Fracture review (X360)

Remember Red Faction? Remember the throbbing pre-release advocating of the game's revolutionary technology, Geo-Mod, whereby the buildings could be destroyed to your advantage?

If your answer is a resounding yes, it's fair to assume you also remember the limitations to the technology that did a good job of destroying the hopes and dreams you had invested in the game. It was deflating and anti-climatic, and although what was there made the average game underneath it all a little more enjoyable, the novelty soon wore off and you were left with, well, the average game.

Fracture is similarly disappointing. In the same vein as Red Faction, the overzealous promotion of its core technology comes across as a masking attempt to hide the fact that the game was built with the technology as a foundation rather than the story or gameplay. I'm not denouncing that method of development; I'm sure it can work, but if it is indeed the case for Fracture, it hasn't worked very well at all.

Fractured

The real tragedy of Fracture is that it's well built and functional but doesn't possess any of the pizzazz or innovation required to keep a game consistently fresh and interesting. The narrative is based around a catastrophic progression in global warming – an already tired and over-explored topic - whereby the melting of the polar ice caps has divided America, forcing the citizens of each division to fight the other for power and continued existence. It's very contrived and aroused not a speck of interesting on my part, but it does, at least, tie one event to the next – if tenuously.

In spite of the story arch it's difficult to see each encounter as more than just a mindless fire fight, but that wouldn't be too big a problem if the fire fights had any memorable impact.

The protagonist, Jet Brody, has a substantial arsenal at his disposal, each, as the back of the box says, “... with their own terrain deforming ability.” That implies diversity, but it's really down to whether they make the ground grow or sink. No matter which weapon is equipped, you always have the ability to manipulate the terrain using The Entrencher, which is deployed using the right and left bumpers. The main purpose of this ability is creating cover on the fly and allowing access to certain areas.

It works, and it does come in handy if you're in the open and need somewhere to rest and recharge your shield – Halo style, but it's a very clumsy affair. Lucasarts has relied heavily on the assumption that people will be putting the terrain deformation to good use by adding a hefty amount of strong, accurate enemies to the battlefield, but this only results in franticly pulverising the ground in an attempt to prolong your life. It feels forced and somewhat counter-intuitive, and most the time it's only remembered when your life is in danger.

Powerless

The problem is: your weapons don't feel powerful nor accurate enough. A sizeable force is expelled from either of the four grenades or the rocket or grenade launchers, but the actual rifles and machine guns are quite puny. There's no real sense of power to your encounters like there is in shooters like Gears of War – a game LucasArts definitely played during the production of Fracture – and so taking down an enemy, once you fondle with the aiming for a while, feels more of a formality.

Graphically the game looks like the future; or, at least, that ubiquitous interpretation of the future that has everything and everyone covered in shiny metal, punctuated with neon lights and more shiny metal - it's sufficient but it's so overdone. I guess imagination won't allow passage for the notion that we'll look pretty much the same in the future, but then again where would we put all the shiny metal?

Sound is pretty much the same. Though the voice acting is quite good in places, all it does is remind you of the boring storyline. The actors are of reasonable talent, but it's being wasted on cheap quips and endless directional guidance and objective instruction.

Multiple Fractures

So, if I've tainted your hopes for the singleplayer game, you might be in luck for the multiplayer side of Fracture. Except you're not. It's very much the same as the campaign – shortcomings and all, so frenzied terrain re-shaping and haphazard aiming occurs from person to person.

Fracture offers 12 players on a variety of different modes – most of which are multiplayer prerequisites and therefore need no explanation. The newest addition Fracture brings to the table is Excavation, predominantly a defensive mode whereby each team must erect spikes and protect them from destruction. It's not particularly original or even that fun, but the most crippling aspect of Fracture's multiplayer is undoubtedly just how little people there are online. Of the 20 or so games I played, only one or two of them had over a total of six players, and with so little people on some rather expansive maps most of your time is spent walking around looking for someone to shoot. I'd go as far as to say it's less fun than the singleplayer because, though it has all the weapons and terrain deformation, it lacks any form of worthwhile reward. And with real people constantly moving about, the aiming problems are ten times worse.

Fracture is not a complete farce of a game. If it were released three or four years ago I'm sure it would receive greater commendation, but it has nothing new to offer an already crowded genre. Practically everything it does has been seen before, and the parts which haven't are too limited and clumsy to save the rest. The story is difficult to care about; the characters are generic and combat is repetitive and flaccid. Just to finish off: the start button doesn't resume your game either. Rent it if you must, but save your money for Gears of War 2.