Turning Point: Fall of Liberty First Look Preview

Every new WWII themed first-person-shooter desperately tries to construct some gameplay mechanic to make it stand out on shelves awash with Nazi-bashing titles. Most are admirable attempts, but few go as far as Turning Point, which uses a little out of the box thinking to great effect.

Rather than introducing new methods of stealth or intricate team-play systems, the team behind Turning Point have opted instead to invent a small but significant moment in history that affects plot, atmosphere, style, and hopefully gameplay.

That fabricated incident takes place in the early 1930s, and sees a young Winston Churchill hit and killed by a passing taxi. The impact of his death on the war effort is immeasurable and changes the course of history forever. The Nazi war machine flourishes, and incidents like D-Day and Pearl Harbour never happen. As Hitler and his hordes gain the upper hand, the war simmers down for years, allowing him to develop many of the eccentric vehicles that the infamous dictator had actually planed in our own reality. With the war still raging in 1952, Hitler orders a full-scale invasion of New York, which sees the skies over the Big Apple filled with the most unusual war machines ever seen.

This rather imaginative plot may sound inconsequential, and Turning Point was certainly pipped to the post with regard to the fantasy of an invasion of America by World in Conflict, but the impact on the game is surprisingly effective.

The opening scene is a work of ferocious fantasy, and as a humble steeplejack toiling among the girders of a towering new building you are treated to a first-class view. The machines that clutter the polluted air above the Statue of Liberty are wonderful to look at, combining the undeniable talent the Nazis had for creating terrifying vehicles with the off-the-wall kitsch that defined the 1950s.

Beyond the sheer number of heavily armed blimps and angular aircraft that descend into the streets of New York, what is really impressive is the detail of the opening sequence. As explosions pound skyscrapers the air is filled with plumes of smoke and clouds of litter that dance erratically above the streets below, while bodies and rubble tumble to the floor. Overwhelming at first, the crowded skies of Turning Point are perhaps the busiest and most exciting seen yet on a next-generation console.

Perched atop a skeletal skyscraper is clearly not the best place to be during an aerial bombardment of a huge city, and the gameplay begins as you make your way down from your perilous position all the way to street level. The first-person-perspective is a standard one and the progression is predominantly linear, but the drama comes from the triggered events that happen almost continually as you progress. Outdoing Call of Duty 3, at every turn explosions obstruct your way or colleagues suffer gory fates, lending the game the atmosphere of a big budget action movie and dizzying you as you try to concentrate on self-presentation.

The emphasis at the start of the game is on escape and in many ways mirrors the survivalist feel of the surprisingly engrossing movie The Day After Tomorrow. You are no soldier and must run for your life, arming yourself with the few weapons you can wrestle from Nazi troops. After you escape New York, you must regroup with fellow survivors in Washington, before resisting and finally retaliating against the invading forces. Developers Spark Unlimited were keen to point out that this shift in the focus of your protagonist’s purpose will bring a sense of variation to the game unseen in traditional WWII titles where you assume the role of a standard soldier. Of course, this will be true of plot but only time will reveal if it has any impact on the atmosphere and gameplay.

Having only been shown the initial cutscenes and a walkthrough of much of the first level, it is of course hard to predict if the playability is consistent with the quality of the introductory scenes. Turing Point looked great in-game, and the concept of your character as an everyman and untrained victim of the attack was brilliantly manipulated to disguise what could have otherwise been an uninspiring tutorial.

There is still much to be revealed about Turning Point at this stage. Though online has been confirmed there are no more details on the implementation and structure of any multiplayer elements. The overall size of the final release is still unclear, though Dean Martinetti of Spark Unlimited has hinted at an eight to ten hour average for the main game.

Despite these unknowns, it is clear that the premise of escaping the streets of New York as assault zeppelins and oversized tanks destroy the metropolis block by block will be a controversial and appealing idea for players looking for some desperately needed originality in WWII games. The root idea for Turning Point is actually so irresistible that it is a surprise games and films have not already milked the concept dry.