Fracture - X360 Review

[Originally Published in Forge Press:Issue 3]

Terrain Deformation. These two words feature heavily in Fracture, the latest in a string of next gen ‘gimmick shooters.’ Like games such as Army of Two, Dark Sector and Timeshift, Fracture offers a fairly generic shooting experience overall, but adds a unique gimmick in order to keep things interesting.

The big new thing here is that the landscape can be changed at will, allowing the player to drastically reshape the battlefield. Every weapon can impact the environment, which gives the game a truly chaotic feel which only enhances the run and gun gameplay on offer.

While it all sounds good in theory, Fracture feels like a game with a serious lack of polish. The AI is terrible, with enemies rarely trying to find cover, and frequently not responding at all to being shot in the head. The graphics could do with a bit of work, especially during cut scenes, but overall they get the job done.

The storyline also seems a bit dubious. It seems that Day 1 Studios decided to try and get every generic storyline into the same game, and the result is a bit of a joke. You play as a cybernetically enhanced American fighting against an army of genetically enhanced Americans who aren’t really Americans any more, while global warming has melted the ice caps and raised the ocean level to the point where America is now two separate landmasses. Ok then...

Gimmick shooters in the past tend to have suffered from the same problem; none of them have been particularly enjoyable to play. Fracture, despite all of its shortcomings, provides a lot of entertainment. There are ways of manipulating the landscape which invoke feelings of utter joy, such as creating a rock spike under an enemy in a cave which then crushes him against the roof. Yes, it’s very silly, but it’s fun while being silly, and even manages to have a sense of humour about itself.

So, in short, is Fracture worth your money? Yes, provided that you can overlook its flaws. It is a game of decent length (nearly ten hours on first playthrough), with a well implemented online mode. While the single player campaign is highly linear, the opportunities to create Terrain Deformation related havok are almost endless, and the game demands a second run just to try out some new styles and techniques, not to mention the hundred collectible data chips strewn throughout the campaign. In the rush of big releases all hitting in the next couple of months, Fracture will probably be overlooked by many, which is a great shame as this is a unique game with substance to back up the gimmick. Those looking for an interesting run and gun shooter should pick this up, and for those who are undecided, it’s much more entertaining than the likes of Halo 3.

[out of five]