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Worst Games in the World #3 - Turning Point: Fall of Liberty (Xbox 360)

Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2012 9:44 am
by Gavvie
Welcome back to Worst Games in the World, the review segment where I put myself through occasional video gaming torture in order to tell you whether or not a game, despite terrible reviews or poor commercial reception, is actually any good. In the first two instalments, the answer was a clearly defined NO, but will Turning Point: Fall of Liberty buck the trend?

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Back when it was announced, I have to admit I sat up and took quite a bit of notice. Turning Point: Fall of Liberty was a WWII game with a difference - this time, Winston Churchill has died, and the Nazi's pulverised Britain before advancing onwards to America, who had no choice but to roll over and let them take command. You, quite weirdly, play a construction worker who ends up getting involved with the resistance effort to retake America.

And that...is quite honestly the most interesting part of the game, story wise. The rest of it is pretty standard fare, although the locales visited are pretty varied. One particular highlight sees you storm the White House in order to take out the Nazi President (not Hitler. I can only presume he was doing more important things). It's unfortunate, then, that by the time you actually get that far, you're past caring.

See, whilst the story is different from every other FPS that's out at the moment, the rest of it tries to be a Call of Duty, only worse. You move quite sluggishly, you can't take damage for shit, the weapons do seriously sound like pea shooters, and have the damage and accuracy of one to match. That level I mentioned where you storm the White House? Before you actually get there, you have to take out two different bunker patrols, and your AI "allies" are usually the first ones to die, deciding against actually trying to shoot Nazi's in favour of running into the hail of bullets. The only level I can think of that's worse in this regard is the Tower of London level, which you have to perform solo, and starts with 7 guys with machine turrets, compared to your singular sniper rife. Nice.

Oh, and the voice acting is terrible. You won't be buying a FPS game for it's terrific voice acting, I'm sure, but this is one game where it's just plain distracting. Clichéd accents don't really help the script, which urgently needs some help. There's also a multiplayer mode, and I really wish I'd tried to hop on, just to see if there was anybody else actually playing this game. I didn't though, as by the time I'd actually finished the SP, I was done with the game.

And yet...It had this perverse "one more go" effect on me during my time with it. Maybe it's because I was so interested in the game upon initial announcement. The image of the White House decked in Swastikas is something very few games have dared to try (although Call of Duty's Modern Warfare trilogy are certainly getting there). The ending of the game is certainly worth seeing, as it is again different to most FPS' on the market. In the end, though...

IS IT WORTH BUYING?
In a word: No. Is it worth playing? If you like your FPS', and specifically alternate history ones, then it's certainly worth a go. I would recommend a rental, but as the game's quite old you're probably more likely just dropping into your nearest second hand store and grabbing it cheap. Which it will be.

Turning Point: Fall of Liberty was a massively missed opportunity. It dared to shake up the regime of me-too miltary shooters, but in the process actually became one itself. Kudos has to be given to Spark Unlimited for at least trying, but you do wonder where they went wrong.

Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 6:30 pm
by kadosho
Considering that its action tiered, and falls on delivery. Ouch. This seems to be happening a lot lately. But a "what if" scenario does pension on borderline. Bummer it didn't catch on.

Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 6:52 pm
by metalgamer
Great review as usual. I've never played this game, but you're right that the story sounds interesting. Maybe a remake is in order? You know with massively improved controls.

Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 6:54 pm
by Whooa21
All I know is that I haven't played the game!

Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 7:25 pm
by Reknoc
Glad Capcpom think these guys are qualified for Lost Planet 3.

Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2013 4:19 am
by SonicFan
I played the game...I liked it except that it was slow and not interesting. Also, there were absouletely no servers open online.