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Bring the hammer down.
Gaming is filled with a host of iconic weaponry, whether they’re huge tools of destruction or something that challenges you to rethink your environment. Well, we’re deciding to celebrate all of the best ones. We’ve started this series talking about the Portal gun, but now we’re going for something a little bit more up-close and personal: the Sledgehammer from Red Faction: Guerrilla.
Despite the genre being called “shooter”, most third person and first person shooters contain some kind of melee weapon for those who like their fights toe-to-toe instead of cover-to-cover. In fact, we could probably make an article series about memorable melee weapons alone (Halo’s Energy Sword or Gravity Hammer immediately spring to mind), but let’s today focus on one weapon in particular that might have been forgotten over the years: Red Faction’s Sledgehammer.
The Red Faction series has always prided itself on destructive weaponry, and Red Faction: Guerrilla is no exception. By the end of the game, you get to wield ridiculously powerful toys like a thermobaric rocket launcher, a “Singularity Bomb” and the Rail Driver, a sniper rifle which just makes all kinds of vehicles and cover absolutely useless. Despite all that though, the Sledgehammer stands out as the game’s biggest highlight.
The fact it’s the most memorable weapon isn’t surprising given that the Sledgehammer is the symbol for Red Faction: Guerrilla, but the reason why is more than just its proficiency as a melee weapon. Granted, it’s a great melee weapon, as using it to smash EDF soldiers across the battlefield is endlessly enjoyable. Dudes getting ragdolled around like they’ve been hit by JBL’s Clothesline From Hell will never get old, but the Sledgehammer’s real benefit comes when you start whacking walls.
Red Faction: Guerrilla featured a destruction engine called GeoMod 2.0 which allowed the players to shred through buildings and cover with their weapons. It’s an engine that’s perhaps more comical than it is realistic, as most buildings feel like they’re made out of paper, but that doesn’t matter when you get to witness such massive destruction on a regular basis. Honestly, it’s shocking that an engine like GeoMod 2.0 hasn’t been used more often since Guerrilla.
While the engine is certainly designed for the ridiculous bombast that comes with large, explosive weaponry, there’s something to be said about taking to a building with Red Faction: Guerrilla’s iconic Sledgehammer. At a basic level, it’s just a way of cutting through enemy bases with ease, creating flanking routes or quick escapes from enemy fire. That’s satisfying in its own right, but the Sledgehammer is capable of so much more.
The destruction engine allowed you to destroy huge buildings in logical ways. Again, the strength of the building materials could be called into question, but the way you’d take down buildings made sense. Knock out the corners of a tall building with the Sledgehammer, and you’d be able to watch the entire building crumble, taking down everything inside. Plenty of games have promised massive destruction, but few delivered on it in such a brilliant way, nailing both colossal destruction and subtle, strategic dismantling in equal measure.
There hasn’t been a game to truly nail this kind of destruction, with the only feeling coming close being Sledge in Rainbow Six Siege. Being able to hammer your way through walls to create your own rotations and sight lines does offer the same gratification that Red Faction’s Sledgehammer does, but the level of destruction is massively scaled down. It’d be a bit silly if Sledge could just bring an entire building down on a team of defenders and instantly win, but you get the point.
As mentioned in the intro, there’s a host of melee weapons available in shooters that are iconic and enjoyable, but the understated brilliance of Red Faction: Guerrilla’s Sledgehammer lingers long in the memory. Let’s have more games where I can go to town on a building with a hammer, thanks. Appreciate it.
READ MORE: The Best Switch FPS Games You Should Play
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