Fracture is a game that tries to elevate itself to greatness only to sink into mediocrity.
It's the year 2161, and global climate change has flooded the mid-west rendering it a wasteland. This has divided the US both geographically and as a nation. In order to survive the east and west coasts have pursued different paths of research. The east coast, called the Atlantic Alliance, has embraced technology in order to survive the changing world. On the other hand west coast, the Republic of Pacifica, have turned to genetic engineering to alter their very bodies. But when the President outlaws such genetic modifications, Pacifica responds by declaring war on the Alliance. So it's of to San Fran to capture their leader General Sheridan and end the Pacifican threat.
You play as Alliance soldier Jet Brody. Jet's cyber-suit has the now standard issue energy shield that recharges when not under fire. And as expected you can only carry two weapons at a time. While there is a decent number of guns, you'll find yourself using the same two or three for most of the game. There are a few interesting weapons such as one that fires rockets that travel under the ground and another that freezes enemies solid. In addition to your weapons, there are four kinds of grenades available. Arguably the best is the vortex grenade that sucks everything together before exploding. The rest of the grenades raise or lower the terrain or create a tall spike You also have access to a device called the entrencher that allows you to raise and lower the dirt wherever you're aiming. There is only a short recharge time after multiple uses so you can basically use it whenever you want.
Fractures' claim to fame is that you can alter the terrain. Unfortunately it's not well executed or used creatively. The entrencher doesn't work on anything but dirt so metal, stone, etc. are off limits. Being able to instantly create cover is nice but most of the time you'll just be using it to get over/under walls or raise a device into force fields to destroy them. The few puzzles aren't any better. One toward the end has you reconnecting power to a series of shield generators. Unfortunately all this entails is clearing the room of enemies and lowering a hill or two out of the way of the beam. And you do this at least a half dozen times. A few have debris reflecting the beam but there's only one correct solution so it's just a matter of raising/lowering them to the right place. It's just repetitive and tedious.
It doesn't help that the Pacificans are unbelievably stupid. These carbon copy morons love run straight into enemy gunfire or just stand around in one place to be picked off. And it doesn't help that you'll be killing the same green, Dark Sector rejects for most of the game. Sometimes you'll run across other green guys with shotguns or red guys that jump and fire rockets, but they're just as predictable.
To add insult to injury, I ran into a few weird bugs. Such as my shield suddenly not recharging or my guns not firing, and of course right in the middle of a big firefight too. There is also the requisite driving segment with a buggy that handles like a drunk bumper car. Thankfully it only appears once in the game.
Fracture is a game that had an interesting premise but just doesn't do enough with it. The terrain deformation could have made it good despite everything else being strictly average. With all the top tier games just around the corner it's hard to recommend it. If your desperately in need of a TPS then give it a rent, everyone else should look elsewhere.