Description: Brute strength meets terrain-deformation technology in the Atlantic Alliance TDV-1, perhaps the pinnacle of melding modern science with good old fashioned brute strength. While the majority of research into terrain-deformation has focused on weapons and the invaluable Entrencher, soldiers in the field were quickly faced with a dilemma. While the Entrencher and TD-related weaponry was useful in altering the terrain for a single person, altering the terrain on a large-scale proved to be too time consuming and left troops vulnerable to enemy attacks.
The solution was the TDV-1 vehicle. While a fully capable battle-ready vehicle with highly armored plating offering exceptional protection capability, the TDV-1 proved invaluable thanks to a number of key terrain-deformation modifications. Early attempts at outfitting the vehicle with an array of TD nodes running under the frame of the vehicle proved to be disastrous, resulting in the vehicle being literally swallowed up by the ground. The node array also proved problematic for raising the terrain, resulting in what came to be known as “TD take-offs,” with test vehicles being hurled up to 40 feet into the air.
Scientists soon discovered, however, that in order to get the TDV-1 up and running they would need to try a different approach and separate raising and lowering terrain into two different mechanisms. To solve the problem of lowering the terrain, scientists outfitted the TDV-1 with special grinder attachments that when powered, could tear through the ground and effectively lower the terrain in an area equal in size to the vehicle. To keep power consumption to a minimum, researchers employed return kinetic energy cells that were able to siphon the tremendous force of the deformation back into the vehicle, lowering its power needs substantially.
To raise terrain, scientists employed a more explosive approach and looked to their highly effective Torpedo weapon for inspiration.
While the Torpedo was designed to shoot a subterranean missile that could be detonated at will, the terrain raising component on the TDV-1 utilized a non-lethal charge that, while also fired beneath the ground, could effectively raise the terrain once detonated. This raised terrain proved strong enough to support the entire weight of the TDV-1, including a driver, making it an ideal solution for ramp building. This feature has proven extremely valuable in the field, allowing the TDV-1 access to uneven terrain and other dangerous environments with little to no risk to the vehicle occupants.
While the TDV-1 is a rare find on the battlefield and has yet to see large scale deployment, early reports have shown that the vehicle will soon be an invaluable tool in the Atlantic Alliance campaign against the Pacifican states.
Amidst a backdrop of worldwide ecological and seismological chaos in the mid-2100s, the United States has been split in two by the "Great Flood". As a result of the polar ice cap melting, the Mississippi River has destroyed the central portion of the United States, causing an ill-equipped Federal Government to fail and literally cutting the country in half. These two halves are left to fend for themselves in the aftermath.
The East, now known as the Atlantic Alliance, symbolic of their union with Europe, puts its faith in surviving this new world in cybernetics, an established yet evolving technology now more than 150 years old. On the other side of the flooded continent, the Western states, now called the Republic of Pacifica and having allied with Asia, resort to solving their problems at the genetic level, effectively restructuring the DNA of its inhabitants — a method the Atlantic Alliance finds morally reprehensible.
By 2161, it only takes a hint of unauthorized military preparation in Pacifica for the newly restored president to order a strike in the heart of Pacifican territory — an outpost in the now dry San Francisco Bay. This strike leads to the unthinkable: an epic conflict with global implications fought on U.S. soil. As a soldier in this struggle, Mason Briggs uses explosive, terrain-deforming weaponry to change the face of battle: He not only destroys the land in his path, he outright transforms it to gain the strategic advantage in completely unscripted ways no game has ever seen. With such a devastating arsenal at hand, Briggs never leaves any battlefield the way he found it.
In addition to extraordinary weaponry that allows players to do things previously only imagined, each side of the conflict, Pacifica and the Atlantic Alliance, boast soldiers with powers beyond those of ordinary men. Genetic augmentations provide Pacifican forces with amazing abilities, while Atlantic Alliance soldiers like Briggs counter the threat with the more "traditional" method: cybernetics. The differing states of superhumanity result in balanced yet stylistically different combat tactics that have never been seen before.
- Truly next-generation gameplay — Groundbreaking terrain deformation allows players to reshape the battlefield on the fly with futuristic weaponry of the year 2161, allowing for unprecedented power, freedom and control.
- All new story and characters from the company that brought you Star Wars and Indiana Jones, as well as Mercenaries and Thrillville — Players assume the role of Mason Briggs, a demolitions expert in the mighty Atlantic Alliance army and the next great action hero.
- Plausible future conflict — As stem cell research continues to proliferate and spirals out of control, ideological differences over genetic enhancement place the player at the threshold of an epic battle of tomorrow between genetics vs. cybernetics as two powerful armies, with vastly differing tactics and advantages, square off. The battlefield will change forever.
Fracture is scheduled for release on October 7, 2008.
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