LucasArts unveils Fracture

By Tom Bramwell Published 3 May, 2007

Terrain-deforming next-gen shooter for PS3 and 360.

LucasArts and Day 1 Studios have unveiled Fracture, a third-person shooter built around terrain deformation set for release on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in summer 2008.

Fracture thrusts players into the futuristic boots of Mason Briggs, a demolitions expert fighting for the cybernetically enhanced Atlantic Alliance against their ideological adversaries, the genetically enhanced Pacificans.

Their setting is a ruined vision of the United States, where the melting of the polar ice caps has had some unhelpful repercussions. By 2161, when the game is set, the Mississippi River has risen and cut the country in half.

That's not the only change though, because scientists (and, for that matter, next-generation console hardware) have mastered proper terrain deformation, and so lots of your weapons are made to strategically reshape the environment.

You've got the tectonic grenade, which blasts ground upward to help access new areas, a vortex grenade that creates a tornado-like effect useful for attacking enemies surrounding Mason, while your rocket launcher's alternative fire helps burrow under obstacles by creating massive craters with subsonic blasts.

It all amounts to a game world that "simply isn't possible in the previous generation of consoles," according to LucasArts' Peter Hirschmann. Expect to see more of Fracture in the near future, and in our screenshot gallery sort of now

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (41) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • lambtron #1 5 years ago

    I'm sure its technically impressive but since when did "terrain deformation" amount to fun...

  • Mugwum Verified Operations Director, Eurogamer Network #2 5 years ago

    Since Yoshi's Island!

  • lambtron #3 5 years ago

    Hmm 3d shooter with Yoshi and terrain deformation....

    Make it Nintendo!

    ;)

  • Eraser #4 5 years ago

    Yeah, Red Faction shows how much "fun" deformable structures were...

  • Kazzahdrane #5 5 years ago

    I'm doing a computer games technology degree course and our 3rd year group project is due for submission tomorrow. It's a 3rd-person action-adventure where the player can....

    DEFORM THE TERRAIN. Argh! Oh well at least we're not making it as a commercial product.

    Oh, and everyone who's tried it thinks it's really fun (possibly just being nice but we do have the ability to make pillars of earth and blast shockwaves through the ground at enemies).

    edit: Gallery appears to be b0rked.
    Edited by 1 at 03/05/07 @ 08:59

  • X201 #6 5 years ago

    Me: "Is it Monkey Island 5?"

    LucasArts: "No"

    Me: "Not interested then"



  • Keso #7 5 years ago

    "simply isn't possible in the previous generation of consoles"

    Bah, Populus could do this on the Amiga.
    Edited by 1 at 03/05/07 @ 09:09

  • SeesThroughAll #8 5 years ago

    a third-person shooter built around terrain deformation

    A Red Faction remake?


    Oh.

  • RexRunti #9 5 years ago

    Nice idea, but where's the game?

    Also 1st person shooters can't really work with environmental effecting weapons as FPSs need to be linear (or have branches) not 100% free form. Otherwise you could just blast a serious of holes in walls in straight line from the beginning to the end boss.

  • dr_shambles #10 5 years ago

    Wish they'd do a next gen Dark Forces instead. Bah!

  • w00t #11 5 years ago

    I approve of sci-fi gunishment.

  • Wite_Noiz #12 5 years ago

    "simply isn't possible in the previous generation of consoles"
    Why do they keep spouting this rubbish?

    Numerous developers have said now; are they being paid to?
    Apart from the speed difference in calculations, the new consoles aren't any more capable than the last (IANADOANGC - I am not a developer on a 'Next Generation' console).

  • Dizzy #13 5 years ago

    Very meh....

  • skillian #14 5 years ago

    I actually think terrain/structure deformation is one of the best advancements in games in recent years.

    Company of Heroes really showed me how it could be done (blowing holes in buildings with recoilless rifles ftw), and now I miss it in other games.

    I think it's a feature that'll be almost standard within a couple of years, and that's a good thing.

  • 3william56 #15 5 years ago

    "When did terrain deformation amount to fun?"

