Freedom Fighters 1 take place
in an alternate reality that never saw the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Instead, the Red threat has continued to grow since the end of World War II,
taking hold in countries as close to home as Cuba and Mexico. The game opens
with the plumbing team of Chris and Troy Stone paying a visit to the clogged
sink of Isabella Angelina, who also happens to be a vocal member of a watchdog
organization devoted to informing the American public about the evils of the
Soviet Union. The duo enters her apartment to find that it has been hastily
evacuated, and soon after, Soviet troops bust in to try to find her, only to
capture Troy instead. The Soviet invasion of the US has begun.
After that brief setup, you're
thrust into the role of Chris Stone, and you hook up with Isabella's resistance
movement almost immediately. Operating from the sewers beneath New York City,
the movement aims to overthrow the invaders and drive the communists out of the
country. You'll start as a lowly member of the team, but you grow in popularity
and influence as the game goes on, and Chris will slowly transform from an
average 32 year old plumber into a battle hardened leader.
The game isn't terribly
long-winded in its storytelling. Most of the game's plot is advanced by a
series of humorous Soviet run newscasts, which cover your actions as terrorist
activities. Your missions are laid out in the rebel base, and the briefings are
great at explaining the strategic significance of, say, reclaiming a high school
building for the red, white, and blue. Though the story is told well and works
great in the context of the game, it's pretty short on substance. Aside from a
foreshadowed plot twist that you can see coming from a mile away, not a whole
lot happens in the game. It must also be said that the game doesn't provide
much closure at the end, simultaneously setting up for a sequel while not
really leaving you with a tremendous feeling of accomplishment. A more
climactic final mission would have gone a long way. These things hardly affect
the incredible quality of the game's action, though.
At the outset, Freedom Fighters
plays like a rock-solid third-person shooter, with smooth and responsive
controls. You can shoot from the hip or raise your weapon for precision firing,
which causes the camera to zoom in slightly for a cool over the shoulder view.
You have an inventory of items and the ability to carry a pistol and one
primary weapon, such as a shotgun, an assault rifle, a sniper rifle, a machine
gun, a rocket launcher, or a submachine gun. You'll also be able to carry
grenades, Molotov cocktails, high explosives, binoculars, and health packs that
restore your health when used, though they can also be used to heal wounded
civilians or other freedom fighters.
Once you've operated on your
own for a little while and have gotten used to the control, thanks to some well
placed training messages, the game gives you the ability to command up to two
other squad mates. By increasing your charisma rating which goes up as you
complete missions and can also be given optional boosts if you rescue prisoners
or heal civilians you can eventually control up to 12 soldiers simultaneously.
Running with a crowd definitely makes Freedom Fighters feel like a much larger
game, and the late game firefights that erupt when you have a larger squad are
extremely impressive and, more importantly, a lot of fun.
Squad
control is both simple and effective in Freedom Fighters. You need only three
buttons to command your troops on the battlefield. The recall button forces
troops to fall in behind you. The attack button can be used to send troops
after a specific soldier, or you can target a general area to get troops to
cover specific locations. Finally, the defend button is used to get troops to
hold their position. Tapping the buttons will assign commands to one member of
your squad, but holding the button down for a split second longer assigns the
command to your entire squad, which is usually more effective.
CPU: Pentium III 733MHz
RAM: 128MB
Graphics: 32MB
HDD: 650MB
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