We wanted to love Turning Point: Fall of Liberty, an alternate-history first-person shooter in which Winston Churchill dies early, paving the way for a Nazi invasion of America. It features a compelling "what-if" premise sure to engage any avid History Channel watcher or Harry Turtledove reader who's dreamed of saving the USA from hordes of goose-stepping storm troopers. Handling, specifically as it relates to responsive on-screen aiming and movement, is dead on, but the game buckles under the weight of poor storytelling and execution.

Never mind the throwaway script twists and poorly voice-acted plot, chronicling construction worker Dan Carson's escape from New York, his rendezvous with the resistance and eventual invasion of the White House. It's unmemorable at best, downright obtuse at worst, as you proceed through war-torn streets and clandestine labs hunting for switches and event-triggering hotspots, blasting away at hordes of copycat opponents. Stage goals range from generic to poorly implemented, generally focusing on getting from point A to B while fighting against your own authentically imprecise and generic (yet strangely compelling) arsenal to ventilate opponents. Hand-to-hand instant-kill melee options should add character, as you smash rifle butts into baddies' noses or land larynx-crushing blows. Alas, like actual level designs -- which feature half-baked bomb-planting mini-games and occasional roof-hopping escapes -- these elements tend to be poorly fleshed-out and offer little in the way of innovative highlights.

Capable of being won within a couple afternoons' time, the biggest issue here is the formulaic setup. Go here, blast that, repeat until you're blue in the face? It's a battle we've fought many times before, and with way more explosive results.