PANDEMlC

Fracture is one of the most uninspired, generic, poorly designed, intellectually insulting, glorified tech demos **** I\'ve ever played. Take it for what it's worth, I've only finished the tutorial level and the first level after that but already I'm insulted enough by how dull and poor some of the design choices in this game are that I feel I can make an early decision about the overall quality of this game. I've yet to play the multiplayer because and I don't I ever will because I'm playing 3 years after it came out. It's a shame a such neat mechanic is so poorly used and forced into one of the most boring and uninteresting Sc-fi shooters I've ever had the displeasure of playing. Do not waste your time playing it, watching it, renting it, forget it exists. Even the terrain altering gimmick alone is not worth 5 minutes of your time. Even though using it is far more entertaining then anything else this game tries to offer. Probably would of been better off as a puzzle game, instead they forced the most generic Sci-fi characters and story you could possibly think of into it. A missed opportunity in more ways in one, indeed.

I felt compelled to write a review for this game after reading so many negative reviews about the multiplayer of RFG. It plays very differently then the original Red Faction but even so it does so many things fantastically right. The variety of weapons, the custom settings, the playlists, level progression, emblem editor, destructible cover in a multiplayer scenario, the backpacks(which give you various abilities) and the large skill gap make this one of the most original and fun shooters I've ever had the opportunity to play. The controls are smooth, the movement may seem slow at first but coupled with various backpacks that give you more movement options and the customization option to increase the base movement speed make adjusting the game to your personal preference a breeze. The gametypes are varied for different map sizes, there's goofy ones like demolition where one person is assigned to destroy things while his team protects him to mores serious and tactical game types like Damage control where you have to control up to 3 points that have to be built and can be torn down. There's some very deep strategy that comes into play in this with all the various weapons that can destroy cover while mixing them with all the backpacks which can enhance how you go about destroying, controlling and capturing these points. The mutiplayer is incredibly deep without being unforgiving. The pistol is incredibly accurate and rivals that of the Halo CE pistol. Plenty of guns in this game are skillful to use while there are also power weapons that are easier such as the rockets, mines, singularity bombs(creates a giant black hole and **** people in), shotgun, etc. Just thinking about these weapons make me smile because of all the glorious and hilarious moments I've had in this game using the weapons coupled with the backpacks, the destructible environments, the maps and the gametypes. If you can't tell by all my praise it's one of my favorite multiplayer shooters, not because of some fanboyism or nostalgia but because out of the mediocre console shooters games like this and Shadowrun stand out. To show you I'm not all praise and that I can look at it's flaws in a balanced way lets get to the negatives of the multiplayer. My complaints are few but they can be very significant. First, the maps are poorly designed for what this game excels in(imo), 4v4-6v6 gameplay. There's maybe 4 good maps. The best being Crash Site. For the most part they're just not very balanced maps, some give clear advantages either in weapon spawns, backpack spawns, height advantages, better angles, etc. Some of this can be corrected through customizing where things spawn and using the best gametypes for certain maps but even so some maps just aren't all that great. For the larger scale matches(which I don't think this game excels in) I've never really analyzed them, they're not meant to be taken incredibly seriously. I honestly think there are maybe 4 good maps. All of which have distinct advantages in default settings. Thankfully the gameplay and the level of skill shine through and make this only a minor complaint rather than a larger issue. Now for my second complaint which is more of a flaw of third person shooters, cornering. For those who don't know what cornering is I'll explain. Cornering is when you can shoot some around a corner while you remain behind cover still. Basically you're abusing the camera and the reticule doesn't take into account that your hitbox is behind the object while your reticule is aiming around it. This can be done in plenty of TPS. It's also known as right hand advantage, due to most games giving you a default right hand point of view. Why is this such a big issue? Well let me explain, imagine someone with a sniper who can not only see around the corner while remaining hidden but also can shoot you while staying completely safe. Now imagine that person has rockets and a pistol that kills in 3 shots and also has a heal pack that keeps him invulnerable from anything other than one shot kills or explosions. Now you should see how it can be abused. Luckily for Red Faction: Guerilla cover can be destroyed making this tactic less useful, you also have things like the Vision backpack and the Rail gun which shoots through walls that can help with this. Still though in any fire fight between two good people cornering will always be used if possible. You can't always have a counter for it on you and you'll feel robbed of a fair fight every time it occurs. It also hinders objective based gametypes and any moment where map control is a factor. Imagine a choke point where you need to get somewhere but your opponent is on the other side of a wall just cornering and dealing damage to you while remaining safe, making your only option to ambush him, or go and get something that beats the setup. RFG is one of the overlooked greats, worthy of your time. Try it out.