Recently I had the chance to sit down for a few hours with LucasArts’ upcoming third-person shooter, Fracture, specifically its multiplayer across three maps and four modes. It was fun in the sense that almost all competitive multiplayer games are entertaining enough the first time you play them. But in itself that isn’t sufficient to sustain your interest once the novelty wears off. I left Fracture unsure of whether the game didn’t offer enough depth or if I simply hadn’t yet come to grips with its unique feature set.

You may have heard gags about Fracture being a “ground-breaking” or “earth-shattering” experience, which is hilarious because what sets it apart from other shooters in development is – wait for it – terrain deformation. Except here, it’s not about blowing chunks out of rock (Red Faction) or destroying buildings (Mercenaries), but manipulating the very earth itself.

Perma-equipped with a portable terrain deformation device called the Entrencher, you can raise and lower any natural earth you can aim at. Raising once causes a small hill about as tall as man to burst out of the ground; raising again will add to it, increasing the height and the width; lowering will do the same thing, but obviously in reverse until you’ve carved a giant pit in the soil.

You can also use grenades to achieve the same effect, although they possess the advantage of causing damage when they explode to anyone foolish enough to be standing nearby. The game economy works thus: grenades can deform terrain and damage opponents, but are limited in supply; the Entrencher can only deform terrain, but it recharges swiftly meaning you have almost unlimited use.

Previously I’d experimented with these techniques in Fracture’s single-player campaign and the basic benefits of terrain deformation were straightforward against some fairly mediocre enemy AI. Raising the ground creates makeshift cover, letting you catch a breath and regenerate your shields before ducking out to fire off a few more rounds. More cleverly, if an enemy is standing under a solid object, you may even be able to squash him. Lowering terrain can allow you to tunnel underneath walls for a surprise attack.

What was really interesting was discovering how all this would work in a multiplayer environment where other player aren’t quite so predictable and can quickly lower any ground you’ve just raised.

In multiplayer, the three maps I played were kinda small, ideal for the 10 players present. Of the four modes on offer – Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, King of the Hill and Excavation – it was disappointing to learn only one of them utilised the terrain deformation to bring anything substantially new to the table.


Excavation requires you to dig up a capture point which, once revealed, transforms into a giant glowing pillar that must be destroyed by the other team before they can recapture it. Ultimately though, it made for a reasonably familiar King of the Hill-variant experience. LucasArts later confirmed they hadn’t yet revealed all the play modes, but it didn’t sound like they had any unconventional modes left up their sleeve.

However, what Fracture does promise is fresh ways of tackling those familiar objectives. Some of the cunning tactics I tried out included: tunnelling out of the enemy base rather than taking the longer, more obvious exit once I’d captured the flag; digging tunnels out of my own base then quickly filling them in when the enemy tried to enter; raising the ground just as the enemy flag-bearer ran under a bridge in order to squash him; lobbing Vortex grenades (which churn up everything in the vicinity like a concentrated twister) onto the King of the Hill capture points. It was fun and my fellow journalists and I often surprised each other with devious and unexpected manoeuvres.

That said though, Fracture can feel like a third-person shooter where the terrain deformation is an interesting diversion while your focus is on eliminating the enemy with the array of more conventional weaponry. While there were moments of quick-thinking invention, they were outnumbered by the sheer number of kills we gained through normal weapons, not to mention the times we spent forgetting we could even use the terrain deformation tools. Perhaps we’re simply lacking the imagination the game requires?


Admittedly, I had only played for a few hours, and there were certainly signs toward the end of the session that as a group we were improving, but my experience with Fracture left me troubled. I still had plenty of unanswered questions about its accessibility, its depth and just how well integrated it all is.

Fortunately I had the opportunity to express these concerns to LucasArts after the event via email, and you can read what their responses below. In conclusion I think the game they’re talking about sounds great, and there were definitely hints of it on display; I just hope the next time I play it there is more time to uncover all that potential.