Freedom Force vs. The 3rd Reich Review
March 21, 2005 by Scott Parrino
by Scott - March 21, 2005
The Freedom Force, protectors against evil, return to face their nemesis Nuclear Winter. His plan to destroy the free world and Freedom Force must be stopped! During Nuclear Winter's plans, you are flung back to the biggest world war of the century, World War Two!
Fight For Freedom!
When I was young, comic books had their place in every kid�s imagination. They would read about heroes with super powers saving the day or putting an end to an evil villain. Deep down inside, I wish I had superpowers like the heroes I read in the comics. Well after over a decade of rolling around in toxic waste, no luck.
Luckily for me however, Irrational Games released a follow-up to their successful Freedom Force from 2002. This time around, they vastly improved the graphics and the gameplay as well as added several new heroes and villains.
Playing Freedom Force vs. The 3rd Reich (to which I�ll refer to as FF for rest of this review) was a treat as well as probably one of the most fun RPG Strategy games I have played in a while. Generally I am not a big fan of these kinds of genres, but FF is so well done that pretty much anyone can play it without having a negative experience. I mean, who doesn�t want to use super powers to throw baddies into light poles, buildings, or throw a car at them?
You start out in FF with just a few heroes and facing off against some low-level bad guys. Of course, as you progress, you will gain more heroes from either the storyline or through collecting prestige canisters throughout your missions to recruit other heroes. The heroes of FF aren�t copies of each other with varying little differences; they are completely different in terms of powers, looks, and personality. It is this touch in FF that makes you feel like you are part of a great comic experience. From Minute Man to The Bullet to the Alchemiss, you�ll have to use their powers and experience correctly in battle or you�ll end up dead heroes.
Using their powers in combat is pretty straightforward. You can right click on a baddie or an object and select their particular power from the menu. You can do this in real-time or while paused, which I suggest if you�ll be facing multiple bad guys. Remember, each hero has different style of attacks, which range from melee, to beam to blast attacks, which can cause area damage (including on friendlies!). However, each hero may not have certain kind of attacks or not powerful enough. This is where strategy comes in where you�ll want to balance out your team (you can bring 4 heroes on a mission at a time) and use them effectively against enemies.
Gaining experience and prestige and even regaining health is as easy as picking up a canister in the game. In fact, that�s the only way. This is both good and bad, as you�d figure fighting constantly would build up experience, but on the other side of the coin, you can easily level up weaker characters by just having them get the canisters and avoid being knocked out in combat. Health and prestige are also gained through this way as well.
While on a mission, you�ll have main objectives as well secondary and extra objectives. These range from finding a certain object, or knocking out an enemy, or just making sure you don�t go nuts on your surroundings and destroy a civilian�s life.
Playing FF online is some great fun as well. You and three other buddies can duke it out against evil villains in story-based multiplayer. The only problem is sometimes lag can cause a delay on powers, which can create some hair-raising moments as your superhero is getting bashed around like a chipmunk in an industrial-sized washing machine.
A Comic Book Look
The first thing I noticed about FF was that it looked like a comic book. Of course, this was the intent of the developers, but it is pulled off extremely well. Cut scenes between missions are done in this fashion, with slight movements such as eyes or birds moving out, but general action are done in a solid fashion. I really liked this touch to FF since it saves me the time to turn pages on a comic book, let alone go outside and buy one.
Of course, the in-game graphics are a delight. Each character has an original look, which can range from excellent to downright ridiculous looking. Then again, this is a comic book experience on the PC, so cheesy costumes are a must.
The surroundings are done extremely well. They range from cities, to beaches, to caves, complete with, well, stuff you�d find there. I personally have been to caves and have to say, other than bad guys dressed in uniforms wielding automatic machine guns and monsters going around throwing rocks at me, it looked pretty good. I greatly enjoyed the city scenes, as tossing a car around town or knocking pieces of buildings showing greatly detailed interiors was a treat.
With detailed lighting and shadows, as well as many objects on the screen, FF is prone to low frame rate on lower systems, so I recommend tweaking your settings so that for a smooth game. My only gripe with the graphics is that during some missions, you�ll have character faces pop-up with speech bubbles. Their mouths move as if they�re chewing gum or just non-stop gabbing. It is a very generic looking animation that doesn�t match the words of the speech, but it is something minor that I doubt will affect your gameplay experience.
Great Sound Quality
The sound experience of FF is well done. The voices of the villains, good guys, even the odd NPC aren�t done generically. Each one of them has a certain touch to them. El Diablo has a Mexican accent, while Alchemiss, from the south, has that sweet sounding accent of a southern belle. In all honesty however, Liberty Lad sounds annoying, but that�s my personal preference.
Other game sounds, such as super-powers of a blast leveling a building or blowing up a car sound perfect. Then again, I was never around in real life when stuff like that happened, but I can guarantee that you won�t be displeased with the sound of FF.
Create A Superhero
One of the fun things you can do in FF is create your own superhero. While you can�t exactly be completely original, as you borrow some powers from the heroes, you can give him (or her) a name and an outfit. I�m not sure about adding your own voice, but it�d be neat to have your own in FF. I really enjoyed creating outrageous heroes with names like SuperDeathStarUltimate (if you�ve read my older reviews, you�d catch this name) or The Express Lane.
A Wonderful Experience
Overall, Freedom Force vs. The 3rd Reich is a treat for those who like RPG Strategy action, or a fanatic on comics. Of course, I�m not big on both of those, but I greatly enjoyed it. So I guess FF can be for anyone who is into big game action with a splash of RPG element in it and a handful of strategy. Either way, just go out and find this title and buy it. Or have a buddy get it and play it at his house. That�s what my friends do.