    Oh, since Space Invaders. Or Lemmings. Or Worms. Or Repton. Or Dig Dug. Or Red Faction... /lists on for a few hours

    Yes, even RF. Dropping a bridge full of tanks or enemies *was* fun, as was blasting a hole in a wall and shooting someone through it, even if RF overstretched the technology and tried way too hard. Don't mistake the implementation for the idea.

    If, and that's a big if, this can be done right, it could be a fine addition to the FPS arsenal, like the HL2 gravity gun. Being able to blow a platform out from under someone would be ace, or raise terrain as a barrier or ramp.

    @Rex: who says it has to be linear, or this will affect linearity. Like RF, there will be obvious limits to where and how far the terrain can be deformed, and indestructible surfaces. But that's the challenge for the game designer. Or it could even just be a deathmatch arena type deal.

    But, of course it *is* LucasArts... :/

  • SBfistfun #16 5 years ago

    "simply isn't possible in the previous generation of consoles"

    Lies make baby jesus cry

  • ozzit #17 5 years ago

    Well Red faction was fun.... but not in the way it was supposed to be, i remember 2 player matches where we tunnelled from one side of the map to the other being good anyway :)

  • bonker #18 5 years ago

    Oh good, another shooter ..........

  • chupachups #19 5 years ago

    "I actually think terrain/structure deformation is one of the best advancements in games in recent years. "

    It's great if you buy games partly for the graphics, but not so great if you're only really interested in gameplay.

    As was said above, the new consoles don't really have any improvements that would allow new kinds of gameplay (I suppose at a push the Wii's controller, but that's not a technological advance so much as a step sideways).

    Technology is very overrated.

  • kangarootoo #20 5 years ago

    Red Faction was quite fun, until they ran out of ideas and stopped you using the very tech the game was based on.

    So long as this game has some sound mechanics and level design it could be great (errr... like any game I suppose).

    If it relies purely on the "you can make holes in the ground" tech, I expect it to remain fun about as long as you might expect any tech demo to do so.

    What have Day 1 studios done before? Lucasarts' record is kind of mixed, so we can't infer too much from their involvement.

  • kangarootoo #21 5 years ago

    So, they did F.E.A.R, Mechassault and MA 2.

    Not a bad record (unless you are smelly, which case they are simply "shit";).

    I remain optimistic.

    Edit: Correction, they ported FEAR to the 360. They didn't do the original. I still remain optimistic.
    Edited by 1 at 03/05/07 @ 10:35

  • hamstand #22 5 years ago

    but since when did "terrain deformation" amount to fun???

    SINCE 199x when populous came out!

  • hamstand #23 5 years ago

    i stand corrected. it was 1989. :)

  • peterfll #24 5 years ago

    The screenshots look like a fairly decent shooter. From 2002, on the original Xbox.

    \feels cynical today

  • Laserbream #25 5 years ago

    I think an RTS would be more appropriate for terrain deformation. Resculpting the landscape with nukes would be, ehehe, a blast.

  • SeesThroughAll #26 5 years ago

    but since when did "terrain deformation" amount to fun???

    It sure was fun when I made sand castles on the beach...

  • wizbob #27 5 years ago

    >"I actually think terrain/structure deformation is one of the best advancements in >games in recent years. "
    >It's great if you buy games partly for the graphics, but not so great if you're only
    >really interested in gameplay.
    >As was said above, the new consoles don't really have any improvements that would >allow new kinds of gameplay (I suppose at a push the Wii's controller, but that's not >a technological advance so much as a step sideways).
    >Technology is very overrated.

    You can't classify terrain deformation as a solely graphical advancement. It is also wrong to say that new consoles don't enable new kinds of gameplay; the speed increase alone allows for the application of a torrent of new algorithms.

    What other generation has given us a such a leap in speed, graphics and input methods?

  • kangarootoo #28 5 years ago

    @SeesThroughAll

    +3 :)

  • MrBiggles #29 5 years ago

    Looks fun, you people are to negative.

  • MrBiggles #30 5 years ago

    Xboxyde has a trailer, go watch it.

  • dadrester #31 5 years ago

    ...FPSs need to be linear (or have branches) not 100% free form...

    since fucking when?!

    of course it's bloody possible. it just needs well planned and thought out design. no games are truly 'free-form'. all games have certain constraints, some hide these well other less well and many chose not to hide them at all. what an idiotic comment (said without wanting to cause major offence, but failing miserably).

