... and lived to tell the tale.
While it may not immediately look the part, Red Faction: Guerrilla is one game that's been able to keep a solid community going strong even months after release. Three different downloadable content packs are planned, the first of which is a single-player add-on while the other two are supposed to add to the multiplayer.
The first DLC pack, "Demons of the Badlands," was released last week. It opens up an entirely new, rather significant section of Mars that's completely separate from the main game and takes place three years before Alec Mason and the on-the-disc content ever happens.
Is this add-on worth the $10 asking price? Or is your money better spent elsewhere? You'll have to keep reading past the break in order to find out as I go over some of the content's finer points.
"Demons of the Badlands" is sorta tricky to talk about. While obviously a bunch of work went into creating a large new landscape, the fact that there are only three new story missions made me feel like the DLC was quite a bit smaller than it really is. This train of thought may also stem from the main game suffering from too many driving sections whereas this add-on is much more tightly packed together in comparison.
In this expansion of sorts, you take control of Samanya back when she was with the Marauders (those guys with pointy heads). Her sister is still as creepy and bloodthirsty as she was in Guerrilla's disc-based narrative, which means plenty of story missions that can be solved by blowing shit up. In fact, as a whole, this DLC seems to be more violent and action-packed than what Red Faction players might be used to.
For me, this was a massive plus.
Now when I say that I beat "Demons of the Badlands" in one sitting, I'm not talking about 100% completion or anything -- far from it, actually. There are 75 power cells to collect, 11 Marauder Actions (those miniature challenges) to complete, 4 war totems to find and smash, and a bunch of Earth Defense Force structures for you to take down.
After about three hours or so, I had completed the story missions, a few of the optional challenges, destroyed the four totems, and obliterated every last EDF building. I imagine even with the cheat sheet map above, it would take a lengthy amount of time to collect all of those damned power cells. As such, that would help push the add-on's hour count to be comparable to the Fallout 3 DLC packs -- about four hours, give or take.
I found the new Demolition Master mini-games to not only be more creative in this DLC, but more difficult too. Using a mine to explode your vehicle across a valley and into a building is just one example of the fun to be had. All other Marauder Actions (Transporter, Raid, Heavy Metal, and House Arrest) seemed comparable to the challenges found on the Red Faction disc both difficulty and content wise.
"Demons of the Badlands" adds a handful of new weapons like the missilepod and my personal favorite, the "giant spear-looking sword thingamajig." For the most part, the other "new" guns aren't too noticeably different from the standard ones, other than some cosmetic changes. Additionally, there are three all-new vehicles: a dune buggy, a truck with a turret slapped on its back, and one seriously wicked Walker.
Going back to whether or not the DLC pack is worth the ten bucks, I'd say anyone who enjoyed Red Faction: Guerrilla's single-player but hated having to drive long distances will have fun with it. It may be a bit light on story, but if you're hoping to spend a few hours on mindless destruction, look no further.
And if you were one of the few people who fell in love with Guerrilla's narrative, the added backstory might be up your alley. Again, "Demons of the Badlands" isn't exactly deep, but it does give you a better idea of the game's overall universe.
Contest:
8:00 PM on 08.19.2009
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Now I have to go achievement hunt and find all the energy cells and the four totems or whatever that you have to destroy. Hopefully Google will be on my side because I have every other achievement in that game.
Like that Demo Master where you have to hit the barrels across the canyon to take out that tower. It was a pain in the ass to get the pro time on that one. I just kept doing it until I got lucky.