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The Plot: "Freedom Fighters" is a game whose development I'd been particularly interested in, since the plot sounded fairly out-of-the-ordinary. Although it's been through a couple of name changes, the final game is still a very enjoyable effort. "Freedom Fighters" is a squad-based shooter that takes place in an alternate reality, where the Soviet Union has successfully attempted a takeover of the United States. You are Chris, a plumber on his way to another routine job in Manhattan when the city is overrun by Soviet invaders. Soon enough, the city is overrun with soldiers, barricaded streets, posters and abandoned subway stations with eerie, Fincher-esque lighting and protest graffiti. Your character must first flee to the rebel base, then begin to plan missions to take back the city. Once your character starts going through missions, you gain charisma points and start recruiting other fighters to aid in the battle. Once you occupy the enemy strongholds, you raise the American flag up on the roof. At first, it's just you against them, but by the end of the game, your character commands up to 12 soldiers. An intelligent control scheme makes ordering the soldiers to attack a certain direction, defend or retreat quite easy, if not always flawless when it comes to sending them towards a very specific point. Surprisingly, the AI of the teammates (as well as the enemies), while not perfect, is quite good. The overall story is pretty interesting, but not quite as in-depth as I'd expected. Still, the stories behind each particular mission are involving and the stories are fairly well advanced by the newsclips (somewhat cheesy, but still somewhat funny) done by Soviet broadcasting. Action is pretty intense at times, livened by the fact that the levels are generally well-designed, if somewhat noticably linear at times. There's a lot of cover to be found and some set-ups in some of the interiors provide the basics for intense battles between your character and a series of enemy troopers. Each mission has multiple locations and your transport system is the sewers. Replay value is somewhat limited by the structure of the game, but given the options of how to work with your squad and the different ways to approach a given battle, there is some room for variation. Rating: 8.9/10 The DVD Graphics: "Freedom Fighters" does look pretty terrific on the XBOX. Character models and animations are good, environments are quite detailed - there's quite a lot of cover, the building interiors are convincingly trashed and there's a fair amount going on, such as trucks driving around, trains going by or helicopters searching overhead. Lighting is excellent, too. The only thing I didn't think quite worked was the camera during the moments when you're shooting and trying to specifically aim; the camera goes to a sort of over-the-shoulder shot that sometimes makes things difficult. Other than that, I quite liked the look of the game. Rating: 9.1/10 Sound: "Freedom Fighters" does sound pretty good on the XBOX, although the game doesn't make use of 5.1 audio quite as strongly as some of the other games on the system. The musical score, which is quite a highlight, is a mixture of sometimes modern and sometimes orchestral, but the orchestral sections are particularly haunting and really add a gravity to the whole story and experience. There's some decent use of the surrounds throughout the game, but I thought that the rear speakers could have been put to even more intense use in the battles. Audio quality is fine, as dialogue (and voice acting) was fine and sound effects were clear and sounded moderately strong and dynamic. Rating: 8.8/10 Rating Issues: The game is rated "T" for action violence, if not terribly graphic action violence. Final Thoughts: I liked this game. It takes an interesting idea and although it doesn't go too in-depth with the story, the designers have successfully created the tone and a squad system that works well. Recommended. |