Techtite's PC Game Reviews!

"The strongest part of Freedom Force's environment, is its outstandingly "real" objects. As many as 800+ separate objects are loaded in any one level; each of which is totally useable or destroyable!"

---from the review

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Comic Book cutscenes; good idea, or leave it for the experts?... Many games in recent years, from MDK 2 to Max Payne, have graphic-novel type slide shows to narrate the back story in between missions. Is this a good idea? Well, that depends on the game. Personally, with the superior game engine behind Payne, I would've preferred it if the cutscenes were within the game, a la No One Lives Forever. Likewise for this game, whose camera should've zoomed into the characters when a cutscene needs to be played out. However, admittedly, this is merely a small detail to nitpick about. Just a thought.

Gamers as a rule --who often have the best imaginations of anyone-- love comic books as much as video games. So, you may ask, why has nobody ever thought of designing a decent super-hero game, complete with interactive environments, intelligent AI enemies, and massive multiplayer potential? Good question. Freedom Force offers an answer; it's an excellent RPG whose core characters are a band of superheroes based on the "silver age" of comics. At its worst, it begs the question of why such a cool game concept wasn't thought of even sooner.

What is the "Freedom Force," per se? Well, think of it as a "Justice League" without the copyright infringement. Captain Freedom is a man whose powers were zapped into him by a strangely glowing landmark in the local park. He now has super-strength, super-jumping ability, and a justice staff he uses against enemies while shouting his motto, "For Freedom!!!" With your help, he gets enough reputation to get additional super-heroes to join him, and become...the Freedom Force. Sure, there's a bigger story here (like how so many people are suddenly with super powers), though I'll leave that as a surprise.

The strongest part of Freedom Force's environment, is its outstandingly "real" objects. As many as 800+ separate objects are loaded in any one level; each of which is totally useable or destroyable! Every traffic light, boulder, fuel barrel, or trash dumpster can be used in some way. Grab a nearby street light and use it as a "bat" against multiple enemies! Better yet, grab a whole car, and pummel a whole super-villain gang with it! Throw a fuel canister and...kaboom! Just wait 'till you see the size of the snowballs the villains shoot at you in the snowbound levels! Yes, this environment interactivity includes the buildings, which crumble to the ground if too many dodged energy blasts miss their mark and hit the buildings instead. I've never seen an environment this interactive since Crusader: No Remorse in 1995...and that was just a destroyable environment; this is an environment where you can actually throw, toss, carry, or use...practically everything! Be careful, though; innocent civilians fill every town, and getting them injured loses you prestige...after all, you are a super-hero!

It's prestige that makes the RPG elements of the game shine. A well-played level can get you the experience points needed to add powers to your characters, such as the power of flight, the power to confuse enemies, or a more powerful melee/missile attack. In addition, save enough people or do enough good deeds per mission, and your reputation will precede you, allowing you to recruit other super-heroes, with unique special abilities. My favorite of these was Man-o'-War, and his trusty sidekick, Sea Urchin. Others include Law&Order, who can morph from a burly hammer-wielding male warrior (Order) into a sword-wielding Amazon female (Law), and back again. An optional character editor can help you make your own super-heroes, with alternate appearances and abilities. You can even use alternate animations for their attacks, from a very extensive list.

Comic book fans who wonder if the story salutes classic comics as well; yes, it does. Of course, most of the story has been written just to give reasons for you to fight each unique villain, though there are some nice subplots here, that lead to a truly smashing conclusion. I particularly liked how nearly every new hero that joins the team has a story to tell, of who they were before they received super-powers, and why they chose the super-hero alter-ego they are now. While all cutscenes in the game are within the 3D game engine itself, these "secret origin" stories are shown in 2D form, as if scanned from a silver-age comic book. Not to be outdone, the in-game 3D cutscenes are similar salutes to comic genius, including verbal catfights between Eve and Alchemiss, and moments when El Diablo attempts to flirt with both. Meanwhile, the former southern belle Alchemiss would rather flirt with...Man-bot? Now that is a surprise.

There are a few minor, trivial gripes, though they make sense as to why they are there. First of all, an environment this elaborate can only contain a finite number of additional objects...namely, your superhero team. So, this means only four heroes can go on any one mission at one time. What's worse, superheroes have (in typical RPG form) a "stamina" type of power meter, which replenishes slowly, and limits your number of power-attacks that you can use at once. Essentially, this leaves the game with one flaw that hurts multiplayer (only 4 players in any one game...?), and one flaw that assists multiplayer (no one player can just keep shooting his most powerful attack skill, without taking more time to rejuvenate than a player who uses a lower-power attack). However, does this make the overall game any less cool? Not a chance.

To be honest, I was eagerly anticipating this game, yet was equally surprised how much I loved it. I thought this would be the game to simply idly play while waiting for Jedi Knight 2 later in the week. In truth, it became the game that others will have to compete with. I have never seen a game environment with objects this interactive, and now that I've seen one, all those "Quake clones" with static, lifeless environments will look that much more boring and cliché. Future games would be wise to take a good look at Freedom Force. After all, who wouldn't want to sneak up to those annoying snipers in Quake Arena multiplayer, and hit them across the head with a street light?