Poor THQ. They’ve released a few turkeys lately and lost a whole lot of cash in the process. What’s more, they’ve attempted to franchise these turkeys out even before their popularity with the gaming populace was a definite (turned out it wasn’t), a baffling business no-no that suggests a li’l bit of desperation on the publisher’s part. Like music, you can’t force people to enjoy a game by beating them over the head with it and its peripheral media. A game has to resonate without comics and books and animes and movies and branded marital aids; it has to be fun on its own terms. Luckily, if your game already emphasises widespread destruction over everything else, that’s half the work done for you as far as far as a lot of twitching gamers are concerned. You like smashing everything – and that’s everything, bar the terrain – to bits? Welcome to Red Faction: Armageddon, an aptly-suffixed title if ever there was one. It’s the best thing THQ have put out since Metro 2033.

In 2001’s Red Faction, blowing a hole in a rock-bridge so that an enemy tank had somewhere to plummet was cool, but ultimately take-it-or-leave-it; in 2002’s Red Faction II, the same gimmicky limits applied with bonus Jason Statham. 2009’s Red Faction: Guerilla did the right thing by repurposing the Geo-Mod tech’s unrealised potential and giving it massive destructive scope. It became not just the focus of the entire game, but a game unto itself with the aid of the Havok Engine’s suggestive physics. Unfortunately, Guerilla didn’t think much further ahead than this. The third-person initiative was uncomfortable to start with but necessary given the revolving destruction now at your discretion, but the bland sandbox Mars we were tasked with tramping around in lacked a cohesive vibe and constantly liberating zones from EDF oppression became very stale, very quickly. Consequently, its newfound appetite for destruction was a blast... initially. Once you found yourself tired of explosive experimentation, Alec Mason’s reason for being was anaemic at best. Not so here.

Set a decade after the fact, Armageddon knows what its predecessor did well and is wary of what it did wrong. Gone are the endless red hills and in their place is a surprisingly well-crafted sci-fi romp that, linear as it may be, is bolstered by the fact that each area is quite large and stuffed with things that go boom and fall down when nudged with a rocket – a corridor shooter this is not. Of course, the obvious concession here is that you no longer get a jetpack to boost around in, which is a sorely missed bit of kit but something you’ll definitely be able to cope with seeing as the gameplay is much, much better for its tighter focus. Guerilla had a weak leading man and a weaker story, but Armageddon is the opposite: Alec’s grandson Darius Mason kicks ass, a flawed, guilt-ridden hero who makes a calamitous era of judgment very early on in the prologue, thus sparking up Armageddon’s breathless narrative.

Baldy

The story aproper is genuinely thrilling stuff, and although home to the odd, almost unavoidable cliché, will keep you strapped in – especially when things head underground. Oh yeah, in a nod to the Parker-led original, you’ll be seeing a lot more of cavernous Mars (including an abandoned Ultor mine…) than you will its troubled topside. The job Volition’s writers have done in funneling the player through a multitude of subterranean environs via the plot’s momentum is very clever, and they pay some nice tribute to longtime fans while they’re at it. One gripe, though: can we get some hair on our heroes’ heads? Let’s take a look at just how many chrome-domed gaming protagonists the seventh generation can claim:

• Cole MacGrath (Infamous, Infamous 2)
• Baldur (Too Human)
• Jet Brody (Fracture)
• Kratos (God of War)
Max Payne (er, in the upcoming Max Payne 3)
• Agent 47 (s’all happening in Hitman: Absolution)
• Matt Hazard (Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard)

And many more special guests! Thank heavens for Final Fantasy’s continuing insistence on super-follicular silliness. It’s just about the only thing it’s got going for it these days. Never mind. Use that anger to destroy everything around you, which, despite the plaudits we’ve lavished upon Armageddon’s fiction, is the real reason you’re here – and Volition know it. Brilliantly, you can now instantly repair whatever you blow to bits with the Nano-Forge – and the tactical applications of this new mechanic can get very, very interesting. Lost all your cover and getting hammered? Make some more.

There are some excellent weapons to do the destructive do with, although it does feel as if the earlier gear like your Assault Rifle and your Shotgun (which is one meaty shotty; you just want to fire it constantly) become superfluous a little too soon. The Hammer returns as the Maul, but you’ll never use it – you’ve got the Magnet Gun now. Step one: Shoot an enemy or a structure or whatever, really. Step two: Pick the spot you want that first target to go winging towards - big time -, and fire. It’s awesome, and can lead to absolutely insane moments of carnage where an entire tower goes crunching into a horde of enemies, or two poor souls splat together in mid-air. You’ll need to be creative, because the opposition this time around can be a lot zanier to deal with. Without giving too much away, forget about those scrubs in the EDF and get ready to start taking a few notes at Ripley’s xenomorph-mashing masterclass...

Surprisingly, the only area where Armageddon pales in comparison to Guerilla is its multiplayer. There’s not much to it at all, and no adversarial modes – no Deathmatch, no Capture the Flag. Instead, you get Infestation, which is a 1-4 co-op Survival mode, and Ruin. Anyone picking the game up second-hand will have to fork out for the latter (original owners get it via an in-box code). It gives you infinite ammo, a selection of areas to run riot in, and a limited amount of time to destroy as much stuff as you can. That done, your best effort shows up on world leaderboards. You won’t spend much – if any – time here.

Armageddon is a surprise single-player extravaganza; an unexpected hit from the beleaguered men ‘n women at THQ that may, ironically, be buried under the collapsing shelves of AAA action titles due out in the next few months. Ultimately a one-way ticket but a mad ride, get your ass to Mars. Get your ass to Mars. Get your ass to Mars.

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