Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich – PC – Preview

“If someone has a better plan, I’m
all for it,” said Ant, “but since I’m not crazy about the whole ceasing to exist
thing, I don’t think we have a lot of options.”

The world is yet again in trouble
and it is up to a team of four superheroes, otherwise known as Freedom Force, to
save it. Freedom Force versus the Third
Reich, from Irrational Games, is a team-combat superhero game in which the team
of heroes can be controlled either individually for strategic gaming, or as a
unit for the steamrolling effect. Each of the heroes has different powers and
players can select the attacks for each member, and then employ the various
skills for powerful combinations.


The members also move at different
rates of speed, and so keeping them all together can be challenging.

The preview version had a few flaws
in that not all of the characters would remain focused on the task at hand.
Grouping and attacking as a group was easily accomplished, and those familiar
with real-time strategy games will be versed in the control set-up almost from
the onset.

Couple that with the fact that there
was only one level available in this build and where the Third Reich plays into
it remains to be seen. The build was a team of four heroes versus a strong
power. There are primary and secondary goals, all of which are scattered
throughout the level. Really, not too much about the played level can be
divulged since it was one of the levels deep into the game and players will have
to work to that for a big surprise.

Graphically this game is starting to
show signs of age. The game does look several years old (the first title was
released in 2002) and though essentially a sim model, the game’s characters move
a little stiffly. You can zoom into the action and it does look nice, but the
camera does not seem to be rotating, which can translate into blocked vision at
times. The lip synch in the cutscenes is also way off, and does little to
advance the game. But still the game is bright and lush and sports all the
nuances of a comic book come to life in terms of the destructible city and the
color schemes used.

The sound features solid musical
underpinnings with some sparkling special effects sound and over-the-top
narrative spoken by the main characters. Solid, and repetitive at times, but not
something to jump up and down about.

The game’s AI is somewhat
predictable but that doesn’t stop it from being challenging. There is a lot
happening in this city and players will find much they have to counter during
any level.

It’s hard to really break down the
meat of this game, considering it was only one level and title “co-stars” didn’t
make an appearance. Freedom Force was an award-winning title when released
several years ago. It really didn’t have much competition in the game class, but
since then Raven’s (and Activision’s) X-Men team fighting title has made its
appearance on the consoles. Freedom Force falters by comparison to that title,
but looked at on its own, it still provides a challenging comic book-style
adventure.

This game is currently scheduled for
a March release.