When LucasArts buzzed us about unveiling a brand new IP, we were a bit confused. Was there a Jedi mutiny? Did Indy get bit by one snake too many? Why would a company known for some of the most dependable franchises in the world bother with the risky business of building a new one from scratch?
The answer is simple: they wanted to break new ground. Or let you do it for them.
Indeed, "terrain deformation" is the name of the game in Fracture, LucasArts' and developer Day 1's upcoming third-person action behemoth for the Xbox 360 and PS3. In allowing players to literally transform the battlefield by raising, lowering, or flat out obliterating the terrain itself, Day 1 is going full-bore after one of gaming's most elusive holy grails.
Games have attempted this before, most notably THQ's Red Faction series. Fracture looks to differentiate itself by giving players unprecedented freedom in how they manipulate the land, hoping to marry classic, linear game design with truly unscripted sandbox elements.
"The ways that we give the players the ability to deform the terrain are completely unique," said producer David Perkinson. "This is a living, dynamic battlefield that the player will be able to reshape completely on the fly -- terrain deformation is the key mechanic in the game."
After watching a very early build of it in action, we wouldn't argue.
Set in 2161, Fracture tells the potentially prescient tale of a world torn apart by global warming. The polar ice cap has melted, flooding the Mississippi and effectively splitting the U.S. in half. The crisis quickly becomes a global issue as the Western states ally with Asian nations to form Pacifica, a faction founded on the belief that genetic engineering holds the secret to survival, while the East sides with Europe to become the Atlantic Alliance, who take the moral high ground by embracing cybernetics. To settle the score, the two sides meet in a newly parched San Francisco for some good, old-fashioned fisticuffs.
Well, maybe not so old-fashioned. As Atlantic Alliance demolitions expert Mason Briggs, you're armed to the teeth with an array of brutal weaponry capable of dishing out pain to both man and soil. Tectonic grenades cause the ground to erupt upwards, instantly creating mountains out of molehills; conversely, subsonic grenades actually carve chunks out of the ground. Clever use of the two leads to a myriad of tactical strategies, such as blasting open a pit for impromptu cover or building a hill to increase your line of sight. Normal gunfire will also chip away at the terrain, letting you mold each level like a ball of clay.
It doesn't stop there. The Bangalore rocket launcher enjoys an alternate fire (all weapons do, in fact) that's essentially a burrowing missile. Can't seem to crack that enemy bunker? Try an underground torpedo. Wicked vortex grenades suck earth and enemy alike into violent, electrical tornadoes that can quickly change the tide of an outnumbered assault. Perhaps most impressive of all, the killer spike grenades summon enormous pillars of magma that not only act as terrific shields, but can launch you or your enemies several stories high. The deathmatch possibilities are, in a word, awesome. And don't fret, because both Xbox 360 and PS3 versions will enjoy full multiplayer, though the specifics are still under wraps.
With its innovative gameplay mechanics and compelling, real-world narrative, Fracture has loads of potential. Whether or not it has the staying power to stand shoulder to shoulder with LucasArts' more iconic franchises remains to be seen, but with a full year left in development (the game doesn't ship until summer '0
, we're excited to watch it grow
-Yahoo News
