Just three months shy of a year ago now, fellow writer Erik Norris and I managed to get into the multiplayer beta for Volition's upcoming Red Faction: Guerrilla (You can read Erik's impressions here). A lot of time has passed since then, and now we've been able to jump onto the public multiplayer demo.
RFG, as always, is a game based on destructible environments. The concept is huge while remaining quite simple. Destroy everything in your way. That quick phrase also sums up the multiplayer experience (for the demo crowd, at least). The demo for RFG is spans between two maps and one gametype.
The gametype is Damage Control. It's a simple take on capture and hold type games. Teams will be fighting over three capture towers throughout the match. The first team to 500 points, or the leader after 5:00 (I think), wins. Players capture towers by destroying and then repairing them. Both of which take very little time whatsoever.
In the demo, games are pretty much settled quickly. One team seems to have a group dedicated to winning while the other team as a short bus full of ninnies who are perfectly content with blowing up and repairing their own starting point over and over again. Weeee!
The maps are both medium-sized and are either packed with destructible goodness, or relatively opened up. The level design here is actually pretty remarkable. The developers did a good job of layering the playing field so that one area can have attackers and defenders working from almost any height available. Even in tight spaces, combat always feels tiered. This adds a sense of strategy to the play as the destructible nature of the environment comes in big time. If someone's shooting me from on top of a tower, my course of action is normally duck and shoot back. In RFG? I run up to the tower and use some of my equipment in order to knock it down. That sniper problem? Solved.
The weapon choice here is as limited as one would expect a demo to be. You'll start with a standard assault rifle. This is your basic, battle proven firearm that will get you into and out of just about every combat situation. You'll also have a gun used to repair buildings and people, and a hammer used to lay down the low. Killing with the hammer is a joy. The game celebrates with you as it displays a little "X got beat down by Y" ticker above the screen as you run from victim to victim. From there players can pick up a shotgun, electricity rifle, rail-gun or rocket launcher.
