Fracture: Hands On

NZGamer was fortunate enough to attend Activate ’08 – a three day over-view of Activision / Blizzard’s gaming titles set for launch leading up to Xmas. This is what we saw...

Fracture is LucasArts’ latest new franchise coming to the 360 and PS3 this October. Cheesily titled as “groundbreaking”, Fracture looks like a typical third person shooter with one unique twist - players can reshape the ground they stand on to manipulate the battlefield and terrain around them. Amidst a backdrop of worldwide ecological and seismological chaos in the mid-2100’s, the United States has been split in two by the “Great Flood”. As a result of the polar ice cap melting, the Mississippi River has destroyed the central portion of the United States, rendering two different factions on either side.

The East, now known as the Atlantic Alliance, puts its faith in surviving this new world in cybernetics – resulting in cyborg and technologically advanced humans. The Western side of the flooded continent, now called the Republic of Pacifica have resorted to solving their problems at the genetic level – essentially becoming bio-engineered super soliders.

Now 2161, a war has begun between the two sides and a whole new form of warfare is unfolding due to the different technologies at their disposals. The futuristic weapons include the ability to deform terrain, allowing the player to create hills and trenches instantly whenever and wherever they wish. From the demo that we saw, it seemed that this was done via a weapon that fired rays like a gun. Depending on what mode the weapon is in, whatever surface it was aimed at either raised or descended, causing objects on them to adjust accordingly.

This resulted in rubbish skips being catapulted into the air and hopefully crushing enemies, while instant cover (in the form of a bloody great big mountain in front of your face) can be made at any point in time. However enemy units can also manipulate the terrain and the end result is… well quite confusing. It was difficult to tell from our short time with the game if this will actually be any fun in practice. But the concept was definitely appealing and the game promises a wealth of unique weaponry like this through-out.

Graphically it was clear why this game is next-gen only material and with LucasArts behind the wheel – you can be sure that Fracture will have an excellent storyline to back up the action. Only time will tell on this title and NZGamer will be keeping a closer eye on Fracture leading up to its release on the 10th October.

For more from Activate '08, visit our Activate '08: Full Coverage Feature.

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