Red Faction: Armageddon demo hits XBL, possibly PSN May 3

Volition's Red Faction: Armageddon--the follow-up to 2009's lauded Guerrilla--will be released in full on May 31 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. However, gamers looking to vault into the destruction-based world even sooner will be able to do so via an upcoming demo.

Publisher THQ has announced that a free demo for Red Faction: Armageddon will arrive on Xbox Live on May 3. The demo is also scheduled to arrive on the PlayStation Network on that day, provided the currently offline service is back online by then. Unfortunately, the demo will not arrive for the PC.

As for the game, where Guerrilla focused on Alec Mason's rebellion against the oppressive Earth Defense Force, Armageddon shifts the focus and ups the stakes. The game picks up roughly 50 years later and focuses on Darius Mason, Alec's grandson. When the younger Mason accidentally unleashes a planet-threatening evil on Mars, it's up to Darius and his grandfather's old rebel group, the Red Faction, to clean up the mess.

As in previous Red Faction games, cleaning up a big mess will require making an even bigger one, thanks to a focus on physics-based destruction. Armageddon will provide players some new surroundings to explosively customize, from ice caves to lava flows.

For more on the upcoming title, check out GameSpot's most recent hands-on preview of Red Faction: Armageddon.