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A truly fabulous game that gets just about everything right

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: November 07, 2002
Author: Amazon User

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 didnýt 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 ý 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. Itýs perfect. Literally. Everything is in there, even bratty child sidekicks. Remember the big fistfight at the end of every ýBatmaný show? Thatýs what a lot of the fights in ýFreedom Forceý are like ý full of ýBonk!ý and ýSplat!ý 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 ý ýFor Freedom!ý The bad guy lackeys have a dumb-sounding Bronx accent ý ýDonýt worry, Iýll take care of him boss!!!ý Each superhero has a ýSecret Originý 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 ý 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 arenýt 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.

ýFreedom Forceý 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. Thatýs a no-brainer.

Would be fun if...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 11 / 16
Date: November 19, 2002
Author: Amazon User

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.

Finally

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: April 16, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I have played pen and paper Superhero role playing games (Mainly the excellent HERO system game Champions) for over 15 years. During that time many, many companies have announced Superhero RPG's for the computer, but all have mysteriously dissappeared prior to being released. Well, the wait is over. It's finally here! Freedom Force is a great game and very well done. The graphics and feel of the game are outstanding. However, it's definatley not perfect.

It's way to short. I finished the whole game in about 20 hours. That's not a lot of time for an RPG, and as stated in the editorial review above, the game is extremley linear. Replay value is extermely limited. And you wont get to add your own heroes (ones you create) until around the 4th or 5th mission. Also, homemade heroes can unbalance the game bigtime. My homemade character could strole through 90% of the badguys with no help from the rest of the team. I would leave the team in a safe spot (especially when a certain member of the team had to survive to complete a scenario), beat up the bad guys (all of them) then bring the team in to accomplish any non combat tasks that needed doing.

Then their is the multiplayer mode. The only multiplayer mode availible is fighting your heroes against other peoples heroes. Nothing co-operative at all. No multiplayer senarios (which would have been great fun). The worst part about multiplayer is, it's over in less then 5 minutes every time.

This game needs a senario editor. A random senario editor would be great, especially if it could be worked into the overall campaign. Something to keep players on their toes and add to the replay value.

You also can not go inside buildings. Which is okay, but it would have been fun to stop the bank job inside of the bank. Instead of waiting at the door and punching each bad guy as they came out one at a time.

Anyway, to sum up my feelings, it's definatley a very good game, and I am happy I bought it, but it could have been great. One last thought, don't waste your money on the hint book. I didn't need one, and the game is so linear that I can not imagine anyone else needing it either.

Freedom Force Has Me Fighting Back Tears, sniff.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: April 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User

My jaws sunk low, self-emitting air filed around me, and stupidly I gawked at my PC screen. Since when did a game rekindle my fancy for the first form of literature I warmly embraced? Anime, at times, is juiced up with vague or unnecessary talk with global weight on crushing action, but comic books have grown as a nippy alternative to time-consuming novels with marvelously penciled scenes. Where comics like the dormant Battle Chasers and, all-time favorite, Spawn attenuated my reading and visual proclivity, Freedom Force successfully lands on the video game populace in style. Full of tantalization, the game rips a new outfit on the grounds of gaming. I haven't experienced this kind of cunning direction, ever. Irrational Games assembles a flat-out ambiance which thrusts players into thrilling heroism. The RPG/Strategy affiliation shreds awesome gameplay components. Every description in the game is an indication that the company was rapt on fashioning a game based on the comic book medium. Freedom Force takes in all the legacy and stereotypes of the 60's Silver Age, and on the videogame scale, it rumbles.

Sweaty-palm action awaits as soon as you decide who to take from a pool of heroes. After selecting four members, you then jump onto the fray and gain following missions. More often than not, your elite band of defenders must put an end to rampaging supervillains along with their loyal minions. Reasonably linear, the lion's share of Freedom Force is the mastered mechanics, and the ironic yet interesting cost of being violent superheroes. Remember anime (or even Power Puff Girls) where the forces of good take it on the open streets, disregarding the safety of structures, and bulldoze it down? As Uncle Ben once said from Spidey comics, "with great power comes even greater responsibility." Ditto, here. Pedestrians mind their walks of life, cars burn rubber, and in the center, a heated clash between the forces of good and evil. Oh, dear! Oh, my! Being reckless may trigger unwanted wreckage of the city that is supposedly under your protection. Depending on your choice of attacks, Patriot City can be decimated to rubble. Strategic usage of the environment (i.e. lifting cars as projectiles) should be limited due to the sensitivity of the backgrounds. From caving buildings to impersonating Babe Ruth with traffic polls, needless destruction is booed.

