crash2029 goes for the survival horror so I'll point that needs not to be that (yes I know you said a Sammy). Being in the underground below the barrens it could have some smugling operation wrecked by the Crash 2.0, which could give the PCs some tools (and toys) to play with. Naturaly in a such enviroment there are hungry critter that require some handling, not bacause is logical (down there in a place like that probably there's not much life, much less life evolved enough to bite you) but to keep your players on their toes; some ghouls might do but I would avoid them (unless your players want to play an infected) for risk of contagion, leaving you with critters like devil rats end little else (until running wild comes out it's a bit hard to find something that would live down there and is not too nasty for two mundanes), or maybe some survivor from the smugling operation turned "quirky" by enforced isolation could provide unexpected developments (for good or for ill).
Much of the problem should get out of there, like a mega-puzzle; and staying alive there, not much for combat but raw survival: find food (if the thing takes long) and drinkble water, avoiding/curing infections (I'm not refering to HMHVV), dealing with toxic gases. There's alot of stuff that must be dealt with and doesn't involve combat (and again I suggest the smugling operation to provide the tools for handling it); the challange should require so serious phisical feats to let the sammy shine, and some tech that requires the 'mancer touch.
The whole thing needs not to be a single non-stop exploration affair; the barren were blasted by vulcanoes many years ago and syndacates have duked it out over them, so probably there's not much in terms of secret labs or secret facilities, but who knows maybe some secret base of the CIA from when the USA were still there. There might be reason to return down there after you get out, maybe you've shaken the wrong gravestone and you have to find out what kind of dreck hit the fun.
My last suggestion is to make it heavy on RP; the characters are in a very stressfull situation, have the players explore characters psiche, their wishes, their hopes, their fears. Play on tension and use the whole mess to forge a stronger bond betwen the PCs, dungeon crawler are generaly lacking in terms of deph and this can make them boring, going psicological with adventure/puzzle-solving and survival (and maybe horror) elements should keep the thing interesting.
OK, this are my 0.02

, I hope to have been usefull.
In bocca al lupo per il tuo scenario.