Fracture (Demo)

[rmoxon]

Just downloaded this for the 360 (not sure if/when a PS3 demo is out.)

The demo is split into two parts, the first is basicaly a tutorial, showing you how to use your ability to manipulate the height of the terrain to your advantage and how to use several of the games guns/grenades. Its the same level that the developers used to show off the games technology in videos, so youve probabaly seen it before.

The second part is a proper level (albeit a very short one). The combat is ok, though certainly nothing spectacular and if it wasnt for the fact that you can use your weapon to raise the ground and make cover for yourself it might even come off as very third rate. You can only carry 2 guns (yet 4 types of grenades oddly) and you have a rechargable shield, and again, besides the obvious, it does feel like its the type of thing you have played 100 times before. Also the rocket launcher that fires rockets that tunnel underground and lets you detonate them on command seems incredabley hard to use, though maybe thats just me, but I never did actualy hit anything with it.

Providing the gameplay in the final product focuses less on the shooting and more on using the terrain deformation to work your way through the enviroment it could be worth a look. But lets just say the developers should probabaly be thankful this is coming out a month before Gears Of War 2 as from the demo it didnt seem that intresting to me.

[Pookmunki]

It seems they built the entire game around a fairly weak gimmick. I feel like i'd seen everything the game had to offer by the time I'd used the spike grenade which isn't a good thing for a demo to offer....


V.poor

[MonkeyWrench]

I actually thought it was ok, not amazing, but I can see myself playing through it if I can find it cheap.

[Paulos G]

I thought it was okayish too. Be interesting to see if they come up with any creative multi-player modes.

[SuperBeatBoy]

I thought it was an FPS before i played it. Makes a nice change that its a third person. The problem with the audio also happens with TFU another recent lucasarts game.

The demo is a bit too short to get an idea whether or not the platforming and usage of the terradeforming will play a big part. Which i would love to see more of. I just hope i don't get prompted all the time to use it, there was one area in the game that i didn't and i thought that it was well good. I hope to see some more of that.

My major gripe with the game myself was that all the weapons didn't feel like they had any punch if you get my meaning. The audio on the weapons themselves are a bit mediocre which doesn't help things.

But yeah, will definetly pick this up when it goes cheaply. Its going to be a good couple of months of games and this will not get a look in unfortunatly until its cheap enough. Pure next week an all. Madness.

[joe90]

I liked it.. as you say a bit short, but the controls work well, the main character is a bit slow, but the bad guys move about with some amazing fluidness, they looked really good to me.

The main gfx are really good, and the tech (the underground missle) is really good fun, bodies flying everywhere.

Its a nice twist to the run and gun style, and its better than i thought it would be...

[Lebowski]

come on its a game that lets you make lady lumps in the ground isn't that enough

to be serious this really underwhelmed me the game mechanic was really built up in the edge preview from a few months back and it sounded interesting but what it boils down to is raising and lowering mounds of dirt to get over or under things

just found this and it hits the nail on the head

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/9/19/

[averybluemonkey]

I think it's a bit harsh to assume that in the first 3-5 minutes of a game they showed every level design mechanic they have implemented in the game. I'll need a review before purchasing it but it hinted at some nice ideas, like raising the ground to use as cover for allies and the underground rocket launcher.

[Lebowski]

I think it's a bit harsh to assume that in the first 3-5 minutes of a game they showed every level design mechanic they have implemented in the game. I'll need a review before purchasing it but it hinted at some nice ideas, like raising the ground to use as cover for allies and the underground rocket launcher.

well if it hasn't shown all the weapons and game mechanics what was that first area about then as it felt pretty much like a training room for what was to come?

I cant really see them doing much more with the game though as the fracture gun only seems to work on mounds of dirt and looking at a lot of the preview videos this seems to be the case throughout the game, early previews led you to believe you could use this to topple buildings and really mess with your enviroment it just dosent seem to be the case here.

[PeteJ]

I thought the demo was a lot better than this thread suggests. I haven't been following development of the game at all so didn't really know what to expect.

It is very unoriginal bar the central gimmick, but it plays well and looks excellent. The combat could do with tightening up however, I didn't feel particularly engaged by it, though still enjoyed the demo.

To buy? Probably not, will watch out for reviews!

[Dezm0nd]

I enjoyed the demo to be honest, totally surprised me with the graphics and puzzles given.

Not a day one purchase, but I might check it out during next years drought.

[vercity]

Played this on the PS3 yesterday and was surprised at how good it looks and plays will give me a headache with so many October buys out there as it is.