LucasArts today unveiled a new game for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 that it will release in 2008. Called Fracture, the third-person shooter is set in the year 2161 and will include terrain deformation, something the company says is a first but that hardcore gamers know was really kickstarted with Red Faction.
In Fracture, players will fight a war on American soil that has global implications, as ecological and seismological disasters have radically altered the planet’s landscape and a clash in ideologies has placed society on the threshold of war. The battles will pit cybernetically enhanced soldiers against warriors augmented by the benefits of advanced genetic engineering.
Players will take on the role of Mason Briggs, a demolitions expert fighting for the Atlantic Alliance, the side that relies upon cybernetic enhancement. Pitted against the genetically enhanced soldiers of the Pacifican army, players will experience a revolution in 22nd-century warfare: Terrain Deformation.
Here’s how it will all work: players will have an arsenal of futuristic weaponry to strategically reshape their surroundings on the fly. For instance, when Briggs throws a tectonic grenade on a level battlefield, the ground blasts upward to provide access to an otherwise unreachable area. When he comes across what appears to be an impenetrable structure, Briggs utilizes the alt-fire functionality on his rocket launcher to create enormous craters to burrow underneath the wall. Or, surrounded on all sides by enemies, Briggs can heave a vortex grenade, creating a swirling tornado-like mass of boulder, dirt and debris to dispatch his foes.
This sounds fun, and the game is actually looking pretty good too, considering it’s early in development. Click here to check out the first batch of Fracture screenshots.
