Fracture

With boulder-firing hulks to your left and jetpack-baring foes with rockets to your right, you know it’s time to change the playing field… literally. As demolitions expert Jet Brody, altering the earth is your specialty. To save America from genetically engineered baddies, you’ve been issued special terrain-altering grenades and the Entrencher, a surprisingly non-gimmicky tool that raises and lowers the ground. Sure, you can use it to build ramps or dig beneath barriers, but propelling enemies is its best quality.

Yet, as much action as the Entrencher and its cohorts pack, deforming the terrain seems to be Fracture’s only real focus, casting other elements to the wind. With a plot as basic as “kill the bad guys,” the 11 go-here-do-that missions become repetitive and tedious — even with the diverse weaponry — leaving you with a profound sense of “Why?” after conquering waves of hohum A.I. And by the end of the game, your trigger finger will be itching to off your chatty in-ear commander, if only because the real endboss is an absolute nightmare.

Though the campaign may not be so groundbreaking, the multiplayer is as fun as they come. Each eight-vs.-eight match — be it CTF or one of Fracture’s unique game types (like Excavation or the King of the Hill–style Breakin) — sparks an adrenaline-fueled battle with freeze rays, ricocheting-rocket launchers, vortex grenades, and more at your disposal.

With the power to shift the very earth beneath your feet, Fracture could have reshaped the action genre. But repetitive missions and a barren plot leave only the multiplayer to shake this shooter loose from the rest.