Devilish destruction reduces the bag of important Prestige Points. Awarded after victory, these points are applied to attain additional heroes. EXP points are also given to prime a hero's abilities or expand them. As an incentive to minimize running amok, if you fail to wisely handpick a fit squad, future supervillains will squash your band of heroes into [mush]. Ample with whirls of Real-Time frenzy, a tide of excellent RPG elements, and the aim to prevent harm on Patriot city, Freedom Force is smart as it is witty.

Totally smitten with Freedom Force, it hurts to divulge the minimal frowns upon it. In fact, the game gets terribly hectic without any sign of slowing down. Selecting commands may provide golden opportunities for curt surprises from concealed enemies. Failing to detect them means your good guys go down and dead. Without radar or even a teeny map, studying your surroundings seems like a tactical joy, but the constant, overbearing work is strain for the eyes. Trust me, if you thought 4 heroes is depressing petty, it's enough with the brutal and lighting-quick square offs. Also, no automatic pausing is a pain. Frequent instances of tongue-lashing conforms with the in-game chaos. Even so, the robust personality of Freedom Force dwarfs the potholes floating around it. However, far from perfect, there is nothing quite like this and is the closest thing to match a child's interactive role in a comic book.

The hero cast is intentionally cheesy as the Super Friends. Stereotypes of the 60's comics (corny dialogue) forges together and packs a full press of eccentricity. Merciless creatures alternatively keep the 90's evil-doer persona unbroken. Expect the trademark of what Marvel Comics originally gave rise to. Where DC presented the typical "superhero stops supervillain," Marvel effectively introduced a new prospective and presented the personal life of its characters. Freedom Force excels on it too. Character growth was nice to witness, but the cast is so overpopulated that various characters are overshadowed by the stars. Cheesy hallmarks and naturally droll, the clowning occasions in Freedom Force deserves recognition.

Voice-overs are gallant, funny, and when called for, somber. Excellent themes manage to merge an exclusive fusion of topnotch sound quality while comic-looking graphics that are so colorfully caustic it'll have your gums bleed. Once a "FOOSH," slashed across the screen, I was tickled by my comic book sensibilities. Characters are fleshed out with exaggerated, superhero costumes and work well with the polygonal construction. The interactive 3D environment and superhero powers are very cool to watch when toyed with. The option to tailor the camera view is welcomed, especially when seconds of disorder surface. The thick quality behind every inch of comic book design has me fighting back tears.

"Sniff, it's beautiful man. Just beautiful."

Vast in the digit of powers and tactics, the single-player is an experience of immersive frolic. Many people responded with a confounded, "huh," when I asked if they knew the existence of Freedom Force. Can anyone say, "sleeper hit." Hallmarks of the game siphons reality, and lets the boyish imaginings to roam free and putter with the infectious bounties of the game. Logging hours on the extensive single-player, the chance to shape your own characters, appearance, powers, and pick out an assortment of Marvel and DC skins, will have you brewing cup after cup of coffee. Now, to shut these blood-shot eyes. . .

Finally a SUPERHERO Tactical Combat/RPG and a great one

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: April 16, 2002
Author: Amazon User

First, If you like reading comic books, and you like playing computer RPG or Tactical Combat games why are you still reading this. Go NOW and buy this game. Highs - Super Powers, Importing Your favorite superhero skins, Creating your own or recreating your own super heroes, graphical and spiritual tribute to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (if you have to ask Stan or Jack who then don't bother) Lows - no time date stamp for save games - its alphabetical, I've been to busy playing and Importing Marvel and DC skins to come up with any other lows. Why should you believe me? I've been reading comic books since the mid 70's and playing computer games from the early 80's. DC, Marvel, Top Cow, Image Comics, etc. are all old and familiar friends. And, I think I've played most of the computer RPG's since the inception of the PC. (Yeah that means I'm OLD)So go now and BUY this game. It's Clobberin Time. Nuff Said. Excelsior.

For Freedom!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: February 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

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.

Stand Back Evil-Doer!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: March 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

If you don't enjoy this game, then you're taking video games WAY too seriously. This CD has not left my PC's CD drive in over three months. The back story's great. The graphics are excellent. Skinning your own characters is not hard at all. The voices, while somewhat hokey, are extremely accurate for the timeframe portrayed.

All in all, this is probably the most fun game I've ever purchased, and have been recommending it to everyone I know ever since I got it.

Button-mashers beware... You can't just punch your way through this game, you need to choose your heroes based on their strengths. If you don't like thinking, this game isn't for you.

Otherwise, get it... NOW!

A diamond in the bargain bin

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: March 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Freedom Fighters is a great game, and it's only problem might be that there is not enough of it. The game is very simple, but it somehow just manages to be nonstop action and fun. The price for this game has dropped so far that even despite the fact that it's a bit short, buying it should be a no-brainer.

