"Great game but lack variety."

This game takes place in an alternate universe where the Soviets have managed to take over the entire Eastern Hemisphere and is not intruding upon US soil. You, Chris Stone will lead a resistance movement to drive the red off our homeland and preserve our precious freedom. ''You have a new profession now...freedom fighter.'' - Isabella

Gameplay

Let's cut to the chase. This game's gameplay concept is that of the squad 3rd person shooter. You have in your command, the lives of up to 12 men or women to help fight with you on the battlefields. It's done extremely well. First off the controls are dead on: giving orders have never been so easy. Secondly the camera is a non-issue. In fact, except for a couple of indoor sequences where the camera zooms in too much, it offers a great view of the action taking place. Here's the important part, the gun fights are often intense. On the higher difficulty levels, you'd sometimes be pinned down by heavy enemy fire with only a couple of med kits left. Alas, one well placed grenade turns the battle in your favor as you storm the enemy position and hoist the Star and Stripes high in victory.
All this would not be possible without the game's flawless execution of the combat dynamics. No one tells you to take cover, but it becomes second nature as the game rolls along. The game forces you to command your men well and proceed slowly, rather then going in with AK's blazing because that simply won't work.
The level design has an surprising un-linear feel because it offers you the chance to take out a heli-pad to ground the choppers, storm a supply depot for some C4 and return to another level and finally blow up a bridge along the enemy supply lines.
Enemy AI is done pretty well, although it is often easy to flush them out from their cover and pick them off one by one.
Finally the weapons selection is merely ok. It's the basic pistol, couple machineguns, shotgun and a rocket launcher affair. Except the Molotov cocktails which is outstanding in clearing crowds.
The difficulty is right where it should be. Playing on easy would probably ruin the intense experience this game can be. Playing on the highest difficulty may be frustrating at times, but it offers an authentic taste of war (as close as possible) where there's actually a fear of death or just having to fight through the last part again. Nevertheless, this game is truly a blast to play!

Story

The story is introduced well with a cut scene setting up the plot. From that point on, the holes in story starts to show up and it becomes a nuisance to the gameplay. Despite the nonsense plot twists, the character were pretty well done. The Kid and the Newscaster (aka propaganda chick) are very believable characters and are voiced very well. The dialogue on the other hand are quite cliche but doesn't last too long as to tarnish the game.

Graphic/Sound

Having played this game on the Cube, I assume what I saw was pretty good graphics. Nothing to ride home about. Instead, the environments were well done but were all the same ruined city. The lighting is ok. The characters look pretty good, except they don't animate as smooth as it should be. Overall, this game is good to look at but far from being eye-candy.
The soundtrack is a whole different story. First off the main theme is quite dramatic and makes you want to answer the call of duty. It really stirs the emotions. Others tracks, though often repeated are well done and fits into the on-screen action well. It doesn't hurt to have Dolby Surround either as this game supports that as well. Finally, the guns and character sound good. With Dolby, you could hear enemies shouting in different directions and can sometimes help you pinpoint where the Soviets are shooting at you. Pretty awesome.

Play Time/Replayability

Hence, the greatest downfall of this game. Although highly entertaining and a blast to play, this game is over too quickly. Fighting through the missions will take you maybe 10 hours if not less depending on the difficulty. Also, there is zero variety in the level designs. It is always the same landscape with the same enemies to shoot at. At first, I thought fighting in Manhantan is pretty cool seeing how I live there. But later on, after seeing the same textures and the same wintry, snowy environments, the wow factor was gone. This doesn't necessarily damage your gameplay experience. But it would've been nice to see other types of locales.
Multiplayer is present but limited. CTF is fun for about an hour. Otherwise, there are no secrets to unlock unless you count the liberty island ''secret'' level which will take you about a half hour to beat. Actually, I did wish there were more missions and more unlockables. If nothing else, at least alternate costumes or some wacko weapons to shoot reds with. That would've added a few more hours onto the gameplay and probably would've earned a 9 in my rating.

Final Recommendation

Seeing how fun this game is, I recommend everyone to play it and enjoy it. But only hardcore fans of the genre should dish out the moolah to buy it. But if you are looking a game that'll take you on a hella good ride? Rent Freedom Fighters and join up!

Final Score: 8/10
Verdict: Rental

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/27/03