Freedom Force

Rating:
Summary: Fooooorr Freedddddooooom!!
Review: at first you might think this game is nerdy or stupid but after a few hours of gameplay you'll realize this is a great game if you're just getting into the vibe of rpgs. Its totally interactive and all the characters have they're own unique storyline and history ( you can make your own heroes but they always [stink]) there are a ton of original vilains, but they all remoind you of one of the old marvel villains. the game took me a day to beat but it is great for people who think baldurs gate and diablo is too hard. yay. go buy it.

Rating:
Summary: The perfect superhero game
Review: Freedom Force is definitely one of the most entertaining games to be released thus far in 2002. It's very rarely that I'll play a game all the way through, three times in a row. I guess Freedom Force has that effect on you. There are several aspects to this game that make it universally appealing - you definitely don't have to be a hardcore gamer to enjoy Freedom Force.

Firstly, it's important to note that you definitely don't need a high-powered PC to play this game. If you have a Pentium III processor or faster you'll have no troubles at all running it. The graphics are truly beautiful, and it's obvious that Irrational Games have put a lot of work into eliminating all the annoying graphical glitches that sometimes mar a 3D-game such as this. The music and the sound also deserve praise - it reminds me exactly of the old Superfriends shows from the 1980's.

An interesting aspect of the game is just how important a part teamwork plays in the strategies you choose. It's virtually impossible to accomplish any mission in the game with only one hero. Irrational have also made it difficult to create a hero with overwhelming superpowers, as the Campaign points for such a hero would be too high, making it impossible to recruit them.

There seem to a proliferation of websites on the internet that allow you to download models based on your favourite superheroes... I've already downloaded models for Superman, Spiderman and Batman already. Thanks to the in-game character editor (and a little judicious file copying), it's entirely possible to have the entire DC & Marvel superheroes fighting alongside the Freedom Force. There's nothing cooler than seeing Superman fly over to a villain and deliver a massive super punch - awesome stuff.

Irrational Games (the creators of Freedom Force), have recently released an Editor, that allows the user to modify every single aspect of the game - characters, powers, missions. The editor is 12MB in size, but it?s definitely worth the download. The only problem is that there are still a few major bugs in the program. For instance, a character modified using the editor can't walk on certain terrain (eg. Snow, ice, metal, plastic or wood). Hopefully, Irrational will fix these problems soon.

It's fantastic to see that such an innovative and creative game has gotten such a positive response from so many people. Here's hoping Irrational Games get the support from their financial backers to release the planned sequels. I can't wait to see what these guys come up with next!

Rating:
Summary: Flashy, stylish (and campy) fun!!
Review: I must hand it to them. The folks at Irrational Games designed one hell of a game.

The setting, the story, the comic-book style graphics, the retro-music... all components were matched perfectly into a game that would make Batman (of the 60's) proud.

In a few sentences, the game involves you commanding a squad of superheroes through missions that involve any sinister and evil plot that would/could/should have been drawn in the comics of the 60's.

The emphasis is not on the usual gimmick of breathtaking graphics (although Irrational Games sure did a good job at it) but on the style of the whole thing. Everything in this game proves to me, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the designers were indeed hardcore comic freaks! During fights, the ubiquitous BOOM, POW, BLAM, ... often appear at the point of impact. Cutscenes are drawn with simplistic, stylish and thick-lined designs. Voice-overs range from the intentionally overly acted heroic tenor Minute Man to the overdone dramatic narrator to the mysterious platonic voice of Mentor. The music is reminiscent of the 60's science-fiction themes, with a dash of modern melodies. Even the text throughout the game interface and menus are in typical hand drawn comic fonts.

Fortunately, the game itself lives up to the style. The interface is quite simple, with a handy tutorial to help you out throughout the game. Just point and click to order your heroes to move or attack, and right-click to get more actions or increase/decrease the strength of your special powers. Simple enough. You can say that this is a game where you can immediately jump-in without reading the manual. Commanding squads of superheroes would be hectic if it were not for the pause button. When paused, you can still issue order. This makes managing several guys/gals around the map much more easier... well... almost. Unfortunately, there are not enough visual/audio cues to warn you that an off-screen hero is being attacked. You must therefore monitor all your heroes closely, especially when they must be spread out across the map. The missions themselves have primary and secondary objectives. But unless you are in a big rush, you would usually try and retry a mission to accomplish all of the objectives.

A big bonus is the Character Generator engine, which allows you to customize a hero, complete with strength and weaknesses, great power(s) and Achilles' heal(s). Although you initially cannot draw your heroes as you would like them to be, a short surf on the web should yield to you all the tools you need to create your heroes as cool, flashy (or scantily-clad) as you wish them to be. You may spend as much time creating the heroes as you would play the game. Careful not to make your heroes TOO powerful, as their resulting fees may be too high for you to actually hire them on missions.

