Oh yes you know the type of game this is. The type where you think it’s going to be the greatest thing sense sliced bread but yet something inside you calls out and tells you not to get your hopes up. While the game calls out to you to try it. I’ve been watching this game for a while. Mainly for the fact it was a Lucas Arts game that contained well no Star Wars. Yes back in the day I used to play various Lucas Arts games (mainly their point and click adventures). Well I rented the game and this is what I found.

It seems as if someone had a concept of covering all the bases in the shoot’em up category. “Let’s give people a gimmick weapon.” “Okay so what should this weapon do?” “Well how about it creating portals?” “Nah that’s been done.” “Um… okay how about it picks stuff up.” “Nah seen it!” “How about a gun that can lower and raise the ground?” “Bingo!!!!” It all sounds great on paper and the demo sold me completely with the idea. Concepts of smashing baddies into the ceiling or simply creating my own cover seemed to dance through my head.

This game seems to be attempting to combine everyone favorite shooters into a brand new IP. It’s a cross of Gears of War, Halo and Half Life 2. Just subtract all the gore, story, and bam you have fracture. It’s not to say this is a bad game, it is something that you would call average. It’s fun and I’ve largely enjoyed playing it, yet it doesn’t seem to excel in anything it attempts to accomplish. My issues with the game are largely in the type of game it attempts to be. It goes for the whole 3rd Person Shooter style then removes the element of cover. The cover system is largely based on your most standard of FPS. Essentially crouch behind a box and hope for the best. The only other issue that I have is what happens when you die. I figured it was pretty standard to go along with the reload you from your last check point. Nope, this time it asks you would you like to load from your last checkpoint. Of course the same menu gives you option of selecting options and leaving the game. I felt that it largely detracted from the the action and brought me to that question do I really want to continue playing? It also goes for the “Horde” approach. Essentially instead of you clearing out a room, it’s more like you bunker down and attempt to kill hordes of creatures. This is fun in theory. It largely becomes very repetitive and it doesn’t feel rewarding.

The graphics are again much like the rest of the game, average. Sometimes it seems that they attempt to surprise you with something that actually looks kind of cool. Yet somehow always take you back to bore ville. The whole premise of your gun is it, only works on the ground. So expect the standard brown dessert area mixed with bases and other metal objects. The ground looks pretty neat when you shot it with your gun yet it’s kind of amusing that the color choices of up and down reflect those of Portal’s well portals. Yes they broke down and used blue and orange.

The sound is actually pretty decent the only thing that detracts from it are the wannabe Gears soundtrack. It just feels a bit out of place. The game largely doesn’t have that feel of an orchestral type of thing. The SFX are also pretty standard. Guns make a gun noise (not to loud mind you) and explosions are explosions. Nothing really here that stands out. Voice acting is pretty decent though the dialogue could use some work.

Overall this game is a pretty fun game. I would suggest renting it before purchasing. The game is an enjoyable romp and the achievements were done right. It’s a fun game just nothing stands out as fantastic. Maybe next time they’ll release and old Point n Click Adventure.