply hammer or blast your way through. The Geo Mod 2.0 engine as we have discussed in our single player demo post is a great development and one which is surely many years in advance of anything that we have seen in gaming recently. The ability to change the battlefield with the fully destroyable scenery means that gamers can now shape the scenery to take out strategic points and to make the game harder for the opposing team to win, buildings, bridges, chimneys, you name it you can flatten it and this new element creates a more tactical game.

The weapons and backpacks have been well thought out and there are some fantastic combination’s that can be put together to allow players to adapt their style of play to the game. Those that want to run after the enemy with the Ostrich hammer would find the Fleetfoot backpack extremely useful as an increase of speed will enable you to catch your opponent very quickly for a killer blow. For those who like mines and weapons of mass destruction the Jetpack will get you to the top of those buildings and mix that with a Singularity bomb and you’ll bring the whole house down, there really is some fantastic combo’s that can be put together.

So with Capture the flag over its time for lunch and our hosts didn’t disappoint there either and a fine feast was had by all in the Sony canteen, which incidentally sports the best ever and most sexy looking Gran Turismo booths. With eating and drinking over It was soon back to the game with a suggestion of a new game mode, a game mode called Wrecking Crew. In this mode the game idea is to destroy everything you can within the time limit and with the weapons made available at the start. Once your time is up pass the controller to your partner and they then attempt to beat your score. The more you destroy the higher our score so quickly flattening a building is a sure way to rack up them points. Again the scenery plays a major part as I soon realised that making a chimney fall in a specific direction would not only get me the points I needed for toppling the chimney but the building that I had planned to land on would also add to my score. resulting in a catastrophic high score. I can certainly see many gamers playing this as it adds a fun factor and again the laughter that could be heard around the room was testament to the enjoyment that this gaming mode brings to Red Faction Guerrilla.

Now it was time to get into serious gaming mode and time to put your gamer face on, a competition was suggested, using the games deathmatch mode and the prize for this event was not to be sniffed at, a Sony Bravia 32″ 1080p HDTV. The rules were simple, six players, bottom 2 from each round go out, the remaining players will then be whittled down using the same process until six are left to battle is out for the top prize. Sadly I have to report that I didn’t walk away with the Sony hardware but what I did walk away with was the memories of a great day, with great company in a great atmosphere and having played what I am certain will be a great game.

I couldn’t finish this article though without thanking all the fellow gamers that attended for a cracking good laugh, but more importantly and I think I speak for everybody who was there, thank you to THQ and thank you Sony for a wonderful day and a fantastic experience.

On June 5th online multiplayer gaming will enter a revolution, Viva la Resistance.

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