Bitmob - Red Faction: Guerilla Vs. Just Cause 2

Red Faction: Guerilla had to be the biggest surprise of 2009 for me. I had played previous incarnations on PC and while I remembered them, they don't come up in conversation too often. Guerilla, on the other hand, had quite the opposite impression on me. So much so, that when Christmas rolled around I bought a few copies for my friends! It was just one of those games that was full of "oh shit" moments and glorious explosions, that it’s memories have stayed with me to this day. So when I started to hear about Just Cause 2, I was really excited. It sounded a lot like Guerilla; where you are a stranger in a foreign land, leading its people to freedom from the hands of an oppressive military force. Furthermore, it has an open world environment with unique vehicles, weapons, and explosions. After putting about 10 hours into JC2 and beating Guerilla, I feel I can weigh in on their similarities and differences.

JC2 has a slightly more interesting combat system, mostly because of the incredibly satisfying way I can shame my enemies using the grappling hook. Attaching an enemy to a car driving by is hilarious. Try attaching someone to an explosive tank and watching him rocket into the atmosphere, its AWESOME! Trust me. The guns; however, are based a little more in reality. Guerilla had its hooks though, and it would be a shame to forget how great the various hammers are in JC2. The other weapons are also fantastic (especially the nano-rifle), but for the majority of the campaign I exclusively used explosive charges and the hammer.

Terrain traversal is infinitely better in JC2. Whether it’s driving a motorcycle off a cliff, free falling 500 meters and pulling my parachute, or getting into a fighter jet and going Mach 1, there is nothing this fun. Also, all vehicle weapons have unlimited ammo, UNLIMITED! Not only can my Apache Helicopter can take out an entire base in a manner of seconds, it can get me from one corner of the map to another. Guerilla, on the other hand, had some cool mechs and various cars/trucks, but no planes or choppers. Plus, the grappling hook parachute combination covers more ground faster than Guerilla’s jet pack. Environments in JC2 are striking and diverse, which make the various vehicles almost necessary due to the extent of the map size. Guerilla is less impressive, but this is due mostly to the context of the environment. The story takes place on Mars early in the terra forming operation, so much of the environments are rust red and pretty bland. 

While the stories themselves are pretty much the same, the voice acting in JC2 is simply terrible. Though Guerilla is not much better, it is certainly less distracting than JC2. The true differentiator at this point comes down to mission structure. Open world games are critiqued for their mission structure time and time again, most notably for their variety. JC2 at 10 hours in has already begun to repeat itself. Most mission objectives seem to be limited to 3 or 4 types and revolve around destroying a specific object, activating something, or kidnapping a politician. There is some variation to these, as well as side missions and collectables. This makes playing through the story campaign very dry without you taking it upon yourself to spice it up. Guerilla; however, has some of the best missions in an open world scenario that I have ever played. Part of this is due to how effective Volition’s physics tech is. Take, for example, the destruction missions. Here the game provides you a building and a set number of weapons, forcing you to find a creative way in bringing down the entire structure. Furthermore, the hostage missions are more satisfying than most missions, because everything in the environment is destructible. So if I can see which side of the building they are being held in, I would simply drive a truck through the other side and load them up before the EDF would even know what happened. Not every mission was great though, some hijackings of vehicles required you to drive halfway across a map to complete and are timed. If a mistake is made, then it starts all over.  

Outside the campaigns JC2 has nothing else to offer. You just get the open world with this one, which is kind of disappointing. Guerilla on the other hand has a number of additional modes. Those destruction missions are also available in a time challenge mode, so gamers can pass the controller around with friends and see who can destroy a building the fastest. Also, Guerilla offers a robust multiplayer component which was awesome and never got its due recognition. The main component that made the multiplayer so different was that there were various jetpacks which provided the player a unique ability, making the experience unique. In conclusion, I love Just Cause 2 and will see it through to the story’s conclusion. Although, it won’t be enough to dethrone Red Faction: Guerilla from being the destruction game of my dreams. Maybe next time one of these games will add co-op and set the bar even higher for open-world games everywhere. Red Faction: Guerilla FTW!

*note: all images courtesy of Google image search