Reshape the battlefield
In many respects, Lucas Art’s third person shooter, Fracture, is typical of many games in the genre, with fast-paced run-and-gun gameplay and an arsenal of familiar weapons on hand to unleash at a relentless barrage of enemies. What makes Fracture stand out from the crowd, however, is its showcase feature called terrain-deformation, a new game mechanic with the purpose of adding a new dimension to the gameplay and an element of strategy to proceedings.Using a variety of weapons that allow you to either manipulate the environment to reach otherwise unreachable areas or tactically improve your advantage over the opposition, creating mounds that can be used as cover or holes that can be used to trap enemies, terrain-deformation is a nice idea that has been executed poorly. It’s undeniably a technically impressive game mechanic that will undoubtedly be put to good future use, but in Fracture it just hasn’t been used to its full potential and as a result it’s an instantly forgettable experience.
In the initial stages, it’s fairly entertaining to be able to lob a tectonic grenade, sit back and watch as the ground rises upwards following a series of shockwaves, but as the game progresses, Fracture becomes nothing more than a repetitive slog through mindless enemies across dull and grimy linear environments.
After spending half an hour shooting at some incredibly docile AI and making craters in the ground with the almighty Entrencher, or conjuring up small hills in order to take cover from snipers, the shine rapidly faded from Fracture’s unique selling point and my excitement at the initial concept quickly turned to sheer boredom.
Click for larger imageContinued Overleaf...