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EverythingXen
Arch-villain
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
Posts: 4342
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My first online review 
---------------------------------------------
Freedom Force grabs the spirit of 60s comics and integrates it nearly perfectly with todays graphical superiority. It seizes the spirit and doesn't let go, doesn't slow down, or break genre for the entire rollercoaster pace of the game.
In some ways, especially in magazine ads, Freedom Force is like the old live action Batman. The voice acting is over the top, there are comic book 'thuds' 'kraks' and 'pows' when you attack, and it's set in the 60s.
HOWEVER... it is MUCH better written and acted than the old Batman show. Sorry Mr West... but George Ledoux does it much better in this game. It's a 3D comic book from start to finish. A 60s comic. The Silver Age as it came to be known. Heroes were over the top because, with the cold war in place, kids needed them to be. Heroes were heroes. There were no Spawns, Punishers, or Wolverines.
The voice acting is superb. I don't want to know how many times they had to read their lines to get the inflections right (and keep a straight face!). You can tell they were having fun doing it and since over the top is what the 60s comic scene was all about, they were more than happy to oblige.
The story is fantastic. Some complain that it's too linear. Of course it's linear... it's a comic book! But it's so well written that you won't CARE that you have no choices. The story captures the spirit of the 60s comics PERFECTLY. It covers the usual... bank robbers, alien invaders, giant robots, dinosaurs, evil clones... and it does it FLAWLESSLY.
My only (minor) complaint is that since it's written around the pregenerated characters (Freedom Force), your own character has no speaking parts in the cut scenes (duh).
The graphics are impressive. Full 3D. Most of the time you'll want to be zoomed right out so you can see what's going on on the map (it's a tactical game, after all, and if you're zoomed in looking at your feet someone a block away is going to shoot you)... but when you go to cinegraphic view (the 3rd person camera following view used in Gothic) and watch your hero rip a lamp-post down or unleash an energy blast... it's like being in a comic.
The physics engine is the most robust I've ever seen in a game. Online I've played in car bank shot contests... bouncing a car off the top edge of a building and seeing if you can get it to spin. Throw a garbage can with superheroic force into a car, and it will swerve and take out a lampost, which in turn may crush a civilian. Miss with a full powered energy beam or a car or something and rest assured... the building behind the guy WILL fall. At least the front wall, if not the entire building. Accidently took out a block like that with one full powered blast... cost me a lot of points on the mission.
Character creation is easy and there are BILLIONS of combinations you can make. You can recreate any superhero with a little work, or make your own. The more powerful your character, the longer it will take to be able to use him or her in the game, unfortunately. The game is based around the pregenerated characters. They're Freedom Force. Your character gets recruited if you so desire when you've earned enough points to 'buy' him.
Recruiting Batman or Wolverine can be done quickly. Recruiting Superman takes longer. This is for game balance. If you made Superman and dropped him in fighting thugs in mission three you'd have no challenge. Sort of like using an atom bomb to get rid of a mosquito nest.
Each pregenerated character has a list of powers and attributes that you can level up when they get experience. Each has two 'tiers' of powers to work with and you can buy your way through them however you want.
Your own characters are much more freeform. Can't afford regeneration if you want to put him in the game at a certain point? Fine. Buy it when he levels up. The only drawback to the custom character level up as far as I can tell is that you can't modify existing powers (though you can 'level them' to increase their base abilities... damage, accuracy, etc). For example: If you buy a 20 point damage attack with no area of effect and want to put an area of effect on it you have to buy a second power. I'd like to have seen the option of modifying the power and paying the cost difference with your level up character points.
Still, I see why they did it. If you could modify it like that you could have a fire beam if you know you're going to fight ice warriors, then after that's done modify it to an electric beam if you know you're going to be fighting robots. It would disuade you from using the other members of your team (who each have their own strengths and weaknesses).
The sound. Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Aside from a few stutters (most likely system related, covered later), the voices are PERFECT for their role as 60s over the top superheros. Sound effects are excellent... be it the 'sping' of a bullet bouncing off a wall, the ripping metal sound as you pull a street-lamp out of the ground (batter up!), the wall shaking explosion sounds of something detonating, or the rising rumble of a collapsing building... the sounds fit perfectly. The music is subtle, and really, really good. It sets the mood without fail in every mission.
However, the game is, sadly, anything but bug free. In particular, it seems to detest GeForce cards. I had to go back 3 levels of detonator driver (to the last windows hardware qualified ones) in order to stop recurring blue screens of death. As well as update my sound card drivers. Once I did all that, crashes to desktop became rare (but still present). Irrational says they're doing what they can to address this in a patch. I hope so, as there are people who can't even play it. (I was pretty much one of them until I fixed it).
Some people are complaining about the controls and the inability to rotate the camera. I don't see why. The game is a RTS... but when you right click or hit space bar everything pauses just like Baldur's Gate. Issue your orders. Unpause. Watch the fireworks.
As for the camera rotate? There's a setting in options called 'camera rotation'. If you select it, holding 'alt' and moving your mouse rotates the camera. It's not too hard, and its explained in the manual. Though I can't figure out why it's not 'checked' in the first place and explained during the excellent tutorial mission.
The manual, amazingly enough, is especially useful, as it describes what certain power effects do (fire, energy, disrupt object are pretty self explanitory, sure... but what the heck does mercy or balance do?).
Multiplayer is the last thing I'm going to cover. And boy is it a doozy. Right now, it's Freedom Forces least tapped potential. The game was released with only one style of play: Deathmatch! And why it is INCREDIBLY fun to have Hulk vs Superman city leveling brawls, a lot of people (myself included) want a co-operative mode. You know, four humans teaming together to fight a computer controlled bad guy force. Sounds like a comic to me.
(Or team deathmatch at the least... as it stands, you can call yourself a team... but after the other 'team' is defeated... well... as a certain immortal trenchcoat wearing guy with a sword points out "There may be only one!!")
Irrational says EA was pressuring them for a release so they had to admittedly rush multiplayer. They had time to get one form working properly, and they thought that pitting custom heroes against each other would pass the time until they address multiplayer concerns in a features patch.
They're right, and it is fun (aside from all the l33t guys min/max building the exact same character who cannot be beaten.. but people are people.). 10,000 point characters are best for multiplayer... the matches tend to be fair. Unfortunately, 30,000 is the default and people don't get the fact that the 30,000 is for a 'squad' of heros. 3 or 4 characters at 7500-10,000 each. One 30,000 point character is exponentially stronger than a 10,000 point. In fact, he'll probably demolish your three 10,000 without batting an eye. Fortunately, the host sets the point limit.
Of course, I can see why people want to use just one hero. Controlling a squad against AI is one thing. Against another human opponent it's entirely another. The characters have NO AI scripting. They will NOT defend theselves at any cost. Playing one character solves the possibility of having your squad decimated if you take your attention off them for a millisecond (all it takes a flying character with a decent fireball power).
in addition, right clicking pauses multiplayer as well. Most games are probably spent 80% paused while people give orders or react to what just happened or will happen. There's an option for a slow motion pause instead, which tends to get used multiplayer. It still gives you time to react to that car flying at you from a block away without making everyone else stop dead in their tracks (though a good player takes the opportunity of another persons pause to issue their own orders). It's also kind of cool to watch your character dodge Matrix-style in slow mo.
Making the game have a turn based multiplayer option would help, there. But it's real time with pause(or slow). Also, certain powers (such as the expensive 'flight') would count for a lot less in turn based. Right now you can dodge incoming cars by flying out the way if you see it coming and right click then move. Turn based would have you move up,them throw the car, you get knocked out.
So... in conclusion... if you like comic books (classic comic books) this game is for you. The superhero genre has never had a good computer game... and this takes that curse and knocks it through a building wall with accompanying 'ker-pow!' sounds. Be warned, however, that it is VERY RPG light. As in... you can make a character, and level a character. That's all.
The Freedom Force franchise can only get better from here, and here is pretty damned good.
Pros: - Excellent sound, graphics, story,
concept
- Incredibly fun
- the ability to throw a bus. I've
always wanted to do that in a game.
Cons: - Stability issues with some common
hardware configurations
- Underdeveloped multiplayer
- Game length (though its not bad for
a RTS)
_________________
Estuans interius, Ira vehementi
"The old world dies and with it the old ways. We will rebuild it as it should be, MUST be... Immortal!"
=Member of the Nonflamers Guild=
=Worshipper of the Written Word= |
Fri Apr 05, 2002 6:29 pm |
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Danicek
The Old One
Joined: 15 Dec 2001
Posts: 5922
Location: Czech Republic |
Ups, nice story...
Now I know exactly what is this game about .
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Fri Apr 05, 2002 6:33 pm |
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EverythingXen
Arch-villain
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
Posts: 4342
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Was my review a little long winded? I believe in informing people about all the good and bad of a game instead of the watered down style some reviewer use.
But I did it all without spoiling a single thing, also unlike some other reviewers. Nothing I said there isn't shown in the install screen.
_________________
Estuans interius, Ira vehementi
"The old world dies and with it the old ways. We will rebuild it as it should be, MUST be... Immortal!"
=Member of the Nonflamers Guild=
=Worshipper of the Written Word= |
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Fri Apr 05, 2002 6:46 pm |
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dteowner
Shoegazer
Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia |
So would I be right to conclude that gameplay in FF has a lot in common with X-Com (with the big exception being real time vs. turnbased combat)? |
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Thu Apr 11, 2002 10:51 pm |
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The Hulk
Avenger, Defender
Joined: 19 Feb 2002
Posts: 728
Location: Southeast U.S.A. |
I can't wait to play this game using one of the Hulk skins. I think I might wait for a patch though.
Side note: don't you hate it when EA rushes games out the door?  They are notorious for pressuring developers into releasing a game before it's ready, especailly if it's an rpg type game.
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"Mr. Magee, don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."
-Bruce Banner
=Member of the Non-Flamers Guild= |
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Thu Apr 11, 2002 11:54 pm |
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Myrthos
Spoiler of All Fun
Joined: 07 Jul 2001
Posts: 1926
Location: Holland |
Hey I missed this one before. Nice preview
BTW this brings me to another thing. If anyone wants to write a balanced (p)review of a game or anything else about a game then consider sending it to me or Rend. If we think it's something nice, which it probably is, then we put it up as an article on RPGDot, with your name attached to it.
Your way to fame and fortune..... well fame maybe, never seen any fortune here 
_________________
Kewl quotes:
I often have an odd sense of humor - Roach
Why quote somebody else, think of something yourself. - XeroX
...you won't have to unbookmark this site, we'll unbookmark you. - Val
Reports Myrthos for making me scared and humbled at the mere sight of his name - kayla |
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Fri Apr 12, 2002 8:11 am |
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Gorath
Mostly Harmless
Joined: 03 Sep 2001
Posts: 6327
Location: NRW, Germany |
quote:
On 2002-04-12 03:11, Myrthos wrote:
Hey I missed this one before. Nice preview
BTW this brings me to another thing. If anyone wants to write a balanced (p)review of a game or anything else about a game then consider sending it to me or Rend. If we think it's something nice, which it probably is, then we put it up as an article on RPGDot, with your name attached to it.
Your way to fame and fortune..... well fame maybe, never seen any fortune here
Go for it, EX! We want to see this on RPGDot.  |
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Fri Apr 12, 2002 9:17 am |
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Gig
Southern Spirit
Joined: 20 Feb 2002
Posts: 3226
Location: NFG Headquarters |
My landlord is playing Freedom Force right now. I've only watched a little, but it seems really silly to me, all BAM! and POW! 
Who knows, it's probably great, I'll decide after I see a little more.
_________________
Be afraid of the winch. Be very afraid!
[ This Message was edited by: Gig on 2002-04-12 07:58 ] |
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Fri Apr 12, 2002 12:57 pm |
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EverythingXen
Arch-villain
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
Posts: 4342
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Well, it's already on RPG dot, really... right? Someone of authority can copy and paste the post into a new link, or even just put a link on the news page (that would be cool. ) to the forum topic, right?
I could copy, paste, and e-mail if needed... sure.
Gig: It is all bam, pow, boom, CRAK! But... have you ever read a comic book? What kind of self respecting comic book doesn't have words for sound effects? This is the ambience that Freedom Force aims for and will NOT let go of for a second. I admire irrational for sticking to their vision despite their PR guys going 'uh... the game has sound effects... why word bubbles??'. The PR guys just Didn't Get It (tm).
It may be a little silly, sure (even a lot silly)... but it's dead-on for silver age comic books.
_________________
Estuans interius, Ira vehementi
"The old world dies and with it the old ways. We will rebuild it as it should be, MUST be... Immortal!"
