Turning Point: Fall of Liberty

"Major Letdown"

Turning Point is a classic example of a “game that could have been”. All of the previews looked great, the setting sounded cool, and the graphics didn't look half bad. Yet it seems they put all there effort into the demo, because the final product is little more than a poor excuse of a game that is barely into its beta stages.

Graphics
The graphics are nothing to go on about, but they are decent. They would be much better if not for the graphical glitches that appear here and there. You can tell what area's they spent the most time on…the blimps all look pretty cool hovering over the tall buildings of New York City. From a distance, almost everything looks good, but the same can't be said up close and personal.

Sound
The sound is actually pretty decent. I would say the best part of the game, production wise. The guns and explosions all sound as real as you would expect, and the Germans do yell in German while fighting them.

Controls
The controls are you very basic FPS controls. There is nothing really to comment on, good or bad.

Game play
I don't get to do this too often in a review so…let the fun begin. Let us start with the physics…bad! The collision detection isn't very good. You might only notice this if you go off the beaten path, but it is still there and worth mentioning. Next, there is the bomb disarming puzzle. Normally, I would enjoy a small puzzle to go along with my hardcore fighting action. The idea is good, instead of just pressing F to arm or disarm a bomb; you have to do a “connect the wires” mini-puzzle game. Unfortunately, the implementation is terrible. You don't have any idea what keys to press, there is nothing in the manual, there is no in-game guide, and you can't find them if you go under the customize control screen. You have to guess which keys do what actions. That is just terrible and pathetic at the same time.

It gets worse; the game is VERY linear and eventually becomes a chore to play. I have NEVER had a problem with a game being linear, but for some reason I kept getting pissed off at the fact that I couldn't go ANYWHERE out of the track that they want you to go. Even in the sewer and subway level, there are sure a lot of tunnels to go through and it looks like you can. However, the ways are either blocked or inaccessible, it is impossible to get lost.

I would like to mention the one fun part of the game, the Sniper battle. You get a sniper rifle that has night vision and you have to move from crashed subway train to the next crashed subway train while keeping an eye out for strategically placed snipers with the same equipment. This part of the game made me forget about all the faults that I have just mentioned, but alas, it is very short. Once you get through that part, you might as well throw the sniper rifle away, you don't need it anymore.

Finally, lets not forget out the AI. The vast majority of the enemies, with except to the sniper area I just mentioned, come strait at you. There are some cases where you feel ambushed, but its clearly a hard coded script for that area of the game. You also get teammates in the later levels but they are little to no help.

The simple fact is that you will NOT enjoy playing this game in general…unless you are fairly new to the FPS genre and have a big forgiving hart. Half of the problems I have mentioned could have been resolved with some simple play testing. Oh and did I mention that its only 5 hours long? Maybe longer if you are really slow.

Story
This is the games one savior, and the only reason I bought the game to be honest. Its an alternate reality World War 2 game. It pretends that England fell to the Germans and then the Germans set there sights on the US. So the game begins with the Germans invading NY and DC, among other cities. You are in New York when they attack. You pick up a gun and join the resistance fighters. This all starts out good, but it gets really bad very quickly. This is because the game it too short. There are 3 “area's” of the game. You start in New York and you basically just keep wandering around fighting where you see fit. Then you go to Washington DC in an attempt to regain the capitol. What is very strange is that everyone in DC seems to know your name…including the General that is leading the resistance and was captured at the beginning of the game time-wise. Needless to say there is no character development.

The game would have been that much better, enough to forget about some of the game play flaws, if the story had more depth. You need more than a setting to have a good story in the game. If it played a little more like Half Life, where every once in a while you stop the fighting and talk to a few people, perhaps the story wouldn't have so many plot holes.

To sum everything up, this game has a cool back-story and setting. And…ahhh….well that's about it. Its not fun to play, once the actual story kicks in you realize that there isn't one, and the game will take you 5 to 6 hours TOPS. Either Rent this game for the console, or wait till its in the bargain bin or part of a package. So much wasted potential its not even funny.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 08/14/08

Game Release: Turning Point: Fall of Liberty (US, 02/26/08)