Red Faction: Guerrilla

As the players engages in more matches, they gain experience points that grant them bonuses; most of which take the form of superficial bonuses such as the option to add more features to character models or altering aspects of their player emblem, and have no impact on the game. Other bonuses grant players access to additional gameplay modes.

The multiplayer modes also use GeoMod 2.0 and the same weapons available in the game. An added feature exclusive to the multiplayer mode however, are special backpacks that grant players a unique, temporary power. Such powers include the ability to run faster, fly, burst through walls, or send out a concussion wave. Another additional device in the multiplayer games is the Reconstructor, an object that uses nano-technology to rebuild destroyed structures. It is a key device in game modes which require players to attack or defend specific structures. There are six game modes, including typical multiplayer modes such as individual and team Deathmatch and Capture the flag. Other modes focus on attempting to destroy or preventing the destruction of structures. "Siege" for example requires one team to try to destroy buildings controlled by the other as fast as possible. After a set period of time, or once all targets are destroyed, the roles are reversed, and a new round begins. The team that manages to destroy all targets the fastest wins the round.

Along with online multiplayer, there is an offline only "pass the controller" multiplayer game mode for one to four players called "Wrecking Crew". Wrecking Crew features several different modes, all of which are based around causing as much damage by oneself in each round with a set amount of resources.

Red Faction: Guerrilla takes place in the year 2125. The Earth Defense Force (EDF), the allies in the original Red Faction, have become the main antagonists of Guerrilla. Although initially supportive of the Martian miners, Earth's natural resources have run scarce, and as a result, its economy has collapsed from rampant speculation of commodities and lack of production. Under pressure by Earth's corporations and leaders to acquire the resources of Mars at any cost and at a pace to meet Earth's high demand, the EDF has forced Martian society into a permanent state of unfree labour. The newly-reformed "Red Faction" arises to revolt against the EDF, drive them off the planet, and begin fairer negotiations with Earth.

Protagonist Alec Mason on the surface of Mars. In the first three games of the Red Faction series Mars has been terraformed and can sustain life on its surface.

Alec Mason, a mining engineer,[5] arrives on Mars Tharsis Region[6] to reunite with his brother Dan and begin a new life. While on work detail, Dan testifies about the Earth Defense Force's (EDF) cruelty to the Martian people and asks Alec to join the Red Faction, of which Dan is a member. Dan is soon after gunned down by air support from an EDF assault team. Alec is rescued by Red Faction guerrillas and reluctantly becomes a freedom fighter for the group alongside avid inventor "Sam" Samanya, rambling psychotic Randy Jenkins, and commander Hugo Davies. Between Davies's command and Alec's skill and bravery, the EDF are quickly driven out of the sector known as Parker.

The campaign against the EDF continues in the Dust sector, and Alec is eventually assigned to routine surveillance of the Marauders, a mysterious and violent warrior tribe living in the inhospitable Badlands, in hopes of recovering stolen weapons. Alec tracks them to an abandoned Ultor base that promptly comes under massive assault from the EDF. During the fracas, Alec escapes with a device called the Nano Forge. This brings attention to Admiral Kobel, commander of a powerful warship called the Hydra, along with General Roth, commander of the EDF forces on Mars, who declares Alec an outlaw. Roth turns his attention to Dust and the EDF responds by pulling out of the sector and ordering the artillery base in the Free Fire Zone to bomb Dust into oblivion. Alec is tasked with saving members of the Red Faction and intel on the EDF from the bombardment, which he succeeds in doing.

Alec temporarily loses faith in the movement, citing that no matter how determined their efforts are, the EDF will simply bomb them to submission. However, Sam analyzes the Nano Forge and discovers it can create catastrophic nanites that can disintegrate any object. She builds a prototype rifle from the device and entrusts it to Alec's care.

After determining a series of blind spots in its coverage a successful run against an EDF artillery base commences, allowing the group to begin to take the fight to EDF territories, The Red Faction prepares to launch a massive coordinated offensive against the EDF. However, the EDF stages a spoiling attack against the Red Faction, resulting in the abortion of the offensive, the annihilation of the Badlands camp and the death of Commander Davies. Only Sam, Alec and a handful of other fighters survive the assault. They learn afterward that the Hydra is nearing Mars, with Kobel intending to use its firepower to put an end to the Red Faction and, if necessary, all planetary life. Sam declares that they need support from the Marauders if their campaign is to continue. When Alec remains dubious, she reveals that she was a Marauder herself. The pair head to a Marauder stronghold to meet with their ruler, Vasha, Sam's sister. Sam requests the usage of the Marauders' particle accelerator technology, with plans to combine it with the Nano Forge, creating a weapon capable of destroying the Hydra. Vasha agrees to let the Red Faction use their technology in exchange for possession of the Nano Forge once the war is finished.

