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Fracture!

The highly anticipated ground deformation title Fracture has finally arrived, but will this new IP be able to stand up to the big boys releasing in the same month?

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Final Impressions: The final impression is just that, our completed breakdown and overall thoughts on the game based off of our entire game playing time.

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A War Fought Many Times: The story in Fracture (as in most titles) is not the strongest point of the game and does not really provide you with a worthwhile narrative, though it does try.

After scientists making huge strides in genetic enhancement technology, as well as cybernetic enhancements, the entire country is thrust into a new age of technology.

By the 22nd century, global warming had matured beyond the point of being reversible, the country attempts to discover methods to keep America afloat as the oceans begin to rise and cause inevitable harm to the country's cities.

Scientists then make successful "terrain deformation" technology that allows the United States to stay above the rising water levels. The researchers were too late however, and the central states in America were unable to be saved.

When the center of the United States is submerged under water, the east and the west coasts grow apart by different views of what could enhance a human.

The west, named Pacificans, began altering human DNA to enhance their soldiers with more speed, strength and power. While the east, called the Atlantic Alliance outlawed genetic alterations and instead preferred cybernetic enhancements to improve their soldiers...thus starting a war.

You play as Sgt. Jet Brody (yes, that is his name) on the Atlantic Alliance as he fights to stop a mad self-appointed leader of the Pacificans.

The story sounds decent on paper (even a little realistic) but the plotline is not told in detail enough to really provide you with a sense of why you are battling in the war.

Also, all of the characters in Fracture are boring and have no emotion. There is never a point or time where you really feel like listening to what the characters are even saying...more excitement comes out of watching paint dry.

Ups And Downs: Fracture features a "terrain deformation" gimmick that allows you to use special grenades as well as your cybernetic augmentations to deform and manipulate the environment around you, as well as destroy your enemies.

The system works well, as you will be able to alter most of your environment to make things like walls, (for cover) craters (for damage) and even entire vortexes that will suck your enemies into their doom.

The system is interesting, as does provide a tiny bit of variety to the standard gameplay (such as using it for puzzles and such) but is not significant enough to be intriguing for very long.

After you lift yourself up over a wall or make craters to run under a wall a couple times, the gimmick (and that is all it is) becomes increasingly more useless except for the occasional "puzzle" that can easily be solved.

Using it on enemies is virtually harmless and propelling your foe ten-feet into the air does nothing but give him a higher shooting position.

Repeat Offender: The terrain deformation aspect of the game is not the worst aspect of this title, sad to say.

The gameplay is simply terrible in every way possible. You will move through a variety of environments blasting away at one enemy (cloned thousands of times over) with absolutely dreadful weapons.

The game has absolutely no emotion or feeling or excitement in it at any point or time. Killing an enemy does not feel satisfying, blowing up a turret is not interesting, using a turret is not exciting and even the missions themselves border on that "ugh, lets go kill some more people...again" feeling.

The gameplay is simply tedious and does not have any aspects that will interest you or excite you or even make you go "oh" at any time.

Playing Fracture is simply a boring experience that fails to keep your attention for longer then maybe 20 minutes total. After that point, the game fails to appeal to you at all.

All of your enemies look exactly the same and the weapons you kill them with are also way too similar to even pass as different armaments with different names.

You basically have two choices of weaponry to choose from; a standard assault rifle that sounds like some guy going "duh duh duh duh" or a grenade launcher that is nearly ineffective in most situations.

Hello, Is Anybody Home: Fracture also features an online multiplayer that allows you to employ the abilities and weapons of the single player against other live people.

The multiplayer features a wide variety of modes that include classics like Capture the Flag, Free-for-Alls and a King-of-the-Hill-like mode, as well as a couple "unique" Fracture exclusives.

The multiplayer gameplay uses the same weapons and terrain deformation aspects of the single player campaign, but somehow manages to surpass the campaign mode in terms of enjoyment.

You will still use the same boring weapons, but when you use them online the experience is a little better. You will notice some difference between the different weapons online for some reason. It's like they decided to actually attempted to make the multiplayer portion of the game fun!

The weapons are not the only thing that feels more exciting to use either; the terrain deformation aspect of the game works tremendously online.

You will be able to deform and control the terrain under your enemies just like you could in the campaign mode, but this time using it requires more skill and has a more visceral feeling to it.

The first time you thrust an opponent into the air, crushing them between a ceiling and your man-made hill, there is no way to take the enjoyment out of using the terrain deformation.

Like in most games, you will be able to play in either a random "quick match" or a custom match. Unfortunately, the lobby is barren and despite the robust amount of gameplay modes and maps, nobody seems to be online at this current time

The multiplayer is a blast when you can find someone to play with, but during our reviewing process of the Xbox 360 version of Fracture, we were only able to find one single opponent to play with.

Even the PS3 version of the game had an amazingly small amount of players online.

The online component is a huge upside to the otherwise lackluster title, but the entire online experience depends on whether or not you will be able to even find someone to play with.

Rent vs. Buy: Fracture is a deeply flawed game that fails to hold your attention for more then a few minutes.

The sub-par graphics, extremely boring and tedious gameplay, lifeless characters and the fairly original but generally uninteresting terrain deformation gimmick drowns the impressive multiplayer.

There is no reason to recommend this game at all. The enjoyable multiplayer is not enough of a reason to even try this title; because chances are that you will have a tough time even finding someone to play with.

If you are looking for an action packed shooter that is fun to play or a game that is even halfway decent, there are much better places to look then Fracture.

Report Card

There is no reason to recommend this game at all. The enjoyable multiplayer is not enough of a reason to even try this title; because chances are that you will have a tough time even finding someone to play with. If you are looking for an action packed shooter that is fun to play or a game that is even halfway decent, there are much better places to look then Fracture. (Krakrabbit.com)

D


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