Fracture

Split down the middle

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The year is 2161 and the damaging effects of irreversible climate change have led to the complete melting of the planet's polar ice caps.

In the mighty United States, the creation of terrain deformation technology has initially helped the government to protect vulnerable east and west coastal regions from rising sea levels. However, the central states have not faired so well, succumbing to flood waters that have effectively split the U.S. down the middle.

Fractured geography in such testing times subsequently leads to fractured relationships between ruling American Alliance government powers situated in the east and the emerging Pacificans in the west.

Seceding from the United States and turning their backs on America, the Pacificans choose to embrace the power of DNA alteration and cybernetic engineering, to the point where they lose their grasp on humanity and become a danger to the whole of mankind.

As a soldier in the American Alliance, the player must utilise a host of terrain-deforming weaponry and technology in order to become the spearhead in an attempt to bring the Pacificans and their maniacal leaders to book before the threat can spread around the globe.

Although the plot foundations and gameplay structure of Fracture promise an intriguing and pseudo-relevant narrative offset with thrilling, physics-based action, the game's story preamble is pretty much all the exposition players will receive before being forced down a shallow gameplay corridor of predictability.

Indeed, once the brief rendered story explanation is over, players are simply thrust into the boots of Alliance hero Brody (looking much like the twin brother of Baldur from Too Human) and tasked with giving chase to a nefarious Pacifican military lunatic hell-bent on world domination, blah, blah, blah.

Played out across three separate acts, each providing short segue nuggets of tenuous plot extension upon completion, Fracture quickly reveals itself to be something of an undercooked third-person shooter that has all the ingredients of a great game but very little of the necessary application.

Specifically, beyond the solid but linear run-and-gun gameplay mechanic, Fracture's core point of attraction, its usable deformation technology, offers up a wonderful array of impressively devastating weaponry, which, when used strategically, causes significant changes to the game world and can also be used to help navigate through seemingly closed-off areas.

Brody's default deformation tool is his trusty Entrencher, which is an armour augmentation capable of directly influencing the environmental layout. By using the self-charging Entrencher, players can instantly carve foxhole dips and moulded rises through the ground to create handy cover points that quite literally reshape battles. The deformation tool can also be used to burrow beneath obstacles, uncover partially buried tunnels, or even reach high ledges and walkways.

Complementing the Entrencher and Brody's auto-replenishing body armour are a host of conventional and inventive weapons, some of which are hugely influential due to their physics-based effects. While the player will have steady access to par-for-the-course arsenal entries such as Bulldog assault rifles, Bangalore rocket launchers and Scorpion sniper rifles, there are plenty of terrain-altering goodies made progressively available that give Fracture a genuine sense of appeal that strives to elevate it above otherwise generic genre shooters.

For example, while scurrying underground Mole Mines and multiple rounds of sticky Black Widow charges can be remotely detonated to cause maximum amounts of tactical damage, Fracture's individual grenade projectiles often prove the most effective forms of attack and defence while adding the advantage of environmental access. Tectonic Grenades emit a series of localised shockwaves that cause violent peaks in the surrounding area, sending materials and enemies careening away in the blast, while the Subsonic variety damages nearby enemies through its kinetic pulsations and also creates helpful sinkholes for grabbing cover.

Spike Grenades come in very handy when progress is blocked because a bridge or walkway is damaged, with the player able to lob a grenade beneath the downed portion and watch as a molten spike rises from the ground up and lift it back into place. Beyond their obvious use for fixing broken environmental structures, Brody can ride emerging spikes toward higher areas and, if timed correctly, the Spike Grenade can also crush enemies against ceilings in enclosed areas.

Finally, the most potent grenade at the player's disposal is the Vortex Grenade, which comes in scant supply and creates a magnetic whirlpool of small-scale destruction capable of pulling anything and everything (Brody included) into its deadly spinning centre. Factor in portable weapons capable of physically influencing environmental objects, temporarily freezing enemies and stretches of hazardous liquid, upgradeable shielding and melee attacks, access to fixed weapon emplacements, and brief connecting encounters with the powerful TDV-1 all-terrain buggy, and Fracture certainly has plenty to offer any keen third-person shooter aficionado.

That being said, while Brody's expansive deformation toolkit is varied, the resulting destruction is thoroughly satisfying, and in-game physics are generally of a top-tier standard, the flow of Fracture's gameplay fails to enhance the otherwise impressive battle mechanics.