  • toy_brain #32 5 years ago

    33 comments in and not one Anthony Hopkins joke?
    You people are slacking.

  • JediMasterMalik #33 5 years ago

    Recorded in GENERICOVISION! TM

    Actually, the gameplay looks interesting.
    Edited by 1 at 03/05/07 @ 14:15

  • RexRunti #34 5 years ago

    OK I've had some thoughts since writing my slightly controvertial post. The way most FPSs and TPS (third person shooters) have evolved around the player traveling from point A to point B. Even in more open games like Deus Ex there are limited number of routes to reaching that point. Now the developer will know that the player will be traveling down one of these routes and populate it with enemy encounters, plot devices or whatever. If the developer doesn't know where the player is going to be these core parts could be bypassed making them almost irrelavent. Even in sandboxy TPSs like Crackdown, restrictions exist, there are walls, or insumentable heights preventing you from traveling straight to the boss.

    It is almost impossible to make a game without barriers so games that claim a rocket launcher will actually blast through walls like Red Faction etc. are forced to put in the odd indestructble wall to stop players leaving the area of play or reaching somewhere to early. This immediatly grates as if you can shoot through every other wall in the game why can't you even scratch said wall, meaning you are no longr immersed. Instead of the rocket launcher being something that will allow you to take any path, it's a key that will open most doors, not all.

  • TheUnionFrag #35 5 years ago

    Bloody hell . . .

    What don't they get? We want sequels to the LA greats; Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, KotOR, JK/Dark Forces, Republic Commando. No-one wants another unidentifiable, good-looking sci-fi shooter after the raft of such games for all consoles in recent memory and the line-up for the next year or 10.

  • kangarootoo #36 5 years ago

    @RexRunti

    dadrester said most of it, as you did in your second post actually, but I'll chuck my thoughts on the pile.

    You said yourself that no game is 100% open. The way I see it is that all games have barriers. Its mandatory because computers have a hard time dealing with infinity. The question is perhaps, how often does a player hit one of your barriers, and do they suspend disbelief when they do?

    Something like Quake has a shit load of barriers (walls), but the player easily suspends disbelief ("I can't walk through walls" accepts player).

    Other games have considerably less barriers (Oblivion or GTA lets say), but they also handle this in tidy way ("the bridge is out, fair enough" says GTA player. "I can't be arsed to swim miles out to sea to see if I hit an invisible wall" says Oblivion player).

    Now a game like Red Faction makes a rod for its own back because it gives you huge freedoms, and also makes it hard for you to suspend belief ("but you gave me a gun that makes holes in walls, and thats a wall, but I can't make a hole in it, you buggers" says RF player).


    To bring this rambling back to earth, Fracture is giving great freedom to the player, but so long as it applies elegant solutions to create the inevitable barriers, everything will be sound as a pound (which I think is pretty much what dadrester said, only I can't be concise) :D

  • morriss #37 5 years ago

    Make Monkey Isalnd 5 you c**ts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    *ahem*

    As you were

  • dudefella #38 5 years ago

    Red Faction wasn't really about terrain deformation as much as it was about blowing tiny holes in walls. Here you can like summon pillars from the ground with grenades and shit. That's quite a difference I'd say.

  • smelly #39 5 years ago

    "since when did "terrain deformation" amount to fun..."

    ever heard of worms?

  • RexRunti #40 5 years ago

    @Kangerootoo

    I think that was where I was going with my post. The problem as I see it is that this game smacks of the Red Faction approach, if you're given a gun that can dig holes or can raise the ground at some point your going to reach a impenatrable "wall" that you can't dig under, dig through or climb over. Now this will probably be some magic rock which will either jar or just turn the gun into something that helps solve the occasional puzzle. Either way the games USP suddenly dissapears.

    This is of course assuming that this is an action game, if it was a third person RTS (Populus 3, that magic game by Shiny where you stole souls (whatever it was called) etc.) terraforming is fine.

  • Daikon #41 5 years ago

    Terrain deformation? Creating massive craters with subsonic blasts?
    Hard to believe this is the same company that once made Loom...