Turning Point: Fall of Liberty Demo

Turning Point: Fall of Liberty is yet another FPS to be set in that highly plundered period of World War II but promises to offer a new perspective on events. The whole premise of Turning Point is based upon the idea of an alternate timeline. A reality where the then diplomat Winston Churchill hadn’t survived a collision with a New York taxi cab on December 13th 1931, and thus didn’t become the hugely influential prime minister of the United Kingdom. In this timeline the tide of Nazi Germany domination couldn’t be stopped and the United States is about to be invaded.

At the start of the demo you find yourself in New York atop the semi completed structure of a skyscraper during the initial air invasion. Your task is to navigate your way down from this precarious position to street level far below. Unfortunately the first segment of this demo as you immediately get control is flawed, requiring the player to negotiate a series of narrow girders. Although as long as you don’t jump off you can’t really fall to your death, merely grabbing the girder and hauling yourself back up, as an introduction to unfamiliar controls this design leaves a lot to be desired.

Once free of the platforming the game picks up slightly leaving you to follow a fairly linear path to the end of the demo. To keep the feeling of tension high and the player on their toes a smattering of pre-scripted events are also thrown in for good measure.

The game itself looks passable but I certainly wasn’t overly impressed with what’s on show in the demo. The controls were all fine and I liked the introduction of the context sensitive “B” button that’s used for actions such as climbing or descending ladders and grappling enemy troops.

Turning Point is one of those demos where you just have to wonder why the publishers released a demo. The premise is a sound one and there are some good ideas lurking in the depths but surely releasing a game build which is sub-par with some obvious bugs and flaws does more harm than good? When an enemy’s body disappears right in front of your eyes, the third person view doesn’t show weapons even though you’re carrying them, and bullet collision detection is dubious you have to question the logic behind the decision.

However, according to the developer’s blog the demo is several months old. There’s still reason to hope that this game can improve, but unfortunately the seeds of doubt have already been sown.