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Freedom Force (2002 video game)

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Not to be confused with Freedom Fighters (video game) or Freedom Wars.

Freedom Force
Developer(s)Irrational Games (Windows)
The Omni Group (OS X)
Publisher(s)Crave Entertainment and Electronic Arts (Windows)
MacPlay (OS X)
2K Games (Steam)
EngineNetImmerse
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X
Release
March 26, 2002
  • Windows
    • NA: March 26, 2002[1]
    • EU: July 12, 2002
    OS X
    • WW: December 21, 2002
Genre(s)Real-time tactical role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Freedom Force is a real-time tactical role-playing game[2][3][4] developed by Irrational Games and published by Electronic Arts and Crave Entertainment in 2002.[5][6] The player guides a team of superheroes as they defend Patriot City from a variety of villains, monsters, and other menaces. The game's budget was around $2 million.[7] A sequel, Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich, was self-published in early March 2005.[8] The games were made available on Steam on May 29, 2009.[9]

Story

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Set in Patriot City, a generic American city, circa the late 50s/early 60s, the game sees a range of ordinary citizens imbued with super-powers after being struck by beams of Energy X. First amongst these is Frank Stiles, an eldery veteran of the Manhattan Project, who becomes Minute Man. He is quickly joined by Mentor, a former prisoner who believes himself to be a member of the alien species, the Domain, who are responsible for the Energy X striking Earth. Together with El Diablo and Manbot, they create Freedom Force, which rapidly expands to include other heroes while taking on a variety of Energy X powered villains. Stories are broken down into comic-esque issues, with each issue containing multiple individual missions.

The game is an homage to the Silver Age of comics, with most of the cast being analogues to one or two Marvel or DC characters.

Gameplay

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The player controls a group of up to four members of Freedom Force, guiding them in real time to complete objectives, mostly combat based. Each character's actions are limited by individual stamina meters, with different actions requiring different amounts of stamina, relative to their power. Characters level up with XP gained from participating in missions which then gives CP. This is used to improve existing abilities or add new ones.

The game offers the ability to create custom characters, especially through the use of mods. These can be recruited in the main story, as well as used in multiplayer. Characters, including customs, are given a rating in Prestige based on the amount of and strength of their abilities, preventing players from recruiting massively over-powered custom characters at the start of the story campaign and allowing for multiplayer balance.


Development

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The game used the NetImmerse game engine.[10]

Comic book tie-in

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Cover of the first issue

From January to June 2005, the story of the first Freedom Force game was retold in a six-issue comic book miniseries published by Image Comics.[11] This series was scripted by Eric Dieter[12] and featured Jack Kirby[13]-influenced artwork by Tom Scioli.[14] Dieter also wrote the series "Bible" and served as community manager for the official website's forum, "Freedom Fans".[citation needed]

Reception

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The game received "universal acclaim" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[15] GameSpot named it the best computer game of March 2002.[28]

Freedom Force won Computer Gaming World's 2002 "Strategy Game of the Year" award.[29] The editors of Computer Games Magazine named it the ninth-best computer game of 2002 and called it "the superhero game fans have been waiting for". It also received the magazine's "Best Voice Acting" award.[30] GameSpot presented it with its annual "Best Story on PC" prize.[31] Freedom Force was also nominated for PC Gamer US's "2002 Best Roleplaying Game",[32] The Electric Playground's 2002 "Best Strategy Game for PC" and GameSpot's "Best Music on PC", "Biggest Surprise on PC" and "Best Graphics (Artistic) on PC" awards.[31][33] During the 6th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, Freedom Force was nominated for "Computer Role-Playing Game of the Year" by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.[34]

Sequel

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Freedom Force was followed by a sequel, Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich, which was released three years after the original game.

References

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  1. ^ a b Sulic, Ivan (March 26, 2002). "Freedom Force". IGN. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  2. ^ "Freedom Force FAQ". Taktikzone.
  3. ^ GameSpot staff (July 17, 2000). "Freedom Force Q&A". GameSpot. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  4. ^ Allman, Mark (October 22, 2000). "First Looks: Freedom Force". RPGPlanet. Archived from the original on December 17, 2007. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
  5. ^ "Freedom Force". Metacritic. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  6. ^ "Freedom Force Review". GameSpot. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  7. ^ Grant, Christopher (May 8, 2009). "Ken Levine: Next project will cost 'a fair amount of money'". Engadget (Joystiq). Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  8. ^ "Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich". Metacritic. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  9. ^ "Freedom Force - Now on Steam - Save 10% for one week!". Steam. May 29, 2009.
  10. ^ "A Freedom Force Update". ndl.com. September 2000. Archived from the original on February 4, 2001. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
  11. ^ "Freedom Force (Volume)". Comic Vine. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  12. ^ "GCD :: Issue :: Freedom Force #6". www.comics.org. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  13. ^ "On the Irrationality of 'Freedom Force', Gaming's Forgotten Superhero Series". Vice.com. June 23, 2015. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  14. ^ "GCD :: Issue :: Freedom Force #1". www.comics.org. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  15. ^ a b "Freedom Force for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  16. ^ Deci, T.J. "Freedom Force - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  17. ^ Coffey, Robert (June 2002). "Freedom Force" (PDF). Computer Gaming World. No. 215. pp. 80–81. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  18. ^ Edge staff (May 2002). "Freedom Force". Edge. No. 110.
  19. ^ Taylor, Martin (August 2, 2002). "Freedom Force". Eurogamer. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  20. ^ Brogger, Kristian (May 2002). "Freedom Force". Game Informer. No. 109. p. 92. Archived from the original on February 25, 2005. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  21. ^ The D-Pad Destroyer (March 27, 2002). "Freedom Force Review for PC on GamePro.com". GamePro. Archived from the original on February 7, 2005. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  22. ^ Dulin, Ron (March 29, 2002). "Freedom Force Review". GameSpot. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  23. ^ Chick, Tom (March 15, 2002). "GameSpy: Freedom Force". GameSpy. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  24. ^ Lafferty, Michael (April 10, 2002). "Freedom Force Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on December 31, 2008. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  25. ^ Osborn, Chuck (May 2002). "Freedom Force". PC Gamer. p. 58. Archived from the original on March 15, 2006. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  26. ^ Brooks, Mark (May 10, 2002). "Freedom Force". Entertainment Weekly. No. 653. p. 84. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  27. ^ Steinberg, Scott (March 26, 2002). