Turning Point: Fall of Liberty is developed by Call of Duty: Finest Hour’s Spark Unimited. The first-person shooter game supposes that the incident in which a car struck Winston Churchill in New York on December 13th 1931 actually proved fatal – and that without his inspirational speeches to galvanise the Allies, the course of the Second World War took a very different route, with the Axis Powers even invading America.
System: PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Release dates: February 26th 2008 (USA), March 13th 2008 (AUS), March 14th 2008 (EURO)
Players: 1 (2-8 online)
HDD minimum: 2.5GB
Developer: Spark Unlimited
Publisher: Codemasters
Origin: America
What if Winston Churchill had died on December 13, 1931 after he was struck by a cab while crossing 5th Ave. in New York, and wasn’t alive to rally the Allied forces to confront the Nazis? Turning Point: Fall of Liberty uses this ‘what if’ idea to create a fast-paced Action/FPS game set in an alternate history where Winston Churchill is killed in 1931, England surrenders to Hitler in 1940, Pearl Harbor is never attacked by the Japanese, and America is not drawn into the war until the German Wehrmacht (war machine) lands on the U.S. east coast in 1953.
Not another typical WWII game set in the European or Pacific theatres, Turning Point: Fall of Liberty sees history take a catastrophic turn for the worse as the game opens with the German invasion of the U.S. via New York. Taking the role of Dan Carson – a reluctant New York City construction worker turned resistance fighter, gamers must survive the initial invasion before regrouping with other resistance members to take the fight back to the Nazis. Always outmanned and outgunned, players must use guerrilla tactics (environmental kills by for example throwing Nazis off a building) and hand to hand grappling combat (instant kills by for example slamming your gun into a Nazis head or using them as a shield against other Nazis) as they attempt to stop the world’s most notorious war machine.
Turning Point: Fall of Liberty includes many advanced versions of weapons used in World War II, and several that were being researched and developed late in the war but never made it to production like the Tommy gun. Super-heavy tanks such as the Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus and Landkreuzer P. 1000 Ratte appear in the game, as well as the Nachteule troop-transport zeppelin, the Flugzeugträger aircraft-carrier zeppelin, and various advanced jet fighters and bombers, all of which are utilized by the German invasion force.[
Developed by Spark Unlimited, no stranger to the WWII shooter genre, Turning Point: Fall of Liberty features a ‘film noir’ visual rendering that allows the studio to indulge in a very different art style, depicting a war torn New York City, Nazi occupied White House, and other overrun historic landmarks.
Turning Point: Fall of Liberty’s online multiplayer is played via the PlayStation Network (or Xbox Live) or through a LAN System Link. Gameplay is divided into two modes: deathmatch and team deathmatch with players able to play as Nazi soldiers or as the American Resistance. Gameplay is centered around four maps based on locations within the game and each map also has its own player limit with eight as the maximum
Watch the Turning Point launch trailer.
What are Turning Point’s main features?
* A Unique Twist on WWII History – The story for Turning Point: Fall of Liberty is based on a single change, or, turning point, in history – that being Winston Churchill’s death in 1931. With nobody to inspire the Allied forces to fend off the Nazis, Hitler overruns Europe and Russia, technically advances the German military forces, and thus sets the stage for the inevitable invasion of the United States in 1953.
* This Time It’s Personal – Nobody likes to lose, especially when they have home court advantage. With Turning Point: Fall of Liberty’s story taking place in the U.S. instead of the standard WWII European or Pacific theatres, the game is sure to draw out feelings of pride and perseverance from gamers as they stave off the occupying German force. The game’s plot spans the U.S. resistance to the invasion of New York, the U.S. attempt to uproot the Nazi occupation of Washington D.C, the rise of the resistance in London, and more.
* The Underdog – Turning Point: Fall of Liberty puts gamers on the other side of war where they’re not part of the invading global superpower trying to save the world. This time around gamers play as a reluctant member of the resistance, always outmanned, outgunned and with limited resources, wounding their ability for large-scale countermeasures and attacks against the occupying Third Reich.
* World War II Evolved – With nobody to stop Hitler from overrunning the rest of the world, not only did the Germany advance their position to take a foothold in the U.S, but Hitler also advanced their technology along the way. Players will come across updated and hybrid versions of advanced WWII weapons, munitions and vehicles, including troop carrying zeppelins, dual cannon super tanks, multi-barrelled rocket launchers, MP-50 machine-guns and more.
* A Refreshing Look and Feel – With such a unique story at its core, Turning Point: Fall of Liberty’s visuals are set to strike a chord with players. Everything from the historic landmarks over run by the Germans, the innovative use of the camera and the new hand-to-hand combat grappling system, to the technologically advanced German weapons and vehicles will consistently remind gamers that this is a different WWII experience than they’re used to.
Watch some more Turning Point gameplay footage in this character intro.
As a conclusion let’s rate this game on its fun-basis.
FUN FACTOR – 4.0
In general I’m perfectly happy to rate a game’s fun factor higher by pointing out redeeming qualities that can be enjoyed. That’s to say, even if the graphics or replay value are terrible, but in this FPS game the gameplay itself is also broken with linear paths and slow controls. So much so, that I found myself annoyed and struggling to continue playing (literally and figuratively) almost all the time. The alternate history premise of Nazis invading America sounds incredibly alluring for World War II game fans, it’s something I really wanted to enjoy, but it’s hardly explored so even the story becomes a bore after the impressive intro sequence. As if getting stuck often in the game isn’t bad enough, there are a ton of bugs and glitches all over the place. These aren’t complaints anyone will have to search for, they are apparent from the first level. Even a patient person will want to quit after a few levels. I definitely achieved my Turning Point by Turning Around and Walking Away.
Graphics – 4.0
Looks like a bland PS2 game from years ago. You’ll see clipping, object jaggies, poor body animations and even with low-resolution blurry textures there’s still slowdown and general framerate hickups. Your flashlight doesn’t even cast shadows, I really don’t understand how this game uses the Unreal Engine 3. Terrible graphics for what next-gen games are capable off.
Audio – 7.0
There’s always an orchestral soundtrack in the background making the music the most solid feature of the game. The soundtrack was made by renowned composer Michael Giacchino (of Alias, Lost & Black fame). Sound effects and voice acting are just generic. The story being told can sometimes be interesting, but it’s not fleshed out in a way that’ll make you care about the dialog.
Ingenuity – 4.0
While the hand to hand grappling combat is definitely a fun diversion from the simple run and gun gameplay. The easy shooter elements are marred by poor controls. Aiming is incredibly slow, and trying to steady your weapon by zooming in will sometimes take away up to half your field of vision, very annoying. Say you master aiming, then it’ll have been for nothing, because the enemy hit detection is horrible and emptying a clip in a Nazi at point-blank range will often not even kill him. Even the fun grappling moves won’t always work right. Add to this the poor linear level design which you know is bad when you have to kill yourself when you get stuck to go back to checkpoints, and very stupid A.I. that sometimes can’t even hit you when you’re standing right in front of them, that is when a bug doesn’t teleport them away. There are a few well scripted events, but when the majority of the game tells a shallow story as you travel repetitive levels, well then you can’t even imagine it’s aimed at casual gamers.
Replay Value – 4.0
The single player campaign will last under six hours. And that’s where the game ends after playing it once, because there’s no unlockables, collectables or other secrets to be found. Multiplayer is lackluster with only two modes (deathmatch and team deathmatch) that are more like snoozefests.