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So you’re driving over rock formations and you see your target in sight, a control tower that you have to destroy. A few enemies try to stop you but nothing gets through. Little do they know that you’ve strapped timed explosives to the side of your truck. You dive out the door as your former transportation careers straight through one of the walls of the tower, you then detonate the explosives as the full tower comes down in stunning realism and deformity. This is just one of the excellent ways you can combine the variation on offer in Red Faction Guerrilla to pen your own personal anecdotes.

Red Faction Guerrilla entails the story of an ex-miner, Alec Mason, who soon gets thrown into a massive struggle between the Red Faction and the EDF after his brother gets killed. The EDF, your former allies, have turned to kidnapping, slave work and other such evil deeds to use the workers of Mars to meet their own profits. Original setting but a rather bland and generic turn of events but then again the story isn’t why you should be interested in Red Faction.

Despite being a former miner, Alec has brought along his trusty oversized sledgehammer which you’ll then use to smash through buildings and structures. The destruction is easily one of the most satisfying game mechanics in years. This is all down to the new Geo-Mod 2.0 destruction engine. The original Geo-Mod, that was seen in the early Red Faction attempts, was good but with all the power that the current systems provide this updated version blows the original out the water.

Every pillar, every wall and everything in-between that helps keep a structure upright can be demolished. Geo Mod 2.0 then calculates whether the building would still be standing after every blow and with enough hits, falls appropriately. While sometimes you’ll be puzzled at how that bunker is still standing with only one remaining wall, the fact that you can take down a building to it’s basic elements is impressive and deviously enjoyable.

Still, while it’s a great feat of technology and something that should be implemented into other games, the sensation doesn’t last long. Red Faction has a lot of content on offer from your basic go-here do-this style of missions to your go-here demolish-this style of missions. The problem is that by the time you’ve cleared half of the content you’ll feel fatigued with the game’s main feature. They do hand out new weapons every step of the way but they only slow down the inevitable tiredness of the mechanic.

It has to be said that Red Faction Guerrilla has the variation. Everything that you could think of and more has been included, well that’s if it about structures falling to the ground. You’ll also be treated to an impressive array of weaponry but you’ll have to fight the awkward weapon switching interface to get to them.

Nevertheless the demolition while being the games only really polished element still has some appeal even if it wanes towards the end. This kind of destruction would be more suited to something like a Crackdown or inFamous because Guerrilla has you dying all too often. Maybe it’s the power of destruction makes you feel unstoppable leading to inevitable deaths but I found myself stuck in the lengthy loading screens all too often. You’ll often feel disappointed because all you want to do is play around with the GeoMod engine but the game seemingly wants you to be a bit more methodical and thought-out.

Volition have had a track record of knowing what direction to take with their games. The original Saints Row was great but slightly lacking that extra edge and that’s why Saints Row 2 was so over-the-top and ridcious. Red Faction Guerrilla tries to implement a good story along with realism and you just feel that this mechanic is crying out for the same over-the-top and riddicious treatment that the Row recieved.

Still there is fun to be had with Red Faction Guerrilla even if it isn’t suited to long play throughs as what it get’s good is brilliant. Worth checking out if you are willing to put it down every now and then.