Fracture Hands-on Preview

Causing destruction is one of the greatest things you can do in a video game, but you’re usually limited to blowing up the odd building or taking down a bridge. When was the last time you caused a mini-mountain rise out of the earth, sending everything on top of it flying into the air? This is exactly the main premise of LucasArts’ Fracture. While it features a smattering of destructible buildings, it’s the ground that will be your real playground in this third-person shooter from Day 1 Studios, the team behind the MechAssault series.

We got a chance to play the game’s opening level last week as well as watch LucasArts play through a level set in the previously unseen desert South West, and we were mightily impressed. Fracture is set 150 years in the future, in a world where global warming has brought about an increase in natural disasters and scientific advancements have caused genetic enhancements to go awry. You play as a member of the East Coast’s Atlantic Alliance, a faction which specialises in cybernetic enhancements. Your enemy, the Republic of Pacifica, has dabbled heavily with DNA, resulting in an army of genetically modified soldiers.

Core to the whole game is the Entrencher, a gun that can modify terrain. In the Xbox 360 game a press of LB will fire a ground lowering pulse into the earth, while RB fires a ground raising pulse. It’s simple, yet almost instantly a brilliant tool for both offensive and defensive play.

The very first section in the desert level LucasArts demonstrated is an outdoor corridor, with enemies coming at you. Straight away a LucasArts rep fired off a RB pulse with the Entrencher and suddenly there was a mound of cover to hide behind. Enemies of course react to this and try to manoeuvre around it. It’s no use though. As they appear on the top of the mound they’re easy pickings. Another group of enemies further down the corridor are showing signs that they mean business, but a simple RB pulse beneath them sends them flying, once again putting you on the front foot.

A number of concrete tubes in the level don’t escape our attention. Given the strong physics we’ve already witnessed we’re just waiting for them to be unleashed, and soon enough they are. After the latch is shot off, the tubes roll straight down the hill, wiping out the enemies as they go. Sure, it seemed more than a little set up, but who knows what environmental objects we’ll be able to use as weapons during the game’s other levels. Crates lying on the ground are all physics objects and can be directed into enemies with careful use of the Entrencher, but we’re hoping there will be some real opportunities for inventive gameplay as we’re playing through the final game.

As well as the Entrencher you have access to numerous grenades that modify the landscape. One of our favourites from our short time with the game is the Vortex grenade, which causes all physics objects in the local area to be sucked in (including enemies) before spinning like a tornado and exploding. It looks great and seems to be a great get out of jail grenade if things get a little too hairy. Another great grenade type is the Spike grenade. This one causes a pole to jut out of the ground, and you’re able to ride it. As well as being used to elevate you to new areas of a level, these can be used to distance you from enemies (such as the burrowing Creeper that looks like Scorponok from the Transformers movie) or to manipulate objects in the environment. Even from the two levels we’ve seen, mini terrain-based puzzles seem to play a large part in the level designs, which should provide a nice change of pace to the all-out action.

The level we got to play is in fact the first level in the game, set in San Francisco, Alcatraz. It serves as a tutorial to the game’s core concepts and weapons, and will be the level you’ll all to get play in the demo. LucasArts hasn’t nailed down an exact date yet, but it’s looking like it’ll appear some time in August or September on both PSN and Xbox LIVE. It’s in this level that we got to test out many of the game’s weapons, including the usual suspects like the shotgun and sniper rifle, but also more inventive weapons like the remotely detonating grenade gun. In the tutorial level we used this to set up charges on a bridge, before detonating and watching the carnage.

LucasArts pointed out the the build of Fracture on display was pre-Alpha, and that the game still has a long way to go in development – the team is aiming for a release sometime in September or October this year, but can’t be any more precise at this point. Even so, it was hard not to be impressed by the game’s visuals. Taking the terrain deformation out the picture for a moment, you’re still left with a sharp, vibrant, excellently textured game that seems to have managed to avoid the dull colour scheme so many action shooters seem to fall back on. Add in the terrain deformation and you have what could be one of the most technically advanced games released this year. It won’t wow like Gears of War 2 or Resistance 2, but neither of those games are doing such exciting things with next-gen technology. Incidentally, while the PS3 game wasn’t on show, the devs assured us that it’s coming along well and is almost indistinguishable from the Xbox 360 version.

After spending 20 minutes with Fracture’s opening level we can’t wait to play more, which is a very positive sign indeed. While game development is hard to predict, with many obstacles still in the way for Day 1 Studios, we’re hopeful that Fracture will offer something a little different from the barrage of other action games released towards the of this year. With a whole multiplayer mode still to showcase (we’re looking forward to seeing this at Games Convention in August) it looks as if the Entrencher could elevate Fracture to must-have status.