Freedom Fighters

"Polished to be as fine as it can be"

Introduction
Freedom Fighters - Polished to be as fine as it can be

We have seen many squad-based action games. We have seen the likes of SWAT, and even Dynasty Warriors. On top of what all reasonably good action games have to offer, squad-based action games have to deliver more than that. All it takes is one terrible AI programmer and the entire game is smashed. However, I am glad to say that Freedom Fighters offer eye-candy graphics, superb atmospheric audio, excellent gameplay and top-notch AI. It smartly avoids frequent errors made by squad-based action games, and produces a game that will offer you hours of fun.

The Reds invade America.
The game kicks off with the plumbing brothers, Chris and Troy Stone, making another daily job routine. They just received a job call from Isabella Angelina, who happens to be one of the wanted person that the Soviet Union are after. The two visits the clogged sink of her apartment, and was greeted by a small group of Soviets barging into the home. The soldiers bust the apartment and captured Troy. Chris, was craftily hiding behind the bathroom. The plot thickens.

After that abrupt disruption, you gain control of Christopher. The Soviet helicopter immediately fires inside the apartment and Christopher ducks out of the way. The game starts off with a tutorial and teaches you the basic controls needed to put the Soviets out of commission. Whilst completing missions and saving innocents, Christopher gains more and more charisma and respect from their fellow comrades and this allows Christopher to rise in rank, so to speak.

Game advances by news report.
Whenever you complete a mission, you'll be immediately be brought to the sewers where you'll witness the Soviet newscasts reporting on the trouble you've made. They claim your activities as terrorism, and they want you dead. The missions you're entrusted to are described in great detail, and the game provides good reasons for you to do that. All missions automatically end when you raise the red, white and blue flag in the name of honor. There are enough missions to keep you occupied, but the game isn't terribly long.

In the game, Freedom Fighter plays like a solid third-person shooter. You're given the choice of relying on the auto aim - which fires rather badly - or hold down L3 to get a cool over-the-shoulder look. The latter provides better aim, but its rather difficult to hold down L3 and move the stick at the same time. I dare say most of the shooting are done by your comrades. Your inventory isn't exactly awesome. You're only given a choice of a primary weapon, a secondary weapon, and some other equipments. They consists of health packs which restores your health to full. Some other explosives like Molotov and hand grenades. In addition to that, you also have your wrench and binoculars.

Once you've gotten use of the controls and completed a few mission objectives, the game puts you in control of two squad mates that you can order around. The game has a few easy commands for that. You can easily command your comrades by pressing the triangle, circle or square button. Holding it sends the command to all your squad mates. The triangle button sends your squad mates to fire at will and basically take out anything that moves. The square button sends them back to you, also known as regroup. Circle orders them to hold their position.

The game puts in a lot of effort on improving the AI. It isn't perfect, but the minor flaws are easily overlooked by their sheer ability. Your teammates uses environment for cover, and normally help each other out by covering each other. You can easily barge in and take out all of the enemy with your teammates as cover, or send them in to do the dirty job for you. The latter is usually more useful, as your teammates don't die that easily and they can shoot better. This allows the game to have a lot of variety, and ensures that no two missions would be exactly similar.

Talk about beating about the bush!
Technically, you would only have one primary objective to complete in a mission. Let's say take control of the police station. But one single mission is rarely accomplishable without firstly establishing the other secondary objectives. For example, the police station might be surrounded by snipers located at the nearby petrol station, which you'll need to blow up with a handy C4. The game smartly locates sewers strategically around the area, and allows you to access other areas of the mission.

In this game, sewers serve as save points and it is your main traffic route around the mission. The sewers have an auto-save (If you enabled it) built in whenever you transfer location, or you can choose to make a quick save which you can load whenever you die. However, these quick-saves disappear after you leave the game. In short, the amount of saves and sewers located around the mission provides a perfect balance for gamers.

Four difficulty levels ensure there's a place for every gamer.
Whilst starting a game, you would be given a choice with four different difficult level. This ensures every gamer gets a choice to feel like home. In any case, the Soviets start off with simple weapons like handguns and foot soldiers. While progressing through the game, you'll face tougher enemies. For example, Soviets would get better equipments like shotguns, assault rifles. There would also be armored soldiers equipped with the deadly machine guns, lethal snipers and even a tank that you'll have to blow up.

However, unlike most of the other games, there would be un-lockable items whenever you complete the game. Freedom Fighter, unfortunately does not have any of these. Therefore, there is simply no reason to reply Freedom Fighter unless you want to challenge yourself at a more difficult setting.

Appearing on all major consoles...
Freedom Fighter would be available on the PC and the three next-gen consoles. Although each version of the game are partly equal, there are obviously small differences. Graphically, the PC stands out with their greater resolution. The three next-gen consoles are roughly on par, but its pretty obvious that the Xbox is simply the best on graphics. However, the GameCube and PS2 version are playable. I personally played the PS2 version, and I loved it.

The sounds in Freedom Fighter is terrific. Special mentions to the voice-overs, especially. The newscast, the cut scenes, and even the soldiers have terrific voice actors. During a fierce firefight, the sound effects really put you into a battlefield. It's extremely realistic, thanks to its outstanding atmospheric audio.

In closing...
Although the game could be longer, Freedom Fighter is definitely a game not to be missed. Its a game polished to the finest.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/29/03