A small note about the save games. Yes, they are unfortunately sorted in alphabetical order! Which means you may lose track of which save file was before/after another save file. I strongly recommend you INDEX them, starting the name with a "01 - title 1"; "02 - title 2". Increment the index as you play along, and you should be fine.

So what are you waiting for? The forces of evil lurk in all shadows of the great Patriot City. What fiendish plot is hatched by the mysterious beings behind the powerful Energy X canisters? Is Mentor all what he appears to be? Can the Freedom Force stop their Machiavellian plan to rule the universe? Only now can these nail-biting questions be answered, fellow viewers! Only by successfully completing the missions of Freedom Force can you unlock the mystery...

NOTE: I personally believe that the "TEEN" rating is somewhat exaggerated, as you NEVER kill anybody in this game. You just knock them out cold. It's just as violent as the original Batman of the 60's. If THAT was too violent for you, well ...

Rating:
Summary: A Great Concept, but Beware the Bugs....
Review: I desperately wanted to love this game, but having spent 2 weekends trying to get it running on a 1 GHz Pentium III with a SoundBlaster Live! and an nVidia GeForce2 64 MB videocard, I managed to play all of one mission before getting booted to the desktop.

Let me save other users with similar hardware the trouble: save your money and see if a patch hits the Freedom Force website in June, as promised.

From reading the tech support message board on the Freedom Force website, I can assure you that I am not alone in my travails. Any game which launches with over 1000 posts in their tech support forum is simply not worth the time and effort, I'm sorry to say.

Perhaps when the Gold Edition arrives, I'll try again.

Rating:
Summary: WOW. Get IT.
Review: If you love comics, particularly in the style of the late 50's and 60's this is your game. The first game I have played with comic book characters that I thought was great fun, made me feel like I was part of a comic book, and that was great fun. It is not as tough as many role playing games but it easily makes this up with its originality, its playability, its great art plus graphics, and just plain fun. I hope to see many more of these instead of the played out wizards and warrior themes that all seem the same.

Rating:
Summary: Filling a niche void that was so desperately needed.
Review: Filling a niche void that was so desperately needed.

The year is 1962, the world is not politically correct, yet it has a charming innocence about it. The cold war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union is escalating, and a strange power: Energy 'X' is randomly unleashed from space amongst unsuspecting do-gooders and thugs transforming them into superheroes and villains. Here the Silver Age of comics comes to life in an interactive metropolis known as Patriot City.

Here you begin your quest as the Minute Man (clad in early U.S. colonial gear) and a linear story begins to unfold in a mission by mission campaign. In order for the story to progress, you must meet primary objectives given to at the beginning of the mission and sometimes they change throughout the mission.

Along the way you will fight regular street thugs and more powerful villains and eventually some rather unique bosses. You will also encounter new allies who will eventually join your team. As the game progresses you can have a full roster of super heroes, however, only being able to control up to 4 per mission.

Each hero and villain has his or her own powers. The animations are unique, and as you 'level up' (depending on the success of the mission, and hidden bonuses acquired) you will be able to customize your hero further. Maybe add strength, or flight, or a new superpower. There are literally hundreds of combinations to choose from making your Freedom Force experience very unique and different each time you play. The heroes that will be 'revealed' to you also happen in a slightly linear fashion and your recruit them into your stable by spending prestige points. Each new recruit has a prestige value associated to him/her depending on the strengths. The pre-built characters are all fun and choosing which ones to recruit and which powers of theirs to develop is s strategy in itself. You must make a well rounded team.

Prestige points are given based on how successful you were on a mission with your characters. Defeating the villain and apprehending the vile thugs gain you more points. Protecting the innocent from harm, completing secondary objective and uncovering hidden bonuses also increase your prestige. However, if civilians get hurt, you cause too much damage to your environment, or too much time elapses, you will lose prestige. What really makes this game fun is that the environment is truly interactive. Go ahead pick up that car and hurl it down the street, blast that side of the building and have it come crashing down, use your projectile beams to ignite gas tanks, wield a street lamp like a baseball bat. You get the picture. But remember, the more you tear up the city in the name of justice, the less the populace favors you and the less prestige you earn.

The game visuals and sound are very campy, but great and make this game that much better. Imagine playing in the universe of Adam West's TV Batman. Complete with cheesy dialogue, sound effects, outrageous plot lines, retro costumes, and 'bam', 'koff', 'blammo' balloons!!

Game mechanics are pretty basic. Though the game takes place in real time, you can pause at any time and change your hero's orders. All commands are menu driven, point and click, and very intuitive. My only complaint here is that there is some 'camera' issues. You can zoom in and out, however, the camera sometimes forgets there is a building in the way and you temporarily lose sight of the action.

