Supposing Winston Churchill's cab accident in 1931 was fatal, "Turning Point: Fall of Liberty" presents us with a grim scenario of Nazi Germany winning the war in Europe and expanding the Third Reich from the Atlantic to the Urals and beyond. Due to American isolationist policy, Britain was abandoned and without a strong prime minister it finally succumbed to the twisted wills of the German war machine. The game avoids now any resemblance with the historical accuracy, which is fine because most of us are pretty bored with the classic "Call of duty" scenarios and were willing to try something different.

Unfortunately we won't even get a glimpse on the big picture even if we complete the game, because the game starts in a rush giving little or no details and will eventually end abruptly, just when things were about to get exciting. I strongly recommend anyone willing to play this game to spend a couple of minutes reading the articles in the "International Journal", a fictional newspaper of that period which briefly presents the rise of the Third Reich and the context that made this invasion possible; it's a small effort but it will greatly enhance your experience and will insure a more cohesive look of the entire story.

The main character is Dan Carson, a construction worker who is caught in the middle of the Luftwaffe raid with paratroopers storming New York City, who despite his lack of military training rushes to join the resistance and repel the invading forces. As the game progresses one would hope that we'll find out more about Dan, his amazing abilities and the patriotic enthusiasm that drives him, but the truth is that this one of the most underdeveloped characters I've seen lately.

After the epic introduction and impressive display of force by the German invaders in the intro movie, some might hope for large scale clashes between resistance forces and the oppressors. It might sound pretty glamorous but unfortunately what you'll actually wind up doing most of the time is shooting small groups of Nazis who seem to advance blindly to reinforced positions. There are also very few remarkable images you remember after completing the campaign and the storyline soon begins to feel rather dull and slowly sinking like an old man in a hot tub.

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The Resistance fighters are quickly adopting you as one of their own and seem to have full confidence in your skills so you are assigned to perform the most dangerous missions although you have no expertise in combat tactics. It looks like there is more than meets the eye about Carson whose ability to place antitank mines and arm bombs under enemy armored vehicles is uncanny. Thank God these devices are easy to set and even a mentally challenged person can figure out this "puzzle", as you simply have to connect some wires by choosing the correct color.

Once your job in New York is done and numerous civilians escape thanks to your valiant effort it is time to travel to Washington D.C for another crucial mission. This is probably the most exciting part of the campaign as you and a few comrades from the Resistance are assigned to free General George Donnelly, a patriot who is facing criminal charges due to his relentless actions against the Nazi invaders. The next mission is probably the highlight of this game as you storm the White House and execute the puppet President Stevenson, whose attitude towards the oppressors is lenient to say the least.

I must confess that clearing room after room in this imposing building and eventually storming into the Oval Office to finish the job was thrilling even though the opponents are about as sharp as a bowling ball and present you with little challenge. The AI is really weak and the Germans are frequently concerned of hiding just half of the body behind walls and columns while exposing enough to be nothing more than sitting ducks. Blowing up the White House after dealing with Stevenson provides us with a powerful image, one of the few scattered over the campaign to spice things up a bit, but it's just a pale consolation for the fading story.

While the innovative concept presented in the intro movie is poorly developed, "Turning Point: Fall of Liberty" resorts to other tricks to keep the interest alive, and shifting the action to London is one of the most effective. Carson becomes quickly one of the most reliable members of the resistance so it's no wonder that you are the designated man to defuse or destroy the atomic bombs stored inside the Tower of London. At this point the entire story becomes downright silly and this will cause your enthusiasm to plummet down to earth faster than a speeding bullet, and not even killing dozens of Nazi soldiers can cheer you up.

As soon as you find out that there is a zeppelin carrying one last nuclear bomb prepared to take off to launch it over New York, few people can afford to hope for a happy ending as not even the skilled construction worker, that Carson is, could have the knowledge to diffuse it in midair. Luckily by this point most of the gamers are so fed up with him that they don't really care how this endeavor will conclude and Dan's supreme sacrifice for the benefit of New York citizens will not ruin anyone's day. Nonetheless the atomic blast near the American east coast with the Statue of Liberty on the background is a pretty powerful sight.

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Conclusion:

It would be unfair to say that "Turning Point: Fall of Liberty" is a failure and that it took an intriguing concept to render it virtually unplayable but many people had great expectation and this game failed to deliver. Surprisingly enough developer Spark Unlimited didn't capitalize on the original idea and the result is nothing more than an average FPS in a unique background.

Gameplay: 65

The repetitive nature of the game and its linearity will eventually have a deterring effect on any gamer and moving from one city to another is not enough to preserve the enthusiasm on the long run. Killing Nazis may be fun for a while but this is so played... and to make things further worse the AI is really weak so the opponents will present you with little challenge. Some parts of the campaign are downright boring and this is something that was not supposed to happen with a game which benefited of such an original concept and was expected to be much more than the average FPS.

Graphics: 63

There is nothing to shout about the way "Turning Point: Fall of Liberty" looks, as it definitely doesn't have anything special and it's way behind the FPS counterparts. The levels are dull and there is simply not enough attention paid for details, furthermore the maximum resolution is 1024x768 and framerate problems are pretty common.

Sounds: 72

If there is something we really can't complain about is the way this game manages to create the appropriate atmosphere by inducing a certain state of mind through audio effects. The musical theme is overwhelming at certain points and fits in great, while the sound effects are just as good not to create any discontent.

Multiplayer: 59

"Turning point: Fall of Liberty" has two multiplayer modes with players able to play as Nazi soldiers or as the American Resistance and they are both centered around four maps based on locations within the game, available for up to eight players. It's most likely that you'll never gather enough players to fill every spot as these modes are quite limited and downright boring.

Hardware: 66

This game uses the Unreal engine and despite lacking the edge in visual effects, runs poorly by nowadays standards, particularly before and after loading checkpoints.