Freedom Force
Review by Mike PhillipsJune 2002
Are you the sort who channel-surfs past CNN in order to watch the Justice League on Cartoon Network? Still have your Marvel comics stored in the closet? Seen the Spiderman movie more than once? Then you’ve already played Freedom Force and are far more enlightened than me.
I had serious trepidation over buying Freedom Forceeven the box looked like it should reside next to Spongebob Squarepants: Operation Krabby Patty. Freedom Force is a comic bookstyled superhero game, for heaven’s sake. It would surely be fun for kids to play, but no well-adjusted adult should give it a second glance. I loved comic books as a youth, but I also had a fascination over staging battles with my GI Joe dolls, and both are a distant memory now. Okay, maybe on rainy days when I can’t play outside, I do get out the GI Joe dolls, but that’s not my point.
Eventually I caved and purchased Freedom Force, fully expecting to give it a brief glance before throwing it on my “I’ll finish it when Hell freezes over shelf” … right next to Jekyll & Hyde. What I got is easily the best game I’ve played in quite some time. Freedom Force is fun, period! For anyone who suffers from my antiquated ways of thinking, get over it and buy this game already. Irrational Games has crafted something that will appeal to everyone, and as a bonus it just oozes polishit’s the little things that will lift this title into classic status long before it disappears from store shelves.
Installing the game gives you an idea what a treat you are in for. Several comic book covers are displayed featuring the heroes and villains that you will be meeting while playing the game. The covers have an aged, read look to them, a fantastic touch. The people behind this game thought of everything.
The opening intro provides an explanation of how Frank Stiles, an average citizen of Patriot City who was working on the Manhattan Project long ago, gains his super powers. An alien ship drops several canisters of Energy-X on the city … because Lord Dominion wanted to rule the Earth … and, well, Mentor kind of foiled his insidious plan by … then the evil Mr. Mechanical enters the picture … but then the Timemaster runs amok … Forget about it, I’m not going to spoil the story. The plot is very well conceived even though a tad bizarre, as it should be considering the nature of the game.
The graphics aren’t anything special, but in no way am I implying they’ve been beaten with an ugly stick. We’re talking comic books here, folksthey don’t have to be cutting-edge. If you are expecting bump-mapping, cell shading, or even trilinear filtering, you won’t find it. What you will find is a very crisp, detailed, alive, 3D world with automobiles and citizens going about everyday activities.
Virtually everything can be interacted with in some fashion; buildings can be destroyed if you so fancy. Every citizen will reply to you, although in most cases only a few offer any valuable information beyond a scant canned sentence or two. Objects such as cars, mailboxes, traffic lights, street lamps, etc., can be thrown or wielded as weapons against foes. Pedestrians often cross streets in front of speeding cars, and obviously that’s a bad thing. Again, the attention to details elevates this title to something special.
Cutscenes are something to be Marveled over (pardon the pun). These cutscenes are comic books in action. When a new superhero is introduced in a mission, at the end you are treated to vignette as to how he or she acquired his/her powers, how those Energy-X canisters affected his/her life. The legendary Jack Kirby obviously played a major role in the inspiration for this game, and I’m sure he would be proud of the effort.
Sound is where Freedom Force really shines. The voice acting is some of the best I’ve ever encountered in a game. The cast members accepted their roles with an incredible degree of professionalism, as campy and over-the-top as the roles were. This group grabbed their parts and ran with them; they lived themhow refreshing in a computer game. I’m compelled to mention the narrator by name, Ian Vogel. If one conducted a nationwide search for someone to fill the narrator role, I doubt if anyone could pull it off with more aplomb than Mr. Vogel.
The music is also something that can’t be described in printed word. Each level has its own score, and the music is mostly sung, with a baritone, foreboding chorus. How someone could sing “Nuclear Winter” as if it were going to be a Grammy contender is beyond me, but they did it, giving another aspect of the game a polished, finished feel.
The game is played from a rather indescribable perspective. In most instances the game world is viewed from something resembling a 75-degree isometric view, until you zoom the camera in; then it’s more of a standard third-person, over-the-shoulder view. The camera control definitely takes a while to get used to, but I can’t think of a way it could have been handled any better. When viewing the game map from a distance, buildings, trees, etc., get in the way of the action. Quite often, in order to fight an enemy you have to zoom in and get up close and personal. Using a scroll wheel mouse is the best way to accomplish this. When you zoom in, said obstacles become transparent so you can view the action transpiring behind them. It’s very disorienting at first, yet with a little practice it becomes effortless.
Undoubtedly everyone who plays Freedom Force will have a favorite character. Mine happened to be Man o’War, not because he was the best to go into battle with (he was a useless laddie), but rather because of the outrageous remarks he makes. Stephen Russell (who provides several voices in the game) does a Sean Connery impersonation that is hilarious. I often found myself pausing the game, hoping to regain some semblance of composure before I continued playing. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Mr. Connery should embellish the work of Stephen for all it’s worth.
