Fracture - Hands On Preview

Think LucasArts, and two properties will likely pop into your mind: Indiana Jones and Star Wars (and not necessarily in that order). OK, so the Californian publisher is revered for its point and click adventures from 'back in the day' too, but the videogaming strand of Uncle George's multi-media empire has largely rested on its two big blockbuster franchises. That's about to change (apparently) with the October release of Fracture, which is currently in development at Day 1 Studios, the outfit behind the Xbox 360/PS3 ports of F.E.A.R. and the original Xbox's MechAssault franchise.

Focusing the attention on what they see as revolutionary gameplay courtesy of extreme terrain deformation, Day 1 and LucasArts are confident of crafting a brand new franchise to divert attention from the adventures of Henry Jones Jr. and Luke Skywalker. TVG recently went hands on with the Xbox 360 version of Fracture, but is the third-person shooter ready to shake the already busy genre to its core?

Topping The Richter Scale.

Set 150 years in the future, at a time when mankind has barely survived catastrophic flooding thanks to global warming, Fracture pits the two halves of what was the USA (the Atlantic Alliance and the Republic of Pacifica) into an earth-shaking conflict. Literally. Despite the two factions taking very different routes of 'evolution', one using cybernetic enhancements and the other gene therapy, both have access to terrain deformation weaponry, which affects the very ground of the battlefield.

Whilst early demos of Fracture were set in the future dustbowl of the San Francisco Bay area, this latest unveiling focused on a storm-drenched desert, offering a very different (and more sci-fi) atmosphere. A hands on session based on Alcatraz also allowed us to try out how flexible this game's big feature was. Armed with the 'Entrencher', the default grunt weapon of choice in the future apparently, the demo ran through the fact that shifting the terrain isn't just an extra tool in battle, but an integral part of puzzle-solving. One objective in the demo for instance, saw the terrain shift to reconnect a series of 'light bridges', damaged as a result of generators are taken offline. Other techniques, such as using a spike grenade to lift a pillar of rock up to a high ridge or dropping the terrain underneath a wall, seem to form a core part of how deformation will be used. Hopefully the puzzles will be a tad more creative in other sections of the game; we can all too readily imagine how quickly the deformation will become rather dull through repetition otherwise.

Besides the slew of futuristic weaponry and terrain deforming grenades however, there seemed to be genuine excitement from LucasArts that melee attacks form part of the combat system, bringing an almost guaranteed 'Nice!' or 'Cool melee, dude' whenever a Pacifican received a blow to the head. Not that we want to put a dampener on the otherwise interesting combat system LucasArts, but getting worked up about smacking some grunt enemy with an assault rifle should barely be worth mentioning...

Strong and believable enemy AI will have to be at the pinnacle of Day 1's priority list, and so far, it's being addressed pretty well. Adapting to a moving environment and the change in strategy that brings, is obviously something that's important for the game experience, and from what was on show in the desert map, the studio seems to be managing it so far. With both sides in the war capable of shifting the earth beneath their feet, it'll be interesting to see the enemy Pacifican army using the barrage of deforming tools in the heat of battle. So far however, the emphasis on terrain deformation is being more emphasised by the player's actions and scripted events.

As the core of Fracture revolves around the idea of reforming the ground beneath your feet, you'd expect the ability to be properly explored and exploited; decimating the metallic surfaces of enemy bases with pillars of basalt, collapsing structures with deep craters, and more besides. But with just limited and scripted chances to damage buildings, it seems likely that terrain deformation will just fall way short of the mark. Why for instance, shouldn't the ground rise up when a spike grenade is thrown just because some futuristic metal alloy covers it? Please don't reply that it's because 'the surface deflects the weapon's power to deform' because that's just a cop out. That said, in an age where structural damage is placed on a pedestal, the terrain deformation of Fracture is at least something of a contrast, which may make it stand out from a crowd (because god knows the rest of the game's features won't help it achieve that).

Raising New Heights?

In a bid to balance hardcore gameplay, but retain enough of an attraction to a more casual audience (to hopefully more success than the likes of Conflict: Denied Ops and Turning Point), Fracture implements a 'Hint Camera' to point gamers in the direction of their objective or a point of interest. It's something that's already been seen in the likes of Gears of War, and will be coming to Fable 2 in the Autumn; whether it actually enhances the gameplay we'll have to see later in the year. It's far from being revolutionary though, like much of the game.

Besides the terrain deformation, the feature list of Fracture sadly reads like so many other future-set action shooters. There's regenerative health, the obligatory range of assault rifles and pistols, aggressive humanoid antagonists, and so much more. For all its attempts to deliver a franchise that stands alongside Star Wars and Indiana Jones, both of which have been inspiring brands for others, Fracture just isn't convincing - at least, not at this point. Even the 'vortex grenades' that suck in physical objects, including enemies, were seen in 2K Games' The Darkness.

According to LucasArts, multiplayer will form an important part of the Fracture experience, with up to a dozen gamers (six per side) battling it out across various maps and locations. The multiplayer is set to provide the focus of Fracture's showing at Leipzig's Game Convention in August, but the publisher has confirmed that it'll feature some 'unique modes that focus on terrain deformation', as well as the bog-standard mix of Deathmatches and Capture the Flag gametypes. Whilst the prospect of yet another round of CTF in an action game generated less excitement than a lecture on the properties of dust, at least disorientating the flag-holder with a couple of well-placed 'vortex grenades' could raise a smirk.

A demo of Fracture is due to hit Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network at sometime during August/September, which guides players through the early tutorial level on Alcatraz; the same mission that we managed to get our grubby mitts on at the recent London presentation.