Lucas Arts today announced a brand new game to add to their portfolio, Fracture.

Fracture advances players to the year 2161, where ecological and seismological disasters have radically altered the planet's landscape, and a clash in ideologies places society on the threshold of war. Players set foot on the frontlines of this epic conflict in the role of Mason Briggs, a demolitions expert fighting for the Atlantic Alliance, the side that relies upon cybernetic enhancement. Pitted against the genetically enhanced soldiers of the Pacifican army, players will experience a revolution in 22nd-century warfare.

Watch the trailer

What's revolutionary about this game, according to Lucas Arts, is the weapons system: Terrain Deformation. In a terra forming kind of way, on demand, you can create hills for cover or to help you gain access to unreachable areas, can cause huge monoliths to rise from the ground, and can create tunnels.

My impressions...

Judging from the trailer, however, it seems like a lot of these abilities will be used in a predetermined way. What I mean is, you see a platform you can't reach so you create a hill in the correct place. Or, you see a platform that needs to be raised, so you call up a monolith to rise under it.

I'm sure the terra forming will be fun in a battle context, particularly in multiplayer, but I hope that they use it in the campaign mode in unique and creative ways.

The game is being developed by Day 1 Studios (F.E.A.R. 360 and MechAssault) and is slated for an ambigous 2008 release.

Fracture Offical Site

Fracture Press Release