Fracture

Developer: Day 1 Studios
Publisher: LucasArts
Release Date: Oct. 7, 2008
System: Xbox 360 (reviewed), PS3
ESRB Rating: T

In a nutshell: All it's cracked up to be.

0:00 I'm not the world's biggest FPS fan, but I am looking forward to playing around with the Havok system that was shown off so well in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

0:01 The game's logo sits on a lightly lit piece of asphalt, which explodes with a magma-infused fissure between the syllables. On to the menu screen, where a creepy marine with body armor and a big-ass gun stands in front of scenes from the game with somber music in the background. Seems cluttered...

0:03 The difficulties are Casual, Standard and Hardcore. I like the description for Casual: "The Pacificans cower and grovel as you smash your way to victory." That sounds like fun, but I choose Standard to avoid charges that I'm a wimp.

0:04 The loading screen teaches me a bit about ground deformation. For instance, did you know people go slower when going up hills? I know! Revolutionary!

0:05 "How did it come to this? By the 22nd century, global climate change was irreversible." It took that long? Anyway, the Midwest became a water-filled wasteland and the country is now divided by a 200-mile-wide Mississippi. Each side of the country saw a different way of human evolution. The East passed the Defense of Humanity act, making substantial genetic modification a federal crime. The West seceded in response, with a new capital of San Francisco and a new leader named Sheridan, who says, "You can't stand in the way of progress." The president says Sheridan is a "dangerous threat." I'm impressed with the concept, as well as the writing and presentation, so far.

Read the full review at Crispy Gamer