Red Faction: Guerrilla promises to deliver a whole new gameplay experience with it’s open world, “destroy everything you see” approach and the freedom of choice for those who play it. James Hague, Design Director Red Faction: Guerrilla, was kind enough to answer our questions.

NextGN: For those Red Faction: Guerilla is the first Red Faction game they encounter – give us some background on the Red Faction franchise.

James: The original Red Faction, released in 2001, was the story of a worker uprising on Mars.  Miners fought for freedom from the Ultor Corporation.  Red Faction 2 was a bit of a sideline, a different storyline which took place on Earth.  Red Faction: Guerrilla is a brand new start to the series.  It’s back on Mars, and picks up 50 years after the events of the original game.  Mars is now a much different place, partially terraformed and colonized.

And of course the Red Faction name has always been synonymous with destruction, and we’re pushing that side of things in ways that are so far beyond what gamers have ever seen that it’s difficult to explain.  Play the game, and you’ll understand.

NextGN: Red Faction: Guerilla started as a first person game and then made the switch to third person. How far were you into development when you made  that switch, what were the reasons for that and how hard was it to actually implement?

James: We switched about halfway through development. Once destruction started getting really good and we started building the real world, the first person view became limiting and frustrating.  Imagine you’re on the ground floor of a building, and an enemy tank is shooting up the roof, causing big beams to collapse and hit the floor above you, which in turn causes chunks of concrete to rain down around you.  In first person you have no idea what’s going on.  In third person, you can see the debris falling, you can see why you’re taking damage from it.

NextGN: Players who haven’t played the first two Red Faction games will be missing any important story nuances? Any connection between the games?

James: I’d go so far as to call RFG a reinvention of the series.  If you played the original, you’ll see remnants of it everywhere:  in the names of towns, in the ruins of the Ultor mines, in the themes of the story.  But this is Red Faction done like we always wanted it to be, and as such you don’t need any knowledge of the previous games.

NextGN: What can you tell us about the single player campaign? How is it going to be different to other third-person open world games like Prototype and inFamous? How long will it take an average gamer to finish it?

James: RFG gives the player the most interactive environment ever seen in a video game, and with that comes incredible freedom.  The designers built a world, and they built situations.  They didn’t come up with a clever puzzle with one solution and force people to figure it out.  I’ve been playing this game for years, and I still see amazing and unexpected things in the game, things that weren’t scripted or pre-planned.

Single-player takes about 20 hours on average, if you’re just trying to get through the game.  Start exploring and fooling around and it could take much longer.  And exploring is very much worth your while.

NextGN: Will the open environment be a time consuming addition when it comes to traveling (ala Far Cry 2)?

James: We try not to force long drives on players.  The map is packed with stuff, and you can choose when and what you want to do.

NextGN: With the variety of vehicles and weapons in the game, will players be able to decide their own strategy on how to finish a mission?

James: We never require a specific load-out for a mission.  We never require you to use a specific strategy.

We used to have weekly mission playthroughs, and I invited some good folks from QA to come and play the game while the mission designers watched.  And almost every time we were all stunned by some crazy strategy that was beyond anything we expected.  I’ve seen some missions be beaten 20 different ways.

NextGN: Any plans for future DLC?

James: Sorry, I can’t comment on DLC at this point.

NextGN: How will multiplayer work? What modes will be in it? Any ranks, clans or perks systems?

James: There are traditional multiplayer modes, which have been revitalized by destruction.  Imagine Capture the Flag where you can blast through the enemy’s base in a hundred different ways.  Then there are new modes completely designed around destruction—and reconstruction.  There are six modes in all.

As you play, you earn experience so you can move up in rank .  That unlocks new playlists, new weapons, and other fun stuff.

NextGN: How will Red Faction: Guerilla distinguish itself from other multiplayer games out there?

James: The battlefield changes as you play.  Someone is camping behind a wall, so tear is down.  A sniper is on a tower, so blow the supports out and watch the tower topple sideways into a building where other players are fighting.  Play multiplayer like this for a week, then go back to older, more static games, and it all seems so tame, so fake, like you’re fighting on a movie set.

NextGN: On April’s fools day you made a very funny video showing off the “Ostrich Hammer” weapon – as a joke. Now I hear it will be featured in the actual game. Amazing idea by the way – I love it. What made you decide to actually put the “Ostrich Hammer” in the game and in what ways will it be incorporated (I guess you can’t just pick it off of dead bad guys)?

James: The story in the April Fool’s video is more or less correct.  Someone Photoshopped an Ostrich into an early, poor quality screenshot as a joke, and how could be not run with that?  It’s a high-end unlock for MP.  Nothing is more shameful than being beaten down with a bird, and that’s reason enough to include it.

NextGN: Any other “special” or humoristic weapons in the game?

James: We ran out of time before getting the Emu-Hammer and Platypus Rifle in the game, unfortunately.

I think RFG has one of the best weapon selections ever seen in a shooter.  The EDF have the slick military weapons: assault rifle, rail driver, that kind of thing.  The guerrillas have improvised weapons involving arc welders and other tools.  The Marauders have their own weapons, from wherever is it is that those, uh, people get their weapons.

NextGN: Based on the success of Red Faction: Guerilla, are we to see any sequels in the future?

James: I’ve been working on RFG since 2004, and I’m not tired of it yet.  That’s unusual.  Most of the time I ship a game, I’m so sick of it that I don’t want to hear about it for a couple of years.  Not this time.  I’m going to play again immediately after RFG is in stores.  I think it would be shame to not continue something that’s this much fun.

NextGN: In your opinion, what is the most enjoyable part in Red Faction: Guerilla (beside the obvious destruction part)? What will players enjoy the most?

James: It’s the freedom to experiment.  You’ve got to remove all the preconceived notions about how games work, break free from how games have limited your mind.  After you play RFG, you will have stories to tell that will be your own unique experience.

NextGN: Anything else that we may not already know about Red Faction: Guerilla, anything else you want to add?

James: I am routinely surprised at how much fun it is to die in this game.  I dislike frustration, and I’m used to swearing at video games and throwing the controller.  But in RFG, when a colonist vehicle swerves over one my remote charges, sending the truck through the air, into a building, and out the other side where I was trying to hide…that’s just plain awesome.

Red Faction: Guerrilla is due for release on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on June 2, 2009.

Check out our Red Faction: Guerilla demo impressions here.