Revolution:a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due to perceived oppression or political incompetence. Basing a game’s setting around revolution can be pretty entertaining but that depends on where the setting is. One of my favorite locations for a revolution setting is on Mars. There are tons of different media that use Mars as a backdrop setting for revolutions. There’s games like Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Zone of the Enders, books such as Red Planet and Moving Mars and of course movies, with the most notable one being the 1990 version of Total Recall. The original THQ and Volition had their own idea for a video game about a revolution on Mars. Before Saint’s Row and the 3rd Street Saints, there was Red Faction.
Red Faction was the story of a miner named Parker who wanted to make his fortune on Mars but ends up in a revolt against the opressive Ultor Corporation. There would be three more sequels before THQ went bankrupt and sold off all of its IP and studios to Deep Silver. This also included Red Faction and Volition. Years later the fires of revolution are burning again as THQ Nordic has re-released the third game of the series, Red Faction Guerrilla to the PS4, PC, and Xbox One last year under the title Red Faction Guerrilla Re-MARS-tered. However we will be assisting the revolution on the Nintendo Switch as THQ Nordic released the game on the system at the beginning of the month. Grab you Joy-Cons and get ready to bring the place down as we check out Red Faction Guerrilla Re-MARS-tered for the Switch and see if Mars is worth fighting for.
Free Mars!
Story of revolution- As I mentioned earlier, using Mars as a backdrop for stories about revolutions can be pretty entertaining. The reason for this is that Mars has always been described as the next frontier, the wild west of space. So while technically there was no official government, those who had military power or were an “influential” corporation ruled the red sands of Mars and enforce their will upon the weak. The first Red Faction was based on this: oppressed workers rise up against the corporate overlords and had peace returned with the help of the EDF. In Red Faction Guerrilla Re-MARS-tered fifty years has passed and under the pressure of Earth’s leaders the EDF have turned on the people of Mars and force them to exact the planet’s resources for a resource strapped Earth. So Mars’ former protectors ended up being their new subjugators. Wanting a new life, Alec Mason travels to Mars to make some money. He meets up with his brother Dan and he gets Alec started. Dan tells Alec that things aren’t great as the EDF have been getting more and more ruthless. He also tells Alec that the Red Faction is reforming to battle the EDF and that he should also join up with them. As Alec is telling Dan that he’s here to work, not to cause trouble, an EDF patrol tries to detain and arrest them, accusing the two of them of being Red Faction members. As Dan fights them off so Alec can escape, Dan is shot and killed. Angered at the EDF’s action, he shoots the EDF officer. He goes back to the barracks where he and his brother were living, only to find that the EDF are there searching the area due to Dan being a member of Red Faction. He gets into an argument and is about to get shot when members of Red Faction rush in and save Alec. Alec now is thrust into revolution and must help the Red Faction take back Mars and seek vengeance for his brother. Kind of a basic revenge/uprising story, but I really like these kinds of stories in most media I consume.
GeoMod returns- What made the first Red Faction fun was the GeoMod physic engine. GeoMod is short hand for Geography Modification and in Red Faction it allowed players to destroy terrain. For example, if a door was lock and players couldn’t find the key, they dug around the door with explosives. Pinned down by enemy forces? Bring the ceiling down, literally, with a time explosive. GeMod allowed players to be innovative with the reshaping the terrain, which made for a fun time. In Red Faction Guerrilla Re-MARS-tered, GeoMod is back as GeoMod 2.0. And while players aren’t able to reshape the terrain, Volition made it up to players by allowing them to bring down every single building. From hammers and mines to rockets and experimental tech, players have the tools to bring down various EDF structures. And its super fun. Sometimes I don’t even uses explosives or any of the experimental tech to bring down buildings, I just rush in and swing with my sledgehammer. It’s really satisfying to see a building crumble down, and also dangerous since I’m destroying the building from the inside.