Humor is a very subjective matter, but if you happen to get some chuckles while watching Batman (no, not those recent impostersI’m talking about Adam West, the Batman), you’ll be doubled over while playing Freedom Force. The dialog and plot give new meaning to tongue in cheek.
Ah, the gameplay, you ask. Irrational Games refers to it as a tactical RPG, and, well, it is, sort of. By no means is it your standard Dungeons and Dragons kind of RPG, although the basic structure is present, in a limited fashion. Before starting a mission you have to choose your party (squad, team, or whatever name you prefer). Each mission has both primary and secondary objective(s). The secondary objective(s) are optionalthey are there for you to gain prestige points, which in turn can be used to recruit new members to the FF fold. Primary objectives must be completed in order to advance, and depending on your success rate these determine how many experience points are gained. Experience points are used to “level up” team members upon completion of a mission.
During missions, there are various Energy-X canisters lying about. The flavors include power, health, experience, and prestige. It’s a good plan to search the entire game map for these canisters before completion of the primary objective. A side note: the game’s initialization file can be easily edited to add bonus characters, change the zoom factor (which I highly recommend), or enable the console so cheat codes can be used if necessary.
Does it seem complex? It is, but the first level of the game serves as a tutorial, replete with an explanation of most aspects provided by Mr. Vogel. Beyond that, mouseovers are used to give a text explanation on options screens. A thorough reading of the manual is imperative to understand the finer points of the game, such as creating a custom character. Speaking of which, the manual is a sixty-page document that covers everything you ever wanted to know but were afraid to ask about Freedom Force. It would have been further icing on the cake if the manual had been printed in color, but I’m just being nitpicky.
The good news for point-and-click fans is that the game can be played using only the mouse. Keyboard shortcuts make things much easier, but they aren’t needed.
If multiplayer is your thing, it works flawlessly out of the box. You choose your characters and have at it with other gamers on differing maps. Hosting a game couldn’t be any easier, or if you want to join a game, meeting other players can be accomplished using GameSpy Arcade, which is included on the disc. I must confess that I’m not a multiplayer lover, but this game has me warming up to the concept.
Want skins, meshes, wallpaper, or have a question about the game? A game-dedicated forum can be found here if you need tech support, strategy advice, or just want to offer an opinion. Feel the need to do a little modding? An editor is available for download here. Tutorials are available to ensure designing your own levels is as painless as it can be.
Further good news from Irrational Games: Freedom Force is designed to be a trilogy. While this game takes place in the early 60s (the Silver Age of superhero comics), the sequels will traverse the 70s to present day, offering much “grittier” subject matter. An expansion pack is also being considered.
Of course I have some complaintsmy inherent desire to whine. The save game utility is the most confusing I’ve ever seen. There is a quick-save/quick-load option that works fine. But your hard saves are stored alphabeticallyno thumbnails, no date and time, just alphabetically. It makes figuring out where you left off quite a chore; I’d love to know why the programmers did this. It’s a very disturbing flaw in an otherwise excellent game.
The traditional methods of adhering to particular characters and leveling up as quickly as possible don’t work well. You may find your favorite characters unavailable for some missions, and doing battle with weak characters can result in restarting the game from scratch. Not much of a complaint, but I’m trying my hardest to find anything to bitch about.
Odd tech bits and stuff: For whatever reason FF was a bit unstable (a few random crashes) for me while playing it under 98SE. On the same system with the same drivers, ME handled it with no problems. I also briefly played it under 2K, and it ran smoothly with no problems.
In an age where you thought everything has been done before, along comes Freedom Force, shattering genre lines, daring to do something different, and instilling fun for all ages into a gameyou can’t ask for anything more. Grab a copy now, because it just doesn’t get any better than this.
The Verdict
The Lowdown
Developer: Irrational Games Publisher: Electronic Arts; Crave Entertainment Release Date: March 2002
Available for:
Four Fat Chicks Links
Screenshots
System Requirements
Windows XP/Me/2000/98 (Windows 95 and Windows NT not supported) 300 MHz Intel Pentium II or AMD K6-2 processor (600 MHz or faster Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon processor recommended) 96 MB RAM (128 MB or more recommended) 4X CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive (16X recommended) 31 MB free hard disk space 16 MB Direct3D capable video card (32 MB recommended) DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card (Environmental Audio capable sound card recommended) Keyboard Mouse
Where to Find It
Links provided for informational purposes only. FFC makes no warranty with regard to any transaction entered into by any party(ies).
Copyright © Electric Eye Productions. All rights reserved. No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.