=Member of the Nonflamers Guild=
=Worshipper of the Written Word= |
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Fri Apr 12, 2002 1:28 pm |
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Gig
Southern Spirit
Joined: 20 Feb 2002
Posts: 3226
Location: NFG Headquarters |
quote:
On 2002-04-12 08:28, EverythingXen wrote:
Gig: It is all bam, pow, boom, CRAK! But... have you ever read a comic book?
It may be a little silly, sure (even a lot silly)... but it's dead-on for silver age comic books.
I've never read a super-hero comic book, I have to admit. I have read a few Archie comics and I liked Mad Magazine when I was in junior high (does Mad count as a comic book?)
All I can think of with those bams is the Batman TV series. You know, the one where Batman was really effeminate and wore a spandex costume and Robin wore green cheerleader spanky pants?
So basically you're saying, "Shut up Gig, you don't know what you're talking about", Right?
BTW--I think Heros look way more buff when they wear leather or neoprene, Like the X-men or the movie Batman! 
_________________
''Perhaps I'm old and tired but I always think that the chances of finding out what really is going on are so absurdly remote that the only thing to do is to say hang the sense of it and just keep yourself occupied. Look at me: I design coastlines. I got an award for Norway.''--Slartibartfast |
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Fri Apr 12, 2002 2:12 pm |
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EverythingXen
Arch-villain
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
Posts: 4342
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I would never tell anyone to be quiet. It's your opinion..
And as for the heros looking good in leather and such like the movies? I agree. Which is why I make my own custom characters and completely customize their looks in Freedom Force (I make my own, but examples of what I mean by customize can be seen at http://www.freedomforcecenter.com in the skins section.).
_________________
Estuans interius, Ira vehementi
"The old world dies and with it the old ways. We will rebuild it as it should be, MUST be... Immortal!"
=Member of the Nonflamers Guild=
=Worshipper of the Written Word= |
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Fri Apr 12, 2002 2:19 pm |
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Gig
Southern Spirit
Joined: 20 Feb 2002
Posts: 3226
Location: NFG Headquarters |
Ooh cool! Thanks for the link.
_________________
Be afraid of the winch. Be very afraid!
[ This Message was edited by: Gig on 2002-04-12 10:19 ] |
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Fri Apr 12, 2002 3:18 pm |
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Myrthos
Spoiler of All Fun
Joined: 07 Jul 2001
Posts: 1926
Location: Holland |
EX I would need some screenshots and your final scores and stuff, just like in this review.
_________________
Kewl quotes:
I often have an odd sense of humor - Roach
Why quote somebody else, think of something yourself. - XeroX
...you won't have to unbookmark this site, we'll unbookmark you. - Val
Reports Myrthos for making me scared and humbled at the mere sight of his name - kayla |
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Fri Apr 12, 2002 9:03 pm |
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Danicek
The Old One
Joined: 15 Dec 2001
Posts: 5922
Location: Czech Republic |
quote:
On 2002-04-12 03:11, Myrthos wrote:
Hey I missed this one before. Nice preview
BTW this brings me to another thing. If anyone wants to write a balanced (p)review of a game or anything else about a game then consider sending it to me or Rend.
Well, I can write very nice (p)review but I doubt that someone will be satisfied with my Swahily dialect.
Before I will do such things I must learn a lot  ).
P. S.: when I saw this topic sink down without replies, I was first time unhappy that this forum had not active moderator. Without any word to someone after two days (or something like that) arived PM from Myrthos if I do not want to be moderator here . Well, now there is no reason to make it sticky when it is on RPGDot main page.
_________________
Moderator of Wizardry 8 forum.
Moderator of General CRPG talk forum.
Moderator of Roleplaying forum.
[ This Message was edited by: Danicek on 2002-04-13 09:37 ] |
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Sat Apr 13, 2002 2:31 pm |
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EverythingXen
Arch-villain
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
Posts: 4342
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That's the thing about pics... I haven't been able to take any screenshots yet. Still trying... but printscreen is disabled (and the trust, rusty, UO utility I was using for Gothic isn't working on it at all).
But I'll poke around.
_________________
Estuans interius, Ira vehementi
"The old world dies and with it the old ways. We will rebuild it as it should be, MUST be... Immortal!"
=Member of the Nonflamers Guild=
=Worshipper of the Written Word= |
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Sat Apr 13, 2002 3:22 pm |
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