Definitive edition- Like most remastered games, Red Faction Guerrilla Re-MARS-tered is the definitive edition/version of the game. This means that all of its DLC, such as Demon of the Badlands, Multiplayer Pack and Smasher Pack are added in to the remastered release. Demon of the Badlands is a prequel mission to the main story campaign, Multiplayer Pack adds in two new game modes called Bagman and Team Bagman, and Smasher Pack adds in eight new maps and a new mode for Wrecking Crew. Now speaking of multiplayer…
Fun take on multiplayer- Even though Red Faction Guerrilla Re-MARS-tered the typical multiplayer modes (ie team death match, capture the flag, etc) the fact that GeoMod 2.0 is also added to the multiplayer experience makes it even more fun. You could literally bring the roof down on your friends as they try to defend their building. There are a couple of mode unique to Red Faction Guerrilla Re-MARS-tered. They are Demolition, Bagman and Team Bagman and the offline Wrecking Crew. Bagman and Team Bagman has players take control of a bag and see which team can hold on to the bag the longest. Demolition has one player on a team as the demolitionist running around destroying things and the rest of the players on the team protect him and try to kill the opposing team’s demolitionist. As for Wrecking Crew, players take turns trying to destroy as much as they can in a set amount of time with a set weapon loadout. In general all of these modes pretty fun thanks to the GeoMod 2.0, with Wrecking Crew being my favorite. Online matchmaking can be a bit spotty but you can always get a group of friends together and play LAN matching using the Switch’s tabletop mode.
Re-MARS-stered graphics- Like most games that get the HD remastered treatment, Red Faction Guerrilla Re-MARS-tered graphics got upgraded. And for a game that takes place in a desolate planet that doesn’t have vegetation and only red rocks and dust, the graphics are actually pretty good. Sure there are some parts where things look like late gen PS3?Xbox 360 graphics, but even back then they looked good. Now in tabletop mode, that’s where usually most games take a graphical hit. Red Faction Guerrilla Re-MARS-tered however looks and performs just as good when docked.
Despot rising
No co-op campaign- Most people will say that not every game should have a multiplayer mode, let alone a co-op mode. And while that may be true for some games, other games like Saint’s Row The Third make the experience better with a second player. During its first release Volition added multiplayer in Red Faction Guerrilla, but not co-op. The reason for its omission is that at the time it was not technically possible. They were already pushing the hardware with 16 player multiplayer as it is. Now that the game has been remastered, you would think that co-op would have been added in. With new and more powerful hardware, co-op would be possible, right? Sadly this isn’t the case as a co-op campaign was passed up again.
Controls feel a bit weird/wonky- I don’t know if it’s me or something, but the controls feel a bit weird. The aiming is pretty sensitive, looking down the scope feels weird and using the weapon’s quick select can be a bit finicky. The thing is that I’ve play a ton of these type of open world games before and the majority of the time they all use similar controls. I then realized that I can choose a different control configuration that is more inline with other 3rd person shooters (ie having the left trigger aim down the scope, pressing R3 to crouch etc). Even with the change of control configuration (Alternate 3 was the one that felt the most similar to other games I’ve played) aiming a bit wonky, even with adjusting the sensitivity.
AI super aggressive- The EDF’s AI in Red Faction Guerrilla Re-MARS-tered is pretty aggressive. Actually they are super aggressive and it can get annoying sometimes. I understand that attacking any of their bases or structures can get them angry, but it feels like once I take down a building I kicked a angry hornet’s nest and EDF drones start swarming me. And not just the ones in the area either, as back up will start rushing down towards my location, sometimes crashing into each other and civilians. Even if I try to escape, they will chase me down and keep on chasing me until I am clear of their line of sight.
Faction Guerrilla Re-MARS-tered retains everything that made it one of the best games in 2009 and brings it to the Nintendo Switch. The story of Mars revolution will hook you in as you stay for the GeoMod 2.0 destruction in both single player and multiplayer. And speaking of multiplayer, having the GeoMod 2.0 engine active in all of the multiplayer modes makes rounds so much fun, even if you are just running around to the building and just smashing them with a sledgehammer. The game looks and runs really good, even in tabletop mode.
Even with all the goods, there are still a few bads. Such as no co-op campaign. I understand when the game saw its first release that the devs couldn’t add it in due to hardware limitations, but now those limits aren’t really there this generation. The controls felt a bit weird, though I was able to adjust them. Still if this was the same team that developed Saint’s Row, it would make sense that the two games use similar control systems. And just like Saint’s Row, Faction Guerrilla Re-MARS-tered’s enemy AI can be super aggressive, not so much as it ruins the fun but annoying enough to quit playing for a bit and then coming back to complete the mission.
Out of all the remasters that THQ Nordic have released so far on the Nintendo Switch, Faction Guerrilla Re-MARS-tered is the best one so far. The game is a fun time and a recommended buy if your looking for something to tie you over until the next big release. Viva la Mars! Via la Red Faction!