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I’ve still not completed this yet so will keep this short but.. I’m absolutely loving Heavy Rain. Not unconditionally.. it’s not without it’s problems (some of the voice acting is literally laugh-out-laughable, and screen tearing has never been this distracting before) but I don’t think a game this flawed has ever had me so gripped before.
It’s abit emotionally draining though.. I keep coming away from it feeling cold and letting out big *sighs*. Absolutely a good thing though in the context of what the game is attempting (successfully) to do!
..although having said that, I have just realised none of that has any relevance to this actual story. Hmm, sorry!
Sales performance? I think it will do modestly. One thing I have noticed however is that alot of my close friends who aren’t “gamers” as such (and who literally buy games consoles for sports games – nothing else – if they even buy consoles at all) are VERY interested in this. As the resident geek in my circle of friends, I’ve been asked all sorts of questions about what this is, what it’s like and whether it’s any good.. by all sorts of different people.
I think it will be interesting to see Sony’s hardware figures around the launch of Heavy Rain, because I can see this being more popular amongst less-traditional gamers and non-gamers than amongst the existing base of Call of Duty, Gears of War loving “core” gamers.
Or something.. *shrugs*
Agreed, Mat. The story, the writing, a lot of the technology and scene blocking, all those things really keep you entranced. The actual gameplay is… I don’t know, I don’t want to say “nothing special,” but it’s certainly minimalist.
One thing I often wonder is how much my button presses are really influencing the game, or if they’re just in there to make me feel like a participant in what’d otherwise be a passively viewed story. A good one, to be sure, but no different from a movie.
I think Heavy Rain could mark the point at which AAA production values meet the sensibilities and tone of certain realistic and mature adventure games, that is, games which don’t emphasise fighting or action and concentrate more on storytelling, characters, dialogue and situational puzzles. I know Heavy Rain has its twitchy QTEs but the production values and mature themes are going to be hard to resist. The general non-gamer consensus with most mainstream ‘mature’ or ‘grown up’ titles at the moment will probably be something like:
Mass Effect is a fighting game for trekkies and sci-fi geeks.
Dragon Age is a fighting game for beardy weirdy fantasy geeks.
GTA IV is a fighting game for sociopaths.
Heavy Rain has the accessibility of something like GTA IV with its modern setting and believable characters but without the controversial Rockstar/GTA stigma attached and without the emphasis on fighting. It will not only appeal to the gamers who have been waiting ages for it or fancy something different, but also to the non-gamers who perhaps want to enjoy something a bit meatier but don’t care for outright fighting like in the above titles. Intriguing.
The things we love mature like HR games for?: http://borderhouseblog.com/?p=1691
The issue around the fighting sections of Heavy Rain is quite interesting in itself I think.
I’ve sunk several hours into this now and have pulled the trigger of a gun once.. and I tell you what, when the time came I actually felt like it meant something. The option to shoot also came with a string of alternative actions, and I went through afew of those before deciding to open fire. For someone who plays alot of FPS games, that Heavy Rain made me think twice about doing it once was quite intriguing..
I agree with you about the aspect of involvement too, Matt. I’m finding there are times when it feels like you’re genuinely playing a part, and others where it’s quite peripheral. Flicking the analogue stick to open a car door for example is nice and all but.. I would neither notice nor care if the AI did that for me. Alot of the more mundane actions do feel a little loose, although at the same time I do think they’re a nice way of building your relationship with the game and your characters personality. To open the fridge door or.. to not open the fridge door?
I haven’t actually played this game and probably won’t anytime soon. I don’t have a PS3, and, even though this is getting rave reviews, it really doesn’t seem like a killer app. Plus I’m terribly poor. Nevertheless I’m intrigued.
But here’s the thing, every time I see a game being lauded for a story, in spite of its lackluster gameplay, I feel very conflicted.
I think, is this a game then? Is this a story that could only be told in this medium? Why? What narratological elements of the game are unique to the medium? If the game was told as a movie, would it be considered anything more than average?
Then I think, does it matter? One thing a game does that no other medium can do is imbue its audience with a real sense of tension. You can fail in even the most simplistic game, which ups the ante. Additionally you can get stuck, which makes the story, even if its only told in cut scenes, more emotionally resonant because you overcame something to get to it.
So… well I don’t know. I feel like games can tell a story, and they can probably do so on the same artistic level as a masterful film… but the heart of the medium is its gameplay and games should be striving for innovation in that AND innovation in story AND integration of the two.
Does Heavy Rain do that?
@Igor: Hello Igor, the Border House is a great website that I’ve been visiting quite often since it was launched. I’ve got to say though, as a white, heterosexual male I feel out of my depth over there sometimes! There are some fantastic reads though. Thanks for the link. I’ll probably steer clear of it however, because of the spoilers!
