It's always a bit odd being invited to play the multi-player component of a title when I haven't played (or in this case seen) the single player. My skills – or lack thereof – with FPS titles are nearly legendary here at the site. I'm abysmal with arcade shooters; passable if they require skill and I'm playing defensively or the hated sniper. Throw me into a situation with anything but the "usual" and I need a little time to adjust. That's what single-player is for! But, I didn't get to play single-player...

Fracture is one of those titles that means so many things in context. The United States "fractures" and becomes the "countries" of the Atlantic Alliance and Pacifica; due to massive global changes, the actual continent fractures as well, leaving a dividing line between the new nations; beyond mere geography there is a fracture in ideology over what constitutes being human based upon genetics and cybernetics; and then there is the ability to literally fracture the landscape – terrain deformation as you battle your way through the game. It's a rather loaded word and it fits well.

Because I hadn't seen the single-player game, beyond terrain deformation I didn't know what to expect in multiplayer. Ok, I did expect to die a lot but that's a given. Terrain deformation is exactly what it sounds like and then again it's so much more.

At its simplest terrain deformation allows you to raise and lower the terrain, block pathways, funnel players through corridors, create land bridges, drop structures, and – quite delightfully – smash players up against static structures. Had terrain deformation (or TD as the developers like to call it) been left simply as this ability, the change in tactics in multiplayer games would be somewhat profound. Anyone want to dig in for Capture the Flag? The thing is, what I describe above isn't the half of it.

Building mountains out of molehills (or vice versa as it were) is simply a matter of deforming the terrain – no weapon needed. It's a skill every player has. You also have an arsenal of 4 grenades that impact the ground in not-so-subtly different ways (in addition to blasting the hell out of your enemy). The tectonic grenade subtly raises the ground; the subsonic causes minor sinkholes. The spike grenade has a delay during which you can choose to stand upon the ground and ride the "spike" that rises approximately three stories into the air. It's also nice for temporarily cutting of narrow passages. The granddaddy grenade is the vortex grenade. I was hit by one and pulled backwards but was lucky enough to live. It creates a small singularity that then sucks everything near it into. Creates a nifty crevasse as well.

I've mentioned my nifty FPS skills and how they ensure I have a rockin' Gamerscore, but in truth, it wasn't all my fault I died as often as I did. The longer we played the better I did. In part, this was because there were such a variety of unique weapons – rather than run off in a hail of bullets screaming for victory I wanted to figure out what they did. Uh, not always an option.

While the Torpedo Launcher might sound intuitive – shoot into the ground and the projectile moves forward – the technology is based upon seismology. So, it's shoot into the ground and the "projectile" – in this case sound waves – moves in two directions, both forward and backwards: towards you. Stepping out the way becomes important. I climbed the same hill three times to get my hands on the Black Widow. I fired my only blast of what appeared to be a circular "web-like" series of grenades into the ground only to have the game end. Though I never held the Deep Freeze in my hand, I felt its effects more than once – rarely escaping after having been frozen. The Mole Launcher let me pepper the entire field with mines and then there was the one I don't remember the name of but I was bouncing discs off of structures and remotely detonating them in the air.

We played on three maps in the three story-centric areas of the single-play campaign: San Francisco, the Southwest and Washington DC. None of the areas are recognizable as such; we just took their word for it. Each was quite unique, appeared to be balanced well and worked for the variety of game modes we played; some obviously favored certain modes over others.

The standard modes are there: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag. Capture the Flag is where you start to feel the "need" for your new skills and shinies. As I said, I'm all about playing defensively and sniping. Finding my team's flag behind a building it was easy enough for me to raise the terrain so that the flag was walled-in by the building and a rather steep crater. This made defending it much easier – just lob a grenade at anyone incoming, jump (did I mention you can jump like Spidey?) wherever needed and finish the job. I usually picked up the shot gun on each time I respawned but by my third respawn found I couldn't recognize the area at all. Without the mini-map, I'd have had no idea where our flag was any longer as nothing was left of the area.

There are two unique play modes to Fracture. One can only exist in a world with terrain deformation and the other is a lot more fun with it at your disposal.

Team Kingmaker was particularly enjoyable on the Washington DC map (tighter spaces) and difficult on the SW map (open swaths where you could be blown to bits). Areas on the map would be designated "Kingmaker" locations; both sides would vie for points by occupying the locations until the timer ran out and another location opened. Points are awarded to the team who held the point through force and for time held. Previous multiplayer experiences makes it almost reactionary to take a spot and simply shoot anyone who comes near but the smarter method is simply to wall yourself in by closing the terrain. More than once I found myself alone through the entire timer count.

Excavation is all about terrain deformation. Throughout the map are "crystals" which need to be dug up. Head to one, excavate them and a spike rises from the ground (riding the spike is optional). Each one counts as a point for your team. As spikes are simply raised earth, taking one down (and the person standing atop) is rather simple. Then one can run over and excavate again for your own side. It sounds simple enough but when you add in the armory I mentioned above it gets a bit hectic.

The matches are limited to 12 players, 6 on 6. I liked that it was limited from the standard 8 on 8 – less chaos in an already chaotic situation. It allowed the maps to be tighter and better balanced. I have remained poor at multiplayer FPS because I simply don't enjoy playing – too few titles have allowed for tactics. Memorizing a map and running it over and over just isn't for me. Assuming I become comfortable with the vast array of weapons in the single-player, you just might find me in multiplayer for Fracture. Hey, everyone needs cannon fodder protecting the flag.