Turning Point: Fall of Liberty - first look

Amongst the gale force hubbub of Turning Point 's opening shot, we were shown some gameplay as Carson treaded a precarious route down to street level. And while this initial challenge serves as a carefully disguised tutorial, it did show off a couple of the game's notable features.

An encounter with a Nazi paratrooper on a sky bridge demonstrated environmental kills, with the unarmed Carson wrestling the helmeted Germanic giant before choosing to toss him over the edge for a date with splattery pavement death. Because weapons and ammo won't always be in generous supply (the rag tag US resistance has only limited resources), there will be plenty of opportunity for these kind of up close and personal moments throughout.

Developer Spark Unlimited (the people behind Call of Duty: Finest Hour ) has also decided to switch perspective from first to third-person during certain actions, like shimmying along girders, moving hand-over-hand along pipes and sliding down ladders, for example. Besides providing an opportunity for the player to character gaze for a moment or two, we can't really see the benefit, but, hey, it's in there.

As for actual shooting, well, we saw only the tiniest glimpse of trigger action, but we were left with the feeling that it will be pretty conventional and not offering anything particularly new or remarkable. Certainly, on the evidence of this early look, Turning Point 's most noteworthy attraction seems to be its history book defying storyline.

Still, the 25 minute demonstration we attended barely scratched the surface, but if first impressions really are worth a damn we think that Turning Point is going to consist of spectacular, shock and awe set-pieces, supported by a fairly standard shooting mechanic. Despite this, though, we still can't deny that shooting Nazis in New York is a tempting prospect.