The game is played in a series of chapters, each of which contain 2 or 3 submissions. In each submission, you usually blow something up like a bridge or depot, and then capture an important building. The best part of every mission is at the end, when you go to the roof of the building and raise the Stars and Stripes over it. You get this warm, fuzzy patriotic feeling and then move on to the next mission so that you can shoot some more evil Commies. Yes, it's corny, but it works great. The game does a great job of paying homage to Cold War era action movies like "Red Dawn" and "Missing in Action". Between each mission, you get to watch a Soviet propaganda news broadcast describing your activities as "terrorism". The news broadcasts are usually pretty funny and provide a good reward for completing each chapter.

The graphics for the game are decent, but not great. The scenery is immersive enough to be believable, but other games out there look sharper. The cutscenes don't look very good, and characters don't move their lips when they talk.

The core gameplay is what is so great about this game. You control a squad of Freedom Fighters, and you lead them through the streets, pointing them at objectives and generally shooting anything with a red star on their uniform. Mission design is great, and no two missions are quite the same. Gameplay isn't complex. There aren't that many weapons that you can use, and you can only give three simple commands to your squad ("Follow", "Attack", and "Defend"). Usually, your squadmates are good at fighting, but you will do most of the work. AI for enemies is good enough to give you a good challenge, but never frustrating. Enemies are pretty good at using cover and avoiding grenades, but you can often snipe them from far away, and they won't do much to retaliate. The action is always exciting, but you still have to use your head. You are usually outnumbered, and lots of areas are guarded with machine gun banks or guys behind walls. You have to use your head, but the game never gets bogged down with micromanagement.

Freedom Fighters has a checkpoint save system that we PC gamers love to hate. However, the game is very forgiving. Squad mates never get killed. They just get incapacitated, and you can revive them with health packs. You never have to worry about running out of those, since each level has tons of them laying around. You can take plenty of bullets yourself, so if you get surprised, it usually won't kill you.

The soundtrack might be my favorite part of the game. Jesper Kyd composed the music for the game, and it's simply excellent. The opening track is a booming orchestral piece of music that sounds like it could be a Red Army cadence. The action music is great at raising the tension in the levels and giving the game a sense of drama.

The interface for the game is not good. You can tell that this game was not designed for the PC. If the game wasn't so simple, then this might be a problem. Also, as I said before, the game is pretty short. I finished it in about 10 or 11 hours, although I liked it enough to play it again. Other than that, the game doesn't have any real problems. Since the missions aren't very scripted, you can find different ways of fighting the same battles. It might have only been 4 stars when it first came out and cost fifty bucks, but now that it's really cheap, there is no reason to miss this game.

absolutely excellent tactical RPG

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: February 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

You can go to any of dozens of gamezine sites and see good full-length reviews of this game. In general, they agree that Freedom Force is a great game, deserving of its award-winning status. It is well-designed; it captures the flavor of Silver Ago comic book superheroes; and, in addition to the balanced and interesting built-in heroes, there is tremendous flexibility in custom character creation and power design. One legitimate downside is that the main campaign, although very entertaining and extensive, is fairly linear and after playing through a few times (you may choose different heroes for your squads for each mission), you may get too used to the gameplay. But, in all sincerity, I say that anyone who grew up reading comic books and has any love for the genre is really missing a tremendous treat by not trying this game.

However, my favorite feature is the extent to which new missions and campaigns ("mods") can be written by the community of FF enthusiasts. And there are thousands of new powers and skins (costumes) and meshes (body types) freely available online, essentially allowing the player to play an incredible array of superheroes. Also, there is a "Danger Room" mode where you can choose any any squad you want and then choose any group of enemies you want an battle it out. The modding enthusiasts have expanded on this as well and there are variations such as "beat the clock" missions, "unending wave of villians" mode, etc.

A note to address the earlier misleading review of the jewel case edition. It is true that the game (like many other programs) has trouble with Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows XP and will not run under it. Unfortunately, the developers were hit with this SP2 problem as they were pushing to complete two other new games (including the sequel to Freedom Force!). However, contrary to the prior review, they *have* said they are working on a fix and they are hoping to have it out at about the time (soon after) the sequel is released.

Anyway, this is a great game and I strongly urge anyone to give this game a try (I have a hard time imagining a better video game value right now). If you have XP with SP2 installed, then buy a copy (what is it now? Five bucks?!?) and keep an eye on irrationalgames.com for the announcement of the SP2 fix.

** Update: the SP2 patch is out, as promised. It is at http://www.freedomfans.com/news.php?id=37 **

"I don't want to hurt you!"

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: April 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

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.

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