@ Gregg
Absolutely. There are a couple of moments that remind me a little of GTA in terms of what’s actually going on, but they’re so far removed from that in the way that they’re handled and portrayed. Grand Theft Auto looks so childish in comparison.. and that’s coming from a GTA stallwart who still holds a candle for those games. Essentially of course they’re very different experiences and nobody will ever play one for the same experiences as the other but I still think it’s a fair comparison.
Did you buy the game or have you downloaded the demo, Gregg?
@ Lokimotive
I particularly agree with your point there about the ability to fail being so engrossing. One of the things that impressed me about Uncharted 2 was that Nathan Drake really does take a beating in that game. That’s another area where Heavy Rain does push it quite far. The characters go through some pretty testing times as it is, but if you’re that way inclined you can pile misery onto them even further by your own actions. Although it’s not happened to me yet, apparently they can also die prematurely and the game will continue without them.
Just as an aside too, I could sit and talk about Heavy Rain all day. I could write a list as long as my arm about things I don’t like about it from a technical/gameplay standpoint (but wont, because that would have to include spoilers) but the things it does do well make me so giddy.
For some reason my PSN connection is having none of it. Money’s too tight at the moment as well to buy any games so I’ll have to wait until PSN gets its act together so I can download the demo! I actually can’t wait to give it a whirl.
Is it just today you’re having PSN trouble? You are aware of the absolutely monumental crash/bug with the PS3’s today, right?
http://bangbangtech.com/archives/113267/60gb-ps3s-locked-out-of-psn-error-code-8001050f
Mat, I bet I know the one time you pulled a trigger of a gun, and you’re right, unlike any other game, it’s a very tough decision. I pulled the trigger and wound up regretting it almost immediately.
One interesting thing is that some of the prompts and conversational options are a bit misleading. There are times when I think I’m going to say one thing and wind up saying something else.
One of the impressive aspects of Heavy Rain is that it does a good job of making you realize how all the small decisions impact all the large ones. To open the fridge or not open the fridge… seems innocuous, but it may shape the fates of men one day.
@Gregg I should have explained why I’ve linked to that article. The reason is it makes me doubt if HR should be described as really that mature, or at least if it should be denied that sex and violence are its primary attractions for most buyers. The text discusses the main female character and how she is presented as a victim of male abuse type of character throughout the game above all other characteristics.
This and other things I hear about Heavy Rain make me think about shock value and putting the player in uncomfortable situations – both the subtler ones, as well as those straight from exploitative fiction.
Anyway, too bad Heavy Rain isn’t for the PC, so I could check it out myself. At least there’s the interactive youtube demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjNsqPxO2Ws
Makes you think if the full game would be actually much less of an experience if it was just an interactive movie on Youtube.
There’s a slight focus on violence against women, Igor, but at least so far it hasn’t been as bad as I feared. While Madison is victimized from time to time, she’s also presented as a tough lady who’s capable of taking care of herself (unless I’m the one directing her QTEs, in which case we’re both hosed).
If sex or violence are the primary attractors for most buyers – and I don’t disagree at all with the possibility – then most buyers are going to be disappointed. This game is about sadness, and loss, and not much else.
Of course I’m not far in yet, so my assessment could change.
Ahh, thanks for the clarification Igor. I’m keen to know what the feminists make of Heavy Rain considering what (little) I’ve read about it, so I can’t really comment but will be sure to when I’ve played it. Incidentally, I wonder if PSN has stopped acting the goat…
EDIT: @Mat – Yeah, I briefly heard something about it on the news this morning. Will check it out now.
For Sony’s sake I hope they fix this problem in about five more minutes, or they’ll be facing down one humongous lawsuit. Their official response (“we are looking into it”) is probably not going to cut the mustard.
It’s fixed now, Steerpike 🙂
By the way, after a monster late night session.. I’ve just finished Heavy Rain. All I can say is.. wow. Stunning game on so many levels. Also, now that I’ve finished, I’ve decided to open myself upto the many “what ending did you get” threads across the internet. I don’t think I’ve read any 2 that are the same yet. I have to go through this again to experiment with the differing avenues myself though, of course..
I think I’m about halfway through. It’s a good game.
It’s a great game.
It’s… complicated. We’ve never seen anything quite like this before, have we?
Go to bed!
@ Mat, and to think you’ve booked an entire week off work to play it! You only needed one day! (i’m so lonely at lunch 🙁 )
Must resist buying a PS3. Must….resist….Tap-Repeatedly effect…
Once the price dropped, I’d have picked one up but for the no backwards compatibility for PS2 games issue. That still annoys me as I have a substantial PS2 library left to play.
@Toger: I got my PS2 modded to play US games so in that sense it’s more valuable than a backwards compatible PS3 but in truth the whole thing pissed me off to. I don’t want 12 consoles under my TV. Just one please.
Finally got the demo of Heavy Rain downloaded and installed. Will probably play it tonight with my girlfriend. I’m looking forward to it.