Sure, this is a science-fiction title from LucasArts, but this is not a Star Wars game. I repeat, this is not a Star Wars game. LucasArts' Fracture is one of the most innovative games in the first-person shooter genre we've seen this show. We had a chance to watch a demonstration of the single-player game and the terrain deforming mechanic that defines the shooter and separates it from the general lot.

The story is essentially an extrapolation on the possible effects of global warming and genetic engineering 150 years into the future. With the entire middle portion of the US underwater, the East coast and Europe's cybernetic-centric Atlantic Alliance go to war against the West coast / East Asia's Republic of Pacific. While you only get to play as the Atlantic in single-player, both sides are playable in multiplayer. (The Pacific side will likely be your team for Fracture 2.) What about the rest of the world, such as South Africa? A LucasArts representative said with a smile, "to be answered in Fracture!"

If you remember the old game Scorched Earth, you'll recall there were weapons that cratered and created (via "sand piles") land, and Fracture takes much from that idea. Using special grenades you can lower and raise the land. Examples shown were creating a wall between enemies and lowering the earth to turn a crack in a wall into a new doorway, among others. You could even use it to make stairs to a higher ground. We were told that there is a floor and ceiling to terraforming the land, but that it is reportedly "forgiving." We saw within minutes a battlefield that was utterly devastated and warped, very impressive.