While neither turn in a particularly impressive result, I found I was better off sticking with performance mode. Quality prioritizes resolution and graphical effects, while performance instead focuses on keeping a consistent frame rate. Both a quality and performance mode are present, though unlike the recent Darksiders Warmastered Edition, you’ll have to exit out to the main menu to Switch between them. As for the Switch version in particular, Red Faction Guerrilla takes much the same route as other recent THQ Nordic remasters. Granted, all of these critiques represent the design of the game as it existed in 2009. Were Red Faction Guerrilla set up as a linear series of missions built around destroying unique, carefully-crafted targets, it would be much more fun. It comes from a time when the industry stood in stark opposition to linear game design and as a result, forced games like this into open worlds where they had no business being.

Add to this an open world that lacks variety and you’re left with a game that seems to exist merely to pad its singular base mechanic into an entire game. There are multiple weapons, upgrades, and vehicles to unlock, but none of them prove as fun as the simple explosives you receive at the start of the game. Outside of blowing stuff up, Red Faction Guerrilla is a perfectly mediocre cover shooter.

Occasionally, you’ll find a mission built around rescuing hostages or chasing a convoy, and while this is different, it doesn’t effectively leverage the key destruction mechanics. Once you’ve cleared the initial area and moved on to a larger area of the map, you’ll quickly find that you’re ultimately doing the same thing in a slightly different environment. Unfortunately, there just isn’t much depth. The physics driving the destruction are still just as fun as they were a decade ago. The gameplay loop is admittedly pretty fun. Taking out these enemy positions will weaken their hold on the area. When explosions start, seemingly endless waves of enemies will start pulling up in trucks, trying to kill you until you make it back to your base. Red Faction Gurrilla’s primary gameplay loop involves going to key enemy installations on your map and blowing them up. Once you escape the mercifully short introductory plot segments, you’re essentially set loose on the world. Key story points are told through pre-rendered cutscenes that would have been of poor quality even ten years ago. In fact, the story is one of the first areas where its age really shows. Guerrilla tries to up the ante somewhat by making it a story of revenge, but my brain quickly shut down when presented with what is ultimately a barely attempted plot. Like the rest of the Red Faction franchise, Red Faction Guerrilla tells the story of an uprising among the working class on Mars against their oppressive overlords.

Red faction guerrilla review