5 stars? 10, if it were possible! Sibling gamers, I have procrastinated long enough. After several months of playing what I've called "Dead Fractured Gorillas," I am compelled to do this, my FIRST review of any of the dozens of video games I own and enjoy. And that started waaaaay back in the so innocent prehistoric days of MYST I! Red Faction is simply the BEST ALL AROUND SHOOTER OF THEM ALL...and that includes the Halo series. Blasphemy, you scream? I shall elucidate.First, I did play this entire game through to its designed conclusion, twice, following the suggestions and advice in the manual. Great action, sure; and the most realistic vehicular action ever--outside those games specificially designed as pure racers, of course. No true gore, 'though it's rated Mature 17+, but that's not what this is about. Still, very nice melee with the sledge hammer when you want to get close and personal. Just the correct balance of challenge and sense of victory that makes a deep sigh, natch. Complete freedom of movement, anywhere within the total boundary of "explored" Mars. Excellent variety of weapons and vehicles, each with its own character and handling that comes quite naturally with midling experience. Remember to get, later in the game, from a fallen enemy in the all-white armor, the rail gun when first encountered. It is the most easily used and deadliest small arms weapon in this game: IR scope enhanced and fires its projectile through ANYTHING, including inside vehicles and tanks, to kill with one shot. No scavenger hunt this, just hit 'em and run, and follow the leads given until Victory. Ok, fine.But the real glory of Red Faction is in NOT pursuing the manual game goals. And I have not even tried online multiplayer, so I can't comment on that. But, after you have conquered Mars once or twice, and familiarized yourself with the details, try this. Instead of freeing each of the five sectors, free only Parker, then start to explore the rest of the others. Only exception is the final one, Eos, which you can't enter without first freeing the others (The Free Fire Zone will dust you in seconds of entering!), so SAVE it after the first success so you can load Eos in later on. Regardless, you can spend your time picking your fights, going back and forth from zone to zone as you choose, and they don't have to be hit and run either. Sustained battles (up to an hour for me) are possible, once you know the "sweet spots" in this well-detailed and varied terrain (or is it marain?). You, along with your cartoonish if trustworthy cannon-fodder citizen "reinforcements," can stand off the evil EDF forces almost indefinitely...or until you run out of heat-seeking rockets (why you should get this asap, 'though two shots from the nano-rifle or enough fire from any gun and/or your buddies will work too) to shoot down the dreaded gunships. (The only quibble I have: wanted to commandeer one of these and rain down death as they so often did on me! Alas, not in the program.) Instead you can take over any of the types of tanks and then blow away or ram through everything in sight! (Why you should also equip with the arc welder and all its upgrades asap; just point it at any close enemy vehicle and fire off about 25 units of power and it's yours. Will take out whole groups of EDF too. Just be within about 25 feet. And to take over a fresh tank when yours is used up, just ram the new one so it doesn't run away, hop out and onto it and electrocute it. Punch Y) Certainly, I revelled in exploding dozens of the EDF "cockroach" cars and blasting the corpses to watch them skip down the road (record is seven times in a row, hitting the brown body just as it comes back down. "Stand at attention when I shoot you!")However, this is still not the real pleasure herein. This is, without equal, the FUNNIEST VIDEO GAME I HAVE EVER PLAYED! Due the depth and breadth of the software (and these people at Volition are truly geniuses and deserve extreme kudos), as with all such complexity, there are unexpected consequences that arise, not planned nor programmed, but inevitable by the math of Chaos. I have never played this game, after becoming very familiar with it, that something new did not occur! Either in action or dialogue, a surprise awaited me each time I went back to Mars. And it was always a delight and sometimes totally hilarious.Example: during one Transporter race, bringing a vehicle back, with the EDF hot on my tail, I realized I was not going to beat the clock, even though I was only meters from the Oasis safehouse. So, in desperation, I jumped the car over the embankment above it and hoped to land like Evil Knieval right in the yellow safety circle. Fat chance. Rather than just fail, I bailed midjump by punching the Y button. Mason the Magnificent flies out of the car while airborne, spreadeagled like Rocky the Freeking Squirrel. At that instant the screen freezes and the out-of-time Failure message pops up, then asks me if I want to retry or exit. Exit naturally. Well, when control returns, Mason is suddenly standing in the driveway to the safehouse, holding the rocket launcher, which I surely never ordered. Then he fires it and destroys the entire garage, kills several guerrillas, and gets killed by the retaliating survivors! Not part of the software, of course. Just an unexpected consequence. I screamed so hard that I went stiff, slid out of my Lazy Boy onto the floor, dropped my controller, and laughed hysterically, hard enough to pull an intercostal (rib) muscle!!!!! Well, guess you hadda be there.Example: three of the safehouses sit on or near cliffs. Since this is Mars, the gravity is lower. And, although this is not perfectly represented in the human movements (high jumps, 'though), it is with the vehicles. To whit, you can jump any vehicle off these cliffs, equivalent to hundreds of feet, and they will just hit, crunch up a bit, and keep on truckin'! Great fun, especially when they can be used as moving bombs. Shoot them, or whack with the hammer, till they just start smoking, then drive them at, or jump them off elevations above, enemies; then bail midway by hitting the Y, and watch what happens! Takes practice. Even better after you get the jetpack on Mason. When he bails midair, you can fire off the pack and he'll fly to safety, if a bit too horizontally. Don't try this over a Mars mohole, he'll just die anyway. And, oh yeah, he'll die a lot regardless...just remember when his hearing and color vision start to fade: retreat!Example: in Oasis, one of the safehouse vehicles at your disposal (no pun intended) is a big blue garbage truck with a blaster cannon mounted on the cab. Slow, but with the best firepower in the Guerrilla arsenal. Too powerful at times. I have killed almost as many citizens, unintentially of course, as I have EDF troopers with this gun. At one point I arrived at a spot full of blastable targets (the smokestacks) and started demolition. But, instead of coming to my aid as "reinforcements" as usual, EVERY citizen present ran away screaming. And, one of them seemed to say, "It's Mason and his atomic powered garbage can! Run for your lives! Don't try to help him; he'll just kill you!" I swear. More pulled rib muscles.The pleasure of satisfaction and deep humor. When the journey is more important than the goal, this is the game for you. Enjoy!