After capturing a broadcasting station and using it to regroup the Red Faction, Sam and Alec lead the remaining Red Faction and Marauders on a final assault on EDF Central Command. The two groups converge on Mt. Vogel to assemble the machine, however a surprise EDF blitzkrieg led by General Roth wipes out the Marauders guarding the summit end of the accelerator and Vasha along with them. Alec storms the mountain with a modified missile-pod tank, defeating General Roth's army and killing Roth. Sam's plan succeeds and the accelerated Nano Forge is successful in vaporizing the Hydra. As the survivors of Mars celebrate, Sam declares the war over, but Alec responds that the EDF will return, stating "We'll be ready for 'em". Alec and Sam approach the crowds of civilians gathered, and Alec raises his hammer in the air, showing the sign of the Red Faction and their long-waited victory.

Red Faction: Guerrilla has three downloadable expansion packs.[17] The first part of these is "Demons Of The Badlands" which is set in a new area named Mariner Valley. Serving as a prequel to the main campaign, the content contains new demolition missions, eight new weapons and three new vehicles. It was released on August 13, 2009.[18] The expansion is included in the Microsoft Windows version of the game.

The second content package, called the "Multiplayer Pack", was released on September 17, 2009, and focuses solely on the online multiplayer game modes. The pack adds two new game modes, "Bagman" and "Team Bagman", based on the game mode from Red Faction II, where the objective is to hold the bag as long as possible, while getting extra points for killing enemies when it is held, and eight new maps. The new maps are restricted to only the Bagman and Team Bagman modes when playing in online matchmaking.[19] The pack is included in the Microsoft Windows version of the game.

The third DLC pack, called the "Smasher Pack", focused on the Wrecking Crew modes. It adds eight new maps which can be used in any previously existing Wrecking Crew mode. It also adds a new Wrecking Crew game mode that requires players to utilize the walker vehicles to cause as much destruction as possible.[19]

A remastered version of Guerilla, called the Re-Mars-tered Edition, was released by THQ Nordic on July 3, 2018, for Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It includes graphical upgrades, and supports 4K resolutions from the console versions.[20] The remastered version was provided free to those users on Steam that own the original game.[21] The release trailer for the remastered Guerilla game uses the fan-made song "Space Asshole", composed by Chris Remo which had gone viral in the wake of the original game's release.[22] In April 2019, THQ Nordic announced a port of the game for Nintendo Switch, launching on July 2, 2019.[2]

Red Faction: Guerrilla received "generally favorable" reviews from critics on all platforms according to the review aggregator Metacritic.[25][26][27] On July 28, 2009, at the Q1 earnings conference call, THQ Director Brian Farrell confirmed that Red Faction: Guerrilla had then sold more than 1 million units.[46][47][48]

The game received some criticism for its "weak story".[49][34][37] GameSpot reviewer Randolph Ramsey praised the physics and realism of the game but also criticized its repetitiveness and plotline.[34] GameTrailers criticized the Xbox 360 version's pace, environment, and difficulty particularly in the later missions: "you'll be lucky to get out of the most heated battles alive. Often to its detriment, Guerrilla imparts the desperate feeling of being one man struggling to rip apart an army at its foundations. ... Maybe the point was to make you feel like a fragile, puny man staring Goliath in the maw. In any case, don't feel ashamed if you have to tune the difficulty down for a particularly brutal mission."[37] IGN reviewer Charles Onyett cited the fun gameplay, but said that the storyline, graphics, and voice acting were weak.[41] 1UP.com reviewer Justin Haywald noted the weak storyline but lauded the "degree to which you can destroy environments".[49] In Japan, where the game was ported and published by Spike for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions on August 6, 2009, and by E-Frontier for the PC version on Christmas Day 2009, Famitsu gave the former two versions a score of all four nines for a total of 36 out of 40.[50]

After THQ cancelled the Red Faction franchise in 2011, in response to the high-profile disappointment Red Faction: Armageddon leading to a $38.4M loss for the company, GamesRadar called Guerrilla "the one time the series made good on its promises in any meaningful way".[51] Several years after release, Destructoid listed the game as one of THQ's ten best.[52]

The Demons of the Badlands expansion pack received "mixed or average" reviews from critics on both platforms according to Metacritic.[53][54]

The 2018 remastered edition received "mixed or average" reviews on all four platforms according to Metacritic.[61][62][60][59] In his review for the PS4 edition of the game, Destructoid writer Peter Glagowski cited the poor performance of the port as one of his major gripes, noting issues with framerate and input lag, in addition to several system crashes, stating "...it took me quite a few entire system restarts to make it through the campaign mode".[63]