10 Genius Gameplay Tricks That Made Video Games WAY Better

10. Destructible Environments - Red Faction

It's tough to know what might've happened to Red Faction were it not for its famous "Geo-Mod" tech. A solidly enjoyable Total Recall-inspired first-person shooter, the game was elevated to the next level by its literally ground-breaking destructible environments.

Geo-Mod (geometry modification) allowed players to use their arsenal of weaponry to blast the ever-loving hell out of the environment, whether just for fun or to fashion a shortcut, as was enormously well-received by both players and critics alike.

The mechanic re-appeared in future games in the series, namely the impressively comprehensive Red Faction: Guerrilla, though without the wow factor of the original game, the franchise surely wouldn't exist.

That's not to say that Red Faction doesn't feel a bit like an impressive tech demo at times - it's very short, for one - but the extent to which you were able to tear up the environment felt like a fascinating step forward for the FPS genre.

Yet due to the technical challenges of implementing destructible scenery, it still remains a rarity today.