Red Faction Guerrilla may have been the story of Alec Mason and his quest to save Mars from the evil Earth Defense Force but to me, it was an amazing sandbox where I could "blow s*hit up" while freeing a planet from crazy despots.

The poor miners in Red Faction can't catch a break. For years they were beaten down by the Ultor Corporation, whose ruthless oversight made life on Mars unbearable. Earth Defense Force troops stepped in…only to become the workers' new oppressors.

+ Balls-to-the-wall action; wonderful weapons; a carnage lover's delight, + Pretty good story; smart content-balancing in a number of ways

- Short on multiplayer options; campaign drags toward the end, ? Will the series ever return to Earth (where it went in Red Faction II)

I have fond memories of Volition, Inc.'s original Red Faction. Blowing holes in the ground just to see how far you could go, ripping buildings out from under enemies and busting through a wall to get to...

+ Great weapon selection; + Geo-Mod 2.0 is more than a gimmick; + Multiplayer modes are enjoyable; + Nano-Forge helps set game apart

Enemies have no personality; No competitive multiplayer modes

The Red Faction games have always been just on the edge of the huge success that developer Volition deserves for all their efforts over the years. The series got its biggest boost with the last game, Guerrilla , where building destruction - including huge multi-story structures tumbling to the...

Red Faction: Guerilla was an awesome game, so I went into Armageddon with high hopes. Unlike Guerilla, this game is pretty linear and it suffers for it. The awesome destruction is still here, but unlike Guerilla, most of the things you blow up are small structures requiring little effort.

Last month, I had an opportunity to check out Red Faction: Armageddon at a preview event in San Francisco. At the time, I was impressed with what the game had to offer. The single player campaign was engaging, the Ruin mode offered up some mindless carnage, and the Infestation mode was a hoot.

Technical marvel with truly unique appeal - a Dead Space without the borders or boundaries

Generation-humbling tech; Combat utterly evolved

Rushed ending

I sat down to start writing this review early on Queens Birthday and as anyone in Canterbury will know we were hit by some pretty serious aftershocks that day. So after comforting the family, cleaning up the house, and local businesses, here I am after several stiff drinks trying to get my thoughts...

, a game that encouraged players to liberate countless Martian colonies in as destructive a way as possible. Fast-forward a couple of years and developers Volition have ditched the great Martian outdoors in favour of the dank and dirty caves and caverns found beneath the surface.

It's time to get your ass back to Mars, and the only thing that's missing from Red Faction: Armageddon is for the cheesy dialogue to have actually been voice acted by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Destruction-focused gameplay is still a ton of fun; Magnet gun is cool; Looks good

Run and gun gameplay is way behind the times; Only one multiplayer mode; Far more linear than the last game