Turning Point: Fall of Liberty (Xbox 360)
By altering history, this World War II first-person shooter is trying to reinvent the genre.
3/4/2008 6:49 AM | 0 Comments | Page 2 of 2
What's Hot: Since this employs a fictional take on history, the game doesn't just have you fighting the same battles you've fought so many times before.
What's Not: The different setting doesn't ultimately keep this from being a regular WWII FPS.
Paul Semel
Status: Unbelievable! I don't believe ... what I just saw!
Unfortunately, the game has some technical problems, sloppy glitches here and there that could've been buffed out had the game been given an extra month or two in the shop. Minor frame rate issues crop up during especially harrowing battles, icons that are supposed to indicate interaction are a bit too sensitive, and the transitions between levels, cut scenes and scripted events aren't that smooth. There are also some "Godzilla"-esque lip-sync issues, while the text indicating that you've picked up ammo or can pick up another gun is too small, even on a TV that's so big it looks like I'm compensating for something.
Most problematic, however, is that despite being the Master Race, the German soldiers aren't always an attentive bunch, and sometimes don't notice you until you start shooting them -- though if I had a dollar for ever shooter about which I could say that, I could buy an even bigger TV.
Multiplayer is also not without its problems. In Team Deathmatch, it's hard to tell who is friend and who is foe unless you aim at them and notice the color of your targeting reticule -- your rather
thin targeting reticule. The weapons, in both this and the other multiplayer mode, Deathmatch, are also kind of weak and often require you to unload an entire clip into someone before he goes down, and given that these are the only two modes (what, no Capture the Flag?), it is also pretty generic.
Still, even with all these problems,
Turning Point is a fun WWII FPS. It doesn't live up to the promise of its interesting premise, doesn't add much to the genre, and has many though minor technical problems, but if all you want is a standard-issue shooter -- one that, like
Turok,
TimeShift, and
BlackSite: Area 51, isn't great, but isn't bad, either --
Turning Point will satisfy your lust for Axis blood for a couple hours.
This review was based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.
