Fracture - Xbox 360

Deformable terrain. For a while there, it seemed like you couldn't click a link on the entire WorldWide Web without seeing a reference to it in games. It got a little tiresome, didn't it? That may be, but LucasArts is looking to raise the bar with Fracture.

Fracture is developed by Day 1 Studios, whose previous project was Vivendi's F.E.A.R. The game's story involves your typical sci-fi 'the-world's-on-the-brink-of-ecological-disaster' fare, with cybernetically enhanced soldiers duking it out with a genetically modified opposition.

If you're thinking something to the tune of "uh, another sci-fi shooter", then you should hold it right there, bub. What promises to make Fracture different, if not great, is the terrain deformation gameplay mechanics. Normally 'terrain deformation' is code for 'we've got a racing game that doesn't do anything our last-gen racer did, except look prettier'. Not here, however.

Your character is a demolitions expert, and he works with weapons specifically designed to use the terrain against his opponents. Pop a grenade up in the air and instead of getting a bang you'll get a huge sinkhole that drags all your enemies into the bowels of the earth.

Fracture also boasts a multi-player aspect that, with the aforementioned terrain deformation, should provide an experience like no other online game you've played. more