Reviews / previews
If youve ever wanted to climb into a spandex costume and fight the legions of evil, nows your chance! In Freedom Force, youll take on the role of a team of powerful heroes as they attempt to rid the world of Lord Dominion and the Energy X hes using to destroy the world. Freedom Force features over 25 original heroes and villains, from the patriotic Minuteman to the mysterious Eve. Should those not be enough, youll be able to use the included character building program to create your own heroes and pick your own powers. Freedom Force will offer its unique brand of tactical justice in early 2002.
For a taste of Freedom, check out Manbots origin movie. Click here if youre on a 56k modem or slower, or here for faster connections.-- 0 / GamePro
The old-school superheroes of the 1960s were larger-than-life projections of Truth, Justice, and the American Way. Those are the kind of clean-cut champions youll get to controland createin EAs Freedom Force, a campy strategy/RPG hybrid thats shaping up to be a must-play for fans of the comics of yore.
Guiding heroes with names like Minuteman, Mentor, and Alchemiss, youll find that Earth is being threatened by an alien force known as The Domain, led by the sinister Lord Dominion. He has unleashed Energy X on hapless earthlings, turning mild-mannered men and women into superheroesand, of course, supervillains.
Although the preview build was only 80 percent complete, the deliciously cheesy voice-overs sounded appropriately melodramatic, and the top-down graphics were bold and crisp. The single-player campaign rolled seamlessly from tutorial into gameplay, and the multiplayer mode will enable you and your pals to be superfriends. Controlling multiple characters was complex and camera control was a little confusing, but theres still time to tweak those before the games release. Fans of classic Jack Kirby and Stan Lee will definitely want to check this one out.-- 0 / GamePro
This game is every young mans dream: to be a superhero, tossing cars, swinging lightposts like baseball bats, and fighting evil wherever it appears. Luckily, not only is the concept perfect, but the gameplays pretty close to perfect as well.
Greetings, freedom fanatics! Welcome to Patriot City, circa 1962, where a sinister plot is unfolding. An alien menace has unleashed the secret powers of Energy X on the unsuspecting populace, turning some citizens into superheroesand others into supervillains. You must help Freedom Force stop evil and preserve justicefor Patriot City!
Freedom Force is a high-concept tactical RPG that relies on its audiences sense of irony and nostalgia. The games mood hearkens back to the Silver Age of comics, back when Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were creating such icons as Spider-Man, the X-Men, and Captain America. The look, sound, and presentation of the game is completely old-school; youd swear that King Kirby returned from the grave to do the art for Freedom Force. If you like superheroes (and who doesnt?), this is right up your alley.
Luckily, the game lives up to its lofty goals, providing a tight, smart tactical game along the lines of the combat in Baldurs Gate. Everything happens in real time, but you can pause the action to give orders to your heroes. The coolest thing is that you control superheroes who can toss cars, uproot trees, leap tall buildings, and shoot lasers from their hands. Cant get the bad guy on the roof? Knock down the building hes standing on. You even collect Prestige points to recruit new heroes, even ones you created yourself in the games character editor. With a growing number of Web sites out there for new skins and character models, youll likely never run out of possible heroes to join Freedom Force.
Freedom Force suffers only from a handful of faults. For one, selecting characters to give them commands is difficult, as is targeting enemies. Also, while the games in-game cinemas are nice, theres no real acting going on; the characters just stand there as the dialogue appears at the top of the screen. Lastly, if youre not someone with an appreciation of the often-silly nature of Silver Age comics, you likely just wont get it. The characters are stiff and overwrittenjust as they should be. But comics fans weaned on the Dark Knight and Spawn probably wont think its cool.
Thankfully, the game stands as a great tactical RPG in its own right, and if you love Kirby and Lee, youll be filled with delight and wonder as you play through Freedom Force. Finally, you get to live a comic-book adventure without having to worry about creasing the cover.-- Golden Age D-Pad Destroyer / GamePro
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