Following the release of a creepy E3 2010 trailer, THQ has formally announced and detailed Red Faction: Armageddon, the second third-person action shooter set in the Geo-Mod 2.0 enabled (destroy basically anything) leg of the franchise.

With a planned release of March 2011 on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC, Red Faction: Armageddon is currently in development at original studio Volition, and this time focuses on a fight for survival beneath the surface of Mars, as opposed to Red Faction: Guerrilla’s top-side battles and skirmishes.

Taking place 50 years after Red Faction: Guerrilla, players will take control of one Darius Mason, grandson of Alec Mason and Samanya (who previously led a revolution to free humanity from the grip of totalitarian government, the EDF), who now resides underground with colonists on Mars after the surface becomes uninhabitable.

Darius unwittingly releases “a long-dormant evil” into the subterranean corridors and mines of Mars, and it’s up to the Red Faction (and Darius) to fight back this evil, and save the settlements from destruction.

Players will be able to take advantage of Darius’ Nano Forge abilities to manipulate (i.e. destroy, as well as reconstruct this time) all manner of obstacles, and use the Magnet Gun to open up new strategic options.

Red Faction: Armageddon will feature the usual singleplayer and multiplayer modes, as well as a cooperative mode, with locations as original as ‘lava’ and ‘ice’ areas. No ‘jungle’ or ‘desert’ areas were promised.

Here’s the story of Red Faction: Guerrilla in full:

“When the massive Terraformer that supplies Mars with its Earth-like air and weather is destroyed, the atmosphere turns to chaos, super-tornados and lightning storms engulf the planet. To survive, the Colonists flee to the underground mines and build a network of habitable caves.

“Five years later, Darius Mason, grandson of Martian Revolution heroes Alec Mason and Samanya, runs a lucrative business from Bastion, underground hub of Colonist activity. Mining, scavenging, mercenary work—if the job is dangerous, Darius is your man. Few sane people now venture to the ravaged surface, aside from contractors like Darius and the smugglers who run goods between the settlements.

“When Darius is tricked into reopening a mysterious shaft in an old Marauder temple, he releases a long-dormant evil and unleashes Armageddon on Mars. As Colonist and Marauder settlements are torn asunder, only Darius and the Red Faction can save mankind. The battle will take them across the storm-blasted planet… and below it, to the very heart of the unspeakable threat.”