Red Faction: Guerrilla (PC)

by Will Herring
September 15, 2009 00:00 AM PST

There's plenty more to do, see and blow up in Volition's re-release of their fantastic explosive open-world TPS.

It's been months since Red Faction released but we're still talking about it in the GamePro offices. Go watch a recent episode of our Thirsty Thursday podcast for proof of that. Now, the PC version is here and it looks amazing. If you have a beefy system, get your hands on this one right away and prepare to sledgehammer your way to freedom.

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It's no secret that ever since it burst onto the scene back in June, the GamePro offices have fallen madly in love with Red Faction: Guerrilla. In all honestly, THQ could have swapped out the sledgehammers for rubber mallets and the sprawling mining colonies with Barbie Dream Houses; as long as it all blew up the same, you wouldn't find us complaining. Loaded with all of the content from the incendiary original release, not to mention some exemplary PC exclusives, Volition has struck gold with the definitive edition of the most explosive title of 2008.

Armed to the teeth

After the lackluster PC port of Volition's Saints Row 2, there was a fair amount of skepticism that the upcoming re-release of Red Faction: Guerrilla might suffer the same buggy fate. After a three month delay, not to mention talk of some incredibly high system specs, it was only expected that plenty of aspiring revolutionaries would grow antsy. I'm happy to report, however, that all of that extra tweaking and fine-tuning has certainly paid off, with Volition sparing no expense when it came to insuring that the PC release of RF:G would sport the same amount of quality known to its console brethren. Equipped with an iBuyPower LAN Warrior gaming rig, I flicked all of the game's settings to maximum, ready to dissect this destructive experience one more time.

If there's one thing Guerrilla has plenty of, it's content. RFG's PC release comes jam-packed with a mass of bonus material, including the game's first two DLC packs, exclusive multiplayer maps. and even the game's pre-order exclusive Wrecking Crew maps sure to please even the most devious of demolishers. Guerrilla's spectacular single player campaign returns untouched, and with DirectX 10 support, it not only looks as good as you'd expect from gaming consoles, but with a high-end gaming PC, it might just look a little better. Guerrilla is compatible with both the wired 360 controller, as well as a customizable mouse/keyboard combo. I opted for the latter option for my initial play through, and am very happy to report that the vehicle lag present in Saints Row 2 was nowhere to be found.