PlayStation 2

Freedom Fighters

It must take a lot of work to make a squad-based action game. On top of having to deliver all the core aspects that any shooter should have--things like responsive gameplay and great graphics and sound--a game designer working with squad-style gameplay also has to worry a lot about artificial intelligence. All it takes is a smattering of instances where a player's AI squadmates get stuck on a wall or take an inefficient path around a few obstacles to really shatter the illusion of working with a team and turn the game into a drone-babysitting simulation. Freedom Fighters, the new game from the developers of last year's great Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, deftly avoids the many pitfalls of AI squad tactics, and this, combined with great control, mission design, and presentation, makes for a truly fantastic game.

Freedom Fighters kertoo vaihtoehtoisesta nykypäivästä, jossa Neuvostoliitto ei kaatunutkaan omaan mahdottomuuteensa. Sen sijaan punakone on jyrännyt lähes koko maailman, omiin oloihinsa sulkeutunutta Yhdysvaltoja lukuun ottamatta. Lopulta puna-aalto saapuu New Yorkiin, joka jää etenevän neuvostoarmeijan jalkoihin. Miehitystä vastaan nousee taistelemaan joukko tavallisia amerikkalaisia.

Freedom Fighters is a very impressive title and, as predicted, is one of those magical moments that surprises with quality and gameplay. If you like action titles then you'll love this game. I only hope that the developers start work on a sequel sooner rather then later. Fantastic.

Nonetheless, if a game can keep you entertained for six hours straight, then it is well worth at least a rent. I believe that it only took me about four to six hours to beat the single player missions, which, by the way, kick as much butt as multi-player, but even if you get bored with single-player, I am sure that multi-player will keep you busy all night, literally.

Overall, Freedom Fighters brings back all the necessary elements to make the team third person shooter fun. The simple controls and the missions, with enough of a challenge to make you think, really make it fun to play - something that can be lacking in uber-realistic games. You can always retreat and come back later in this game - where ever you see a manhole cover you can escape to the sewers and try again with full health and a reload. You can also quicksave in game via the same method - useful before you try something stupid. The real beauty here is that is was a surprise - no preconceptions here, just fun to play - fun enough to have diverted me from SOCOM (and how much publicity did that have?).

The overall feel is great, although not as deep as one would hope. Regardless, EA has another winner on its roster that warrants a better sequel.

For a game that's undergone so many name changes during its short marketing life, Freedom Fighters turned out surprisingly well. Whether you remember it as Freedom: Battle for Liberty Island or Freedom: Soldiers of Liberty, the third-person action shooter blends squad-based tactics with a well presented story. The whole package comes off like an entry level tactical action game for those who can't get their minds around the all-too authentic realism of games like Rainbow Six or Conflict Desert Storm. It also deftly avoids the identity crisis that undermined Digital Anvil's Brute Force (on Xbox) by keeping the basic game systems easy to understand and easy to execute.

EVERY SO OFTEN A game pops out of the blue that smacks you square in the chops with it's surprising brilliance and impressive gameplay. Freedom Fighters, we're very pleased to report, is one such game. Although we'd been following development progress of this third-person squad-based action shooter from early on (when it was known as "Freedom Battle For Liberty Island") it wasn't until we started playing the finished version that we realised just how well put together Freedom Fighters actually is.

What if the Soviet Union won the Cold War and invaded the United States? Freedom Fighters says Americans would resist as ragtag revolutionaries - and it would be a hell of a lot of fun.

Un très bon jeu qui sort malheureusement un peu vite. Si de bonnes idées sont en effet présentes (l'assignation d'ordres à vos hommes étant la meilleure) et que l'ambiance est exquise, le gameplay n'a pas bénéficié d'assez de soins et l'IA des personnages se montre aussi bien très fine que défaillante suivant les passages. Mais au final Freedom Fighters est un titre accessible, qu'on lâche difficilement une fois le pad en mains et ce malgré les défauts évoqués plus avant.

Freedom fighters is a an interesting mix of genre's between a Dead to Rights (action) and a Ghost Recon (shooter). In the game, IO Interactive manages to bring their Hitman 2 physics and engines, and introduce an intricate storyline, focused around a Russian occupation of New York city in a parallel universe - where the cold war was basically non-existent and the Russian military has managed to take "liberate" (think what the US did to Iraq) North and South America.

Riffing somewhat from current events, Freedom Fighters sees an irked young patriot defending his country against an invading superpower through a campaign of guerrilla warfare. Perhaps disappointingly, developer Io Interactive doesn't explore the underlying irony of the premise - that Russia has invaded America to "liberate" Americans from their corrupt capitalist rulers - to any significant degree, preferring instead to frame the player's actions with comedic news broadcasts, predictable NPC dialogue and stirring Russian music.