Russ nailed something fundamental about modern game design back in June. He enjoyed playing “Red Faction: Guerilla," but only by playing it on the easiest difficulty setting. I had the same experience this summer. I had a blast playing through “Ghostbusters: The Video Game” on “Casual”, because busting ghosts was the point of the game, not the challenge. Do I really need to die a hundred times to feel like I’m getting the most of bustin’ when it’s the bustin’ that makes me feel good?
But switching to easy isn't always something that's encouraged by a game. In fact, there have been a few games that have blatantly chastised you for taking the simple path. Here's a few that spring to mind:
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Great news today for anyone who enjoys blowing the crap out of Mars. "Red Faction: Guerrilla" is getting a series of 3 DLC packs. The first is called "Demons of the Badlands" and will release sometime in August. It's a single-player campaign-extending pack which will be set primarily in the Badlands, an section of the game map that was only briefly explored in the main campaign. Expect sand raiders, "Mad Max"-looking motorcycles and what's this, a new mech? Yes, please!
Follow-up packs are still unrevealed (here's hoping Gary Busey is involved!), but expect at least one of them to feature additions to the already-robust multiplayer component.
(via EuroGamer)
"Red Faction: Guerrilla" is easily one of my favorite games of the first half of 2009. There's a level of fun in this game that I associate with titles like "Crackdown," where simply the act of playing, not necessarily achieving, is enjoyable.
So why, if I enjoyed it so much, did I play the game on the easiest setting? In the game it's called "Casual" but you could very easily call it "Wuss-tastic" and be mostly accurate. Well, the short answer is that, quite simply, it's more fun. There are many games out there where the challenge yeilds a greater reward. Finishing a really tough level in "N+" was like plowing through "War and Peace" and understanding all the political subtext. It was an accomplishment.
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The best part of "Red Faction: Guerrilla" (which I'm playing catch-up on, since I missed its release while I was out at E3) is the destruction system. But that's what everyone's talking about! I wanted to discuss something a bit different: Infinite sprint.
Yes, "Red Faction: Guerrilla" features infinite sprint. You can run at a pretty good clip for as long as you want, with the only penalty being that you can't fire while sprinting. It's a feature that should be included into every open world game from hereon out, including "GTA."
The inclusion of infinite sprint really goes to show how much the developers were trying to develop for the player, not for themselves. At it's heart, "Red Faction: Guerrilla" is a fun action game, not a Martian space drama. While the story is interesting, the meat of the game lies with getting somewhere, blowing stuff up and then going somewhere else to find more stuff to blow up. The developers took great strides to take the "work" out of exploring their world (fast travel, which you unlock later, helps this as well), even if it breaks some of the realism factor.
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