Fracture

Pillar of Society

A few minutes later, we're introduced to one of the game's more complex terrain modifying effects - the pillar grenade, which causes a tall column of rock to burst through the surface at the point where it detonates. We first see it in action when our intrepid demo guy is faced with the task of getting into the storm drain system through a heavy, immovable grating. No problem; fire up a pillar against the lip of the grating, and it rips the entire heavy structure up, flipping it with the ease of a cook tossing up a pancake.

It's early days yet for Fracture - the game is over a year away from launch, and many aspects of the title are still very clearly being worked on. However, we're heartened by the team's obvious willingness to play with the emergent nature of the terrain system - working out what makes it fun as they go along, and building those things into the core gameplay even if they are entirely unplanned consequences.

So, for example, the pillar grenade has also become Fracture's answer to Quake's legendary rocket jump mechanic, after the developers discovered that standing over the grenade and riding the column upwards is possible. Initially, we're told, this broke the game mechanics entirely - but it was such fun that the team simply restructured their work to take the possibility into account.

The same wonderfully open and creative attitude is visible in the game's weapons, which presently conform largely to the sci-fi action archetype - but showed tantalising hints of the kind of innovation which is emerging from the team's experimentation. One weapon we saw caused a massive, six-foot wide round boulder to pop out and roll over enemies in front of you - the result, we're told, of experiments with the possibilities of the game's incredibly powerful physics system.

At present, this weapon is still a bit rough and ready (it's rather odd, to say the least, to have a giant boulder pop into existence in front of your character's face), but forms a template for a final weapon - which may spin up a boulder from nearby rocks and dirt before spitting it out at enemy emplacements. Once they saw Indiana Jones style boulders rolling and bouncing their way towards their foes, our demo chap grins, they realised that this was simply too much fun not to put in the game.

Despite the game's relatively furrow-browed sci-fi storyline (as far as we've seen you play one of the heroic technology-using chaps, battling those nasty guys who continued doing stem cell research despite Dubya telling them it was naughty), it's this pursuit of fun which seems to inform the developers' approach to Fracture. When we ask about vehicles (informing them solemnly that Eurogamer's readers are very keen on m0t0rb1k3s), their grin is pained. Oh, there'll be vehicles alright, we're told - but they've got to keep their lips sealed on that front right now...

And motorbikes? Hmm, not at present, but now that we mention it, that could be a really cool idea...

Lucasarts sees this as the first game in a new franchise, rather than a stand-alone product - and it obviously knows that the game has to deliver moment after moment of pure fun if it's going to make it in this crowded market. Smart graphics will help, of course - and even at this stage, Fracture's graphics are really very smart indeed, borrowing a bright colour palette and strong, bold lines from the recent crop of superhero movies rather than from the gritty, Giger-esque approach of many other shooters.

No matter how lovely the visuals, though, if the earth is to move for Fracture it'll be down to the team's ability to turn its crust-busting innovations into something genuinely special and memorable. We're looking forward to watching this one develop. Take it from us - the early rumbles are favourable.