Turning Point: Fall of Liberty
Preview
Will it turn the crowded FPS genre?
by William Thompson
previewed on PC
Shooting Nazi's
First Person Shooters have been around for more than a decade now. For the bulk of them, there have been two main groups of adversaries. The first group are aliens or mutant beings. These can come in all shapes and sizes and have all sorts of special abilities. The other group are Nazis. Ever since Wolfenstein, we have been shooting Nazis, hoping that we can help the allied forces to finish off the evil forces and put an end to the war.
In most Nazi-shooting games, the battle locations are generally in Germany or in areas that the Nazis were attempting to occupy in Europe. But what if history had been altered and Hitler's forces had overrun the Eastern Front and the Western Front and had taken control of Europe? Where would their next conquest be? Could they attempt to take on the might of the USA on US soil? Well, that is exactly the scenario in which Fall of Liberty takes place.
'Heil Hitler' chanted on broadway
In Fall of Liberty, on December 7, 1951, the rampant Nazi army has invaded an unsuspecting United States and has seized control of the nation's capital and plunged the powerful country into turmoil. The Swastika now flies from The White House and the Third Reich is planning a nuclear attack on the largest metropolis of them all, New York.
This is the moment where the gamer takes control. Rather than as a soldier, the gamer takes the role of a resistance fighter in the area which is now occupied by Nazi forces. Having the battles take place on US soil has enabled the developers a chance to include famous US landmarks in the game. Expect to see the White House, the Washington Monument, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty and various other national landmarks whilst battling Hitler's army.
There is not much news yet of the types of weapons that will be available, but we could expect the usual World War II weapons to be included. Having said that though, the game is based in the early 1950's, so that would enable the developers some more creative freedom. There could indeed be more advanced weapons than we have come to expect from current World War II shooters which finish with the end of the war in 1945. To what extent, we are still waiting to find out.
Will we be hooked?
There are numerous World War II First Person Shooters, so the fact that Codemasters (Operation Flashpoint) and Spark Unlimited (Developer of Call of Duty: Finest Hour) have altered the history of the war and created a new scenario, could be in their favour. Gamers like a fresh perspective every now and then, and Fall of Liberty certainly gives us that with the US invasion scenario. Whether the game can come up with the goods and compete with others in the genre, such as the Call of Duty series the Battlefield series - or numerous other First Person Shooters flooding the market - still remains to be seen at this stage. Nevertheless, we are most certainly looking forward to seeing more of this title closer to release date.
