How many of you have been to Mars? How many of you had some of your finest moments on Mars blowing things up? If you had those moments then I'm sure your familiar with Red Faction 1 and/or Red Faction 2? Well I got an early look at the upcoming demo for Red Faction:Guerrilla that will hit the marketplace on the 23^rd this month.

So read on after the break for the preview!

 Red Faction:Guerrilla takes place about 45 years after the second one ended and the Earth Defense Force the previous good guys are now the bad guys. A nice twist and It sets up the story quite nicely but with all good stories there is hope and It comes in the form of you, your controlling a former miner that turned rebel called Alec Mason.

During your mission you will have control of 24 different weapons including the sledgehammer that really packs a punch, I highly suggest taking down a building by just using It at least once! Its not as quick as a mine but Its just as satisfying to see your work come to fruition when the building you have been hammering at crumbles! There are plenty of other toys like the mines because sometimes the sledgehammer just isn't fast enough or you will have to destroy something that explodes. Of course there are also more conventional toys available to you in the demo and for many you will just have to wait for the full game!

The mission in the demo has you stealing a mining excavator that looks a lot like what Ripley used in Aliens, when you fought your way to It you get to take control of It. Now I'm pretty sure up until that point things have been a blast already but once you get control of that It elevates the game to a new level of fun! I was throwing cars like they were nothing, I rampaged through buildings within seconds and dropped my jaw more then once. When you finally bring the mining excavator to your destination you get treated to a fun chase sequence and then the demo ends.

All In all the gameplay so far delivers, I was shocked when I heard It was third person but now I appreciate why the good people at Volition made the decision. First person just wouldn't do the amount of destruction justice, and It would make It really difficult to be aware of the state of the building your in. I know there are those that say the gameplay doesn't go very deep and Its all about destruction but there is definitely more to It. I found out thinking a few steps ahead pays off placing, mines at strategic locations before deciding to go on the offense can make the difference between life or death.

When It comes to visuals the released screens and video's just don't do It justice It looks a lot better when your actually playing It! From the dust that kicks up when buildings around you crumble or the explosions that follow after detonating a few well placed mines It all looks spectacular. The only thing that looks a little bland Is Mars Itself, some standard textures there and apart from the buildings the demo didn't show much variety but guess thats why Its Mars.

Red Faction:Guerrilla Is being developed by Volition Inc. and published by THQ and will be launched the 9^th of June and the demo will be released on the Live marketplace the 23^rd of April. I'm very confident It will be worth the wait so I hope you enjoyed reading my impressions of the game and as a fan of the first two games I'm looking forward to June.