“Red Faction: Guerrilla”
Genre: Third-person shooter, sandbox
Developer: Volition
Publisher: THQ
Platform: Xbox 360
ESRB rating: “M” for mature
Price: $59.99
Grade: A

In his formative years, Game Guy used to love blowing up things — cans, bottles, his cousin’s Barbie dolls, once in a while even a casaba or watermelon.

And it was easy, too; living out in the desert as he did, the key to staying out of trouble with combustibles was taking them far enough past the cactus line that shrapnel didn’t scrape the house or dad’s car. (The snakes and scorpions were understandably nervous.)

Nowadays, civil society being what it is, Game Guy only thinks about blowing stuff up, doesn’t act on it. Instead, he relies on games such as “Red Faction: Guerrilla” to pursue his pyrotechnic dreams vicariously, and in this new title there are plenty of booms to get real bangs for his bucks.

“Guerrilla” ignites half a century after the original first-person-perspective story, with insurgents on Mars who resurrect Red Faction in an attempt to loosen the grip of the oppressive Earth Defense Force. Crucial to this conflict is explosives — lots of them — well placed for maximum destructive effect, which players also can parlay into morale-building exercises for downtrodden settlers bent on revenge.

Single-player and multi-player options abound as players attempt to break EDF’s back by liberating six settlement zones infused with their own curious characters and dramas. The more things players blow up, the lower the EDF’s “control rating” for each zone.

But when bombs burst they take out everything, so it’s important to salvage whatever possible beforehand, under EDF’s nose in most instances, to develop improved weapons and craft new alliances. This transforms “Guerrilla” into a thinking-person’s game that steps up during online play, as the pyrotechnics alone lose their punch after awhile.

Players can shoot their way in and out of trouble, too, of course, but it’s the skillfull use of explosives to make buildings fall in certain ways atop unsuspecting EDF troops that makes “Guerrilla” worth one’s time.

The game falls short visually in some aspects. Mars, understandably, isn’t much to look at, and the utilitarian nature of construction on a low-gravity rock means Architecture Digest won’t dial in for design tips here. Game Guy also had a little trouble with the AI — buildings on the fringe of play popped in and out of view inexplicably, and weapons occasionally fired a beat or two slow. (It’s Xbox, after all)

Nevertheless, when the goal is destruction, one can’t worry too much about being pretty. The beauty here is in the smooth arc of the bits of shrapnel flying about — and nobody gets hurt.