LucasArts Shooter Fractures PS3, 360

MechAssault dev Day 1 wants you to break the world. First pics.

By the middle of the 22nd century, rising water levels caused by the melting of the polar ice caps will lead the Mississippi River to flood so violently that the inundation will destroy the central regions of America.

In the aftermath of this man-made disaster, the country is dissected, leaving the Asian-influenced Pacificans in a standoff with the more European minded Atlantic Alliance. Welcome to Day 1 Studios' dystopian vision of the future.

Fracture, a new third-person shooter for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 from MechAssault and F.E.A.R. developer Day 1 and LucasArts, straps you into the flack-jacket of Mason Briggs, a soldier for the Atlantic Alliance.

Like the rest of his comrades in the Atlantic Alliance, Briggs has been cybernetically enhanced to best prepare him for battle with citizens of the Republic of Pacifica, who have put their biological fate in the hands of genetic tinkerers.

Briggs may ostensibly be the lead character, but the big draw to Fracture is something Day 1 calls terrain deformation.

As the name suggests, terrain deformation allows you to bring tangible changes to the game world - a skill you can use both offensively or defensively.

"Our goal is to make other games feel very static," Day 1 president Denny Thorley told IGN.

Everything in Fracture is built with this conceit in mind, from the levels that ask you to navigate your way in unique ways to weapons that allow you to break up the battle field to give you an edge.

"We've chosen to go after more interaction through the terrain deformation. So the players can literally rip apart the terrain - use it to their advantage, use it from a tactical improvement standpoint, they can use it for navigation, they can use it for pure destruction, they can use it to protect themselves," Thorley told IGN.

Fracture is being prepared for release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 during summer 2008. In the meantime, you can find out more about the game at its official site.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo