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Freedom Force

Freedom Force

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Definately not up to snuff.
Review: I really wanted this game so I bought it and was initialy impressed. However, the action is mild, and wears off fast, and the camera is only ok. In general, it's not that good of a game, even though it was criticaly acclaimed. It's a RTS game with little action and no ability to play the adventure with your own characters. Overall, forget it. It's no fun.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "I don't want to hurt you!"
Review: Perhaps the absolutely disatrous attempts by previous comic-book-based games hindered the sales of Freedom Force, but for whatever the reason, PC gamers, for the most part, missed out on an excellent title. The gameplay is easy, but takes a bit to master (as it should). The storyline is hilarously campy with intro movies for each character that should at least provide a chuckle. The characters are slightly customizable, enough to provide an RPG feel to the game, and gamers can create new characters or download their characters from modern comic books.

I'll agree the game doesn't have great replay value, but it does have an online angle I never explored. Given the current market price, it is such a steal that the replay value is hardly an issue. I highly recommend this game if you were curious but afraid that it was going to be another comic book flop.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: For Freedom!!
Review: This game is great. Period. It has minor flaws, but the totality is a very good, all around game that is a ton of fun.

The game basically spoofs every comic book convention from the golden age of comics. there are plenty of satirical references to the cold war, and to the way comics played into American culture of the time. The game centers around a campaign which begins following a hero named "Minute man" who is bares enormous similarities to "captain America". of course his nemesis is "nuclear winter" is a no-good, pinko-commie who must be stopped. Of course this is all part of a much larger plot which involves greater extra terrestrial forces and the fate of earth. They explain away all the super power using this plot and a mysterious "energy x"... very simple - but it works.

Along your way you run across several other heroes and new villains and the bigger plot unfolds. There are many RPG elements - as you beat missions you gain experience points, character points and so forth and can upgrade and train your existing heroes and recruit new ones for use in the campaign. Eventually you assemble a large team but only 4 can be used as a team in any one mission. The missions range in quality, but many fall a little short of what you may expect. They also tend to be a little too hard - or in some cases too easy once you learn the AI and start to use "cheap" tactics... this can detract from the overall fun of the campaign.

The game plays in 3rd person over head view, sort of like a mix between tomb raider, and an RTS like Age of empires. This is really nice but can be a bit cumbersome at times. You can zoom in and out, and you can rotate the camera. Unfortunately the camera isn't perfect (surprise) and the vertical angle can be distracting as you cant get a perfectly level view, making it hard to see straight ahead of your hero. This is mostly a problem on the city maps with all the buildings. Still it's a minor flaw.

The combat system and interface are simple and easy to delve into, but are also not free of problems. Sometimes it can be a bit clumsy, but it's still pretty solid and well designed. It's pretty intuitive to pick stuff up and whack villains into submission or use any of your characters array of powers although some seemingly obvious commands and finer points are missing, like the ability to put a throwable object down with out throwing it. all in all combat is a lot of fun but gets confusing with four heroes on the screen and a lot going on. There's a lot of tactical and strategic depth in the game, with many different powers and resistances ect..

The graphics are great. They really fit the topic and they are pretty detailed and very clean. It wont kill your system either, which is good. The special effects are great and animations are very good too. The nice thing is the interactivity within the environments, and the freedom. Almost everything in the game can be picked up and thrown, or used as a weapon. Strong heroes can rip lamp posts out and use them as bats, or pick up a car and throw it hundreds of feet at you, and they eventually blow up too. even buildings are destructible, entire buildings can come crumbling down in a big battle, and falling damage hurts your heroes too. It's all very well thought out, impressive and oh yeah a LOT OF FUN!!

But the best part of the game is the character stat depth and the creating your own heros. They are less practicle in the actual campagne but the first patch comes with a "danger room" add on that allows for skirmishes, random missions, instant battles and other "non-campagne" action.

This is the best part of the game without a doubt. The stats every hero has and the amount of powers, abillities, and stats will overwhelm you at first. There's limitless combinations and you can effectively reproduce almost an hero or villain in comics. There are many types of damage from radiation, piecing, crushing, energy, mental, mystical, you name it! There is also a number of special states characters can have, from being frozen, to stunned, to irradiated, to enraged, to amnesia, you name it. the folks at irrational games for really put a lot of thought into this.

You can also create your own skins and meshes, which is great. They even have a free tool to do it, but it's still complicated and not easy enough for most players. Especially meshes. This is too bad, if only the tool set were simpler and more interwoven into the experience. Nevertheless you'll find a number of skins and meshes online to download, everything from Transformers, to the xmen. Only too bad that irrational didn't try to collect the good ones and put them at a central spot for download with self extracting zip files so that you didnt have to go find them and worry about havin the right mesh for a skin or whether you put the stuff in the right place. Voices can be added too but this seems even more cryptic. And if theirs a scenario, map or campaign editor... I haven't found it. If only they could have provided a more comprehensive toolset that was simpler to use I would never sleep again. I also wish they would have let your type in an origin and description for your hero... and that maybe u could import a flash animation of their origin. One can only hope there is either an expansion pack or a sequel.

