Whereas futuristic shooters set in real-world locations are a dime a dozen these days, it’s quite heartening to see one that truly shakes the foundations of what the genre has become. Fracture is one such game, allowing the player to manipulate the terrain in real-time as they play, effectively creating cover, displacing foes, and deforming the environment in awesome ways.
While the game does some great things with its Terrain Deformation engine, there are still some areas where it falls just short, namely some glaring aiming and control issues and AI problems. Still, if you’re shooter fan that’s looking for something that’s a little different, Fracture may be worth your time this crowded holiday season.
Fracture takes place 150 years in the future, where the continental US has been divided both physically and ideologically. The Atlantic Alliance (East Coast) believes that cybernetic enhancements are the future of mankind, while the Pacificans (West Coast) believe that genetic manipulation is the way of the future.
As Jet Brody, a member of the Atlantic Alliance, you get sent in to take on a military General who is hell bent on starting up a civil war between the two factions. While Jet often falls into the generic gruff n’ tumble action hero mold and the dialogue is pretty shallow, the background story of the game involving the ethics behind genetic versus cybernetic manipulation as well as the damage done to the planet doing a number on the continental U.S. is pretty intriguing.
The key element to Fracture’s gameplay is Terrain Deformation. Using your assorted weaponry and your Entrencher ability you can reshape the ground in real-time. You’ll be able to raise and lower sections of the ground by shooting your Entrencher at them, creating cover by raising up a hill and ducking behind it, or use the other shoulder button to lower the terrain. The game uses Terrain Deformation for limited puzzles as well, as you’ll often have to use it to destroy certain objects or to gain access to otherwise unreachable areas.
Aside from your Entrencher, your weapons will be able to affect the terrain in key ways. You’ll have grenades that can raise huge spikes out of the ground, some that will perform the same functions as your Entrencher as well as serve as frag grenades, and even a vortex grenade, an explosive that traps surrounding enemies and objects in a spinning gravity well and blows them to kingdom come, which is an awesome looking effect.
You’ll also get a hold of a nice array of firearms. Aside from the familiar stand-bys like SMGs, shotguns, and rifles, you’ll get some awesome new additions that use the game’s Terrain Deformation capabilities. Among the weapons you get are torpedoes capable of going under an enemy’s cover, a gun that creates a quick gravity burst that sucks in enemies and debris where it lands, a ricochet gun, and several more. Also, as you go, Jet will unlock new augmentation abilities, allowing you to double jump, hit harder, take more attacks from enemies, and so on.
Unfortunately, for all of the innovation and impressive engineering feats behind the game, there are some major issues that plague the core gameplay. For example, the aiming system is very problematic. When attempting to fire near some cover, your shots will hit your cover instead of their intended target far too often. This is especially a problem with the Entrencher, as you’ll often find yourself using it to create a hill for cover, only for it to hit the ground at your feet, raising you into the air and more in harm’s way.
Grenades are another sore spot for the game, as you aren’t given any control over throwing them aside from pressing the shoulder button. You won’t be able to control the power of the throw, nor its arc, which can be frustrating in the middle of a firefight.
The AI is also a mixed bag in the game. While they’ll sometimes impress you by reacting realistically when you put up a mound, often either shooting it down or sidestepping it to take you out, they can still be caught doing some pretty buggy moves, like standing around in the heat of the action waiting to be shot or running up against walls.
Graphically, the game looks pretty good. The character models are good, if a bit repetitious, and the deformable environments are fun to watch when they’re getting blown to smithereens. While the framerates hiccup when the action gets heavy, they generally stay pretty solid.
Soundwise, the voice acting is a bit of a mixed bag, with much of the dialogue feeling a bit workhorse and not adding much to the overall story, and some of the performances feeling phoned in. The score is nicely done and does a good job of accentuating the action. There are a few technical issues with sound effects and music cutting out at times in the PS3 version.
Aside from some frustrating gameplay issues, Fracture definitely gets kudos for adding new elements to the standard run-and-gun shooter genre. While it’s far from perfect, it’s worth a look from gamers looking for something different.
| Review Scoring Details for Fracture |
Gameplay: 7.5
Fracture’s Terrain Deformation features are a lot of fun and do a lot to give the game some legs, giving control to the player in an innovative way. The weaponry is also very impressive, but the aiming issues are very frustrating, and the AI is a bit buggy at times.
Graphics: 8.0
The character models look good, if a bit repetitious, and the deformable terrain is great. The framerates can hiccup, but generally stay solid.
Sound: 7.5
Some of the voice work feels phoned in, but the music adds a nice mood to the gameplay. There are some unfortunate technical glitches in the sound, however.
Difficulty: Medium
Concept: 8.0
Fracture bites off a big chunk, trying to balance the run-and-gun shooting mechanic with the new Terrain Deformation ability, and does very well with it, except for some annoying issues with the core gameplay.
Multiplayer: 8.0
Fracture has a bevy of gameplay modes for online gamers, from classic modes to new ones that take advantage of the game’s environment shifting capabilities.
Overall: 7.5
Fracture is a solid effort that offers a new mechanic to the shooter formula and allows for some exciting new ways to play. Unfortunately, for what it does right in Terrain Deformation, its issues fall with the basics of the genre due to spotty AI and frustrating aiming issues.
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