The back story and individual secret origins (cut scenes) are great. Again, any one familiar with the comic works of Jack Kirby will recognize his influence everywhere.

Though designed as a single player game, there is a multiplayer component over the internet. While it was great to include this, it seems its more of a free-for-all slugfest, city be damned attitude, with no real sense of objective other that beating the other player to a pulp. Don't get me wrong, it's fun to have a super hero war in a city, but you're a hero to bring villainy to justice after all.

What is also missing is a single player random scenario generator or sandbox mode. The missions are pretty linear and its kinda hard to stray to far from the primary and/or secondary objectives.

There is a decent hero generator in which you can create your own heroes. It's really fun to pick and choose your strength and weaknesses and powers (it can easily become overwhelming at times), but don't make your character so invulnerable you'll never be able to recruit him because his/her prestige is too high. The only draw back here is that there is very little costumes to choose from. Maybe an expansion pack down the line? You can download new skins from the net, but it is a chore for the novice to import all the parts into the right folders, so hopefully a patch will address this down the line.

I believe there are 25 missions, all progressively tougher and a few with a couple of twists, but again, what stops this game short of 5 stars is an open sandbox mode or scenario builder in which you can use any hero available. Other than that, bring on the villains.....freedom and justice are at stake!

Rating:
Summary: Could be great IF...
Review: This game would be great if the multiplayer part were fixed. I can never join a multiplayer game. If only this game were available on zone.com... In single player (since I was limited to this) I created a pretty nifty hero.... and I get to use him WHEN???? The game has a great concept, but it has serious issues.

Rating:
Summary: Good Gravy! A Superhero game that doesn't stink!
Review: Let me begin by noting you don't have to be a fan of comics or superheroes to enjoy this game, but for those of you that are, this is the game you've been waiting for. While Freedom Force is obviously based on the works of Jack Kirby and to a lesser degree Stan Lee, it manages to capture the feel of the silver age of comics. It captures the tone, the powers, the corny origins, the melodramatic dialogue, and best of all those flashy costumes in a way that borrows from but pays homage to all those familiar characters we know and love. What's funny is that it doesn't glaze over some of the stereotypes from the era either....

Freedom Force is a squad based tactical RPG, or so it's been called. In PC game terms, studio's seem to add "RPG" to any game that allows you to create characters or update them through experience. Either way this game is a lot less Fallout or Baldur's Gate, and a lot more Fallout: Tactics and X-Com. Controlling up to four characters (I would have been a lot happier with five or six) at a time, all with various strengths and weaknesses, you guide your hero's on a variety of missions with specific goals that must be accomplished to move on to the next episode. You might be required to save structures or people or capture a bad guy, but there is a definite mission that must be accomplished.

One of the coolest features of the game is the ability to interact with EVERYTHING on the screen. Want to pick up a car and toss it at some baddies? No problem. Want to pull a light pole out of the ground and use it like a baseball bat? Simple, and one of my favorite tactics I might add. On the downside, damage to buildings and civilians can hurt your prestige. Get trigger happy with grenades or area attacks and buildings will collapse all around you. On the other hand, walking into a super-villains fortress gives you an open licence to go nuts. Blow it all up if you want to, and you can.

When the mission is over, characters gain experience, adding the subtle RPG element, and when they've gotten enough they are given character points you can use to upgrade powers, buy new powers and generally improve them. In addition to experience points, the team gets prestige points you can use to add new team-members to your roster. XP's are usually set, but you can pick up additional PP's by completing secondary missions, beating up bad guys etc.

The characters themselves are awesome. I had a hard time deciding which ones I wanted to use, because of the coolness factor, but tactics usually made the decision for me. Most of the characters will join your team without using prestige points. You start with Minute Man, an obvious Homage to Captain America, and from there you come into contact with more and more heroes, most of whom want to join your team, some who have to be coerced with prestige (I advise picking up Man O' War ASAP. He sounds like Sean Connery and he generally kicks butt.) The origins are hysterical, and made me laugh out loud with their charming corniness.

If you want to really mix things up, you can make up your own character and use prestige points to get them into the game. You'll also probably want to do this for the multiplayer games anyway. You can use the skins that are already on the game, or you can make your own. There are several sights that have thousands of pre-generated skins based on pre-existing heroes from DC, Marvel and other comics. If you want to make your own, you're going to need to download the mesh editor at the official web site. You can even make your own powers.