If you're a comics fan or if u want to create your own, or if you're just interested in a unique game that has a good presentation and a lot of style, then pick this up today. It's hard not to recommend this game, so if you're skeptical go get the demo at irrational game's website.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Ever want to be in a Jack Kirby comic book?
Review: Here's your chance! You can't go wrong for the price, and you'll get a couple hours of entertainment from this game. Go on-line and find "skins" of your favorite characters for more playability!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Fun of Freedom Force
Review: This RPG game uses the motifs and the style of Jack Kirby and the Silver Age of Comics. Villains are bad, heroes are good, and like classic mythology, good vrs evil is at the heart of the story. The best things are flexibility, 3D environments you can interact with at any stage. I have had a lot of fun creating new stories using skins and mesh designs of classic comic heroes. Batman with bat grenades and bolos, Green Arrow with net arrows, battles with gangsters, aliens, time travelers, dinosaurs, jumping off buildings, flying to the rescue, heroic deeds with heroes with a storyline. Replayed several times now using different heroes, weaknesses and approaches to the game, it does have enough fun to pass several snowy days with joy and I am waiting for sequels with anticipation. I recommend this game without reservations. It is just plain fun.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A good beginning
Review: Being one of the first comic book computer games it is really very good. Some of the powers leave much to be desired and the user interface is a bit rough. But the game itself is kick A. There is a good bit of user support for it as well opening up many opportunities. Some of the online tutorials are cut rate.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Would be fun if...
Review: I hear this game can be great. However, the developers have all but stopped supporting it. Go read the technical forum at myfreedomforce.com. The latest NVIDIA drivers arent compatible with the game. I can't get the game to work for more than a minute at a time. There are dozens of others like me, and the tech support people are ignoring all pleas for help.

I completely wasted my money on this title. Don't waste yours.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A truly fabulous game that gets just about everything right
Review: Wow! What a great game! Freedom Force is a squad-based tactical combat game with a corny comic book superheroes theme. Gameplay is non-stop fun, and this game is loaded with great features. The only drawback is the not-so-long game length. But, the game is so much fun, you will get a lot of replayability out of it.

This game reminds somewhat of Baldurs Gate, or other role-playing games. You start off with one character (Minuteman), who is sort of the main character, and then you meet others along the way. Freedom Force can have more than 10 heroes, but you only get to choose 4 for each mission. They each have special attack and defense abilities, as well as a voice and unique personality. In fact, the richness of the characters in the game is one of the things that makes it so great. There is a good superhero generation system in the game, which you can use to build your own superheroes. I didn't use it much, since the built-in superheroes are more fun to use, but when I replay the game, I might use it.

One of the highlights of the game is the outstanding physics and combat engine. You have a mostly overhead 3-D view, but you can pan the camera, as well as zoom in or out (but not rotate). The graphics are not stunning, but every area is full of objects that you can interact with, destroy, bash, pick up, throw, you name it. You can pick up a taxicab and throw it at a couple of bad guys. Or, you can pick up a telephone booth. Or, you can rip a light post out of the ground and use it like a gigantic baseball bat. Every object ' buildings, cars, mailboxes, is destructible. Stray bullets can damage buildings, and sometimes, even innocent pedestrians.

I love the way that Irrational Games did the good guys vs. bad guys Comic Book theme. It's perfect. Literally. Everything is in there, even bratty child sidekicks. Remember the big fistfight at the end of every 'Batman' show? That's what a lot of the fights in 'Freedom Force' are like ' full of 'Bonk!' and 'Splat!' word bubbles. The good guys are brave and naively good, and the bad guys are overconfident and diabolical. The narration is done coming book style. The voice acting is terrific. Minuteman has a heroic, booming voice ' 'For Freedom!' The bad guy lackeys have a dumb-sounding Bronx accent ' 'Don't worry, I'll take care of him boss!!!' Each superhero has a 'Secret Origin' that you get to see, comic book style.

Like I said before, the game is kind of short. This is perhaps due to the fact that it is pretty easy. I got through about half of the missions on my first try ' if you are an experienced tactical combat gamer, then you will probably find it to be the same. The game has promising role-playing aspects that never quite come to fruition , because there aren't enough missions for a lot of level-ups. Still, the character creation system and the superhero recruiting system give this game a lot of replayability. Plus, the price is pretty low for PC game.

'Freedom Force' could have been a decent game, just with the superheroes theme. But, it is an excellent game, because of so many other things. There is still a lot of unlocked potential here too. An expansion pack, or a sequel, would be nice. Buying this game is an easy recommendation to make. At least find the demo somewhere. That's a no-brainer.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good Game
Review: Nice game. You get to create your own superheroes and KO all the thugs. The interface is not very good, but the storyline is great.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Dude! The best game ever!
Review: This game is the bomb. I love how you can destroy anything in the city. The hero creator is [sweet] Buy this!


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