I had a blast playing this game. It's the most fun I've had with a PC game since Baldur's Gate 2 which was probably the best game I've ever played. I loved the characters, the missions were fun and multi-player with custom characters rules. The only two complaints Ican muster is that the single player is a little too short and I wish the squads were a little bigger. Hopefully the flexibility of the engine means that there are further expansions and episodes on the way (you hear that Irrational? Let the saga continue).

Cool note to parents: this thing has a "Teen" rating, but to me, this thing is a lot less violent than an actual comic book and deserves a lower rating. No one dies, there's no blood, and the goal is to protect life not destroy it. For those parents out there concerned about letting their kids participate in first person blood baths should consider getting this game for them instead. It's good, clean, wholesome promotes family values and the American way. How can you say anything bad about that?

Rating:
Summary: Overall, 9 out of 10
Review: Very good gameplay, realistic recovery time for powers etc., good balance between various types of attacks.
(I have only played campaign mode.)
Several possible improvements:
1. Let us finish the game! There is no final score scene and no opportunity to train those who levelled up during the final adventure. Even if there is no further adventure considered at this time, there is satisfaction in completing a character's abilities.
2. Allow deletion of weaknesses or gains in stats, but particularly the former. It makes sense over time in training that a weakness might be minimized or eliminated, and that can be as good as gaining a new power.
3. The option to start with custom characters with a certain prestige limit rather than Minute Man. This would make replay much more fun, even though some levels still require some characters (i.e. Alchemis to close any portals).

I look forward to an expansion pack or a second edition that will give greater game time and user-created campaign or scenarios.

Rating:
Summary: Clobberin' Time
Review: FREEDOM FORCE hands down is one of the most wonderful games ever to hit the shelves. Combining the action and over-the-top adventure of the comic book with real-time strategy gameplay as well as an RPG, this PC game transports the player to another world and another time. Good and evil are painted in black and white. Nefarious villains abound in Patriot City, given amazing powers by the arrival of Energy X. However, as with any true comicbook plot, the same mysterious power that creates supervillains also creates and calls forth the superheroes that challenge those villains.

Crafted by Irrational Games, FREEDOM FORCE is the first true RPG that features superheroes and dastardly villains (complete with ringing challenges, threats, and pundits). Over the years, gamers have been promised such a venue but no one has ever been able to deliver. (Maybe the work of some unknown super-villain!?) Irrational Games also created the award-winning System Shock 2, the science-fiction based RPG, and the up-coming horror RPG, The Lost. All of the company's work so far has been in the RPG PC field, but efforts are being made to shift over into console gaming. Irrational Games has brought together creative talent that have been responsible for games such as: Thief: the Dark Project, Ultima Underworld, and System Shock.

One of the most appealing aspects of FREEDOM FORCE is the absolute ease of entering the gameplay. Even players unseasoned in the ways of RPGs and tactical strategy games can step into the world of Patriot City and begin battling supervillains and common crooks. Tips range throughout the early levels, allowing those new to the game playing system to learn how to use their powers as well as the best strategies to use against enemies. Aside from the gameplay, the sheer world of superheroes, super-villains, and Patriot City comes to life in the same bright colors of a comicbook. Minute Man's heroic speeches, Mentor's alien origin, and the pathos of Man-Bot--trapped in an armored shell--show influences from Jack Kirby and Stan Lee's creations at Marvel Comics. The cut-scenes that show those origins, as well as additional story materials, are absolutely the bomb. Maybe the gamer has just blasted, battled, and broken their way through enemy ranks, but the sense of wonder in this story-telling format is mesmerizing. The gamer feels as though he or she has somehow stepped into the all-in-color-for-a-dime pages of the traditional superhero comicbook. Maybe the gamer can lose the battles, but he or she knows in the end that victory will go to the hero if the proper strategies, powers, and teamwork are utilized. To add to the whole experience, a character-generator is built into the game, and downloading from various websites already in existence (or a little creative tinkering), can bring any hero a player has seen in heroic media or can imagine into his or her campaign as a force for good.

The FREEDOM FORCE package is put together extremely well, and there are a couple of things that would have been nice to see. 1) a full-color map of Patriot City and the surrounding environs just for coolness effect. 2) the ability to switch off the tips when starting a new campaign because they can be distracting. 3) secondary prestige points on ALL missions, which would have only necessitated a little tweaking.

Overall, FREEDOM FORCE is an excellent addition to any gamer's collection, or for the comic fan that wants to play in the world that he or she has only dreamed about. Needing a gift for the young, budding superhero hanging upside down in the closet at home? FREEDOM FORCE's gameplay system can easily be learned by even the little guys, although some of the solutions may need parental involvement. But hey, every hero needs a sidekick even if it is Mom or Dad. So grab a towel and knot it around your neck, then sit down to discover what superpowers you've gotten from Energy X and go out to battle Evil. The neighbors will never know, because you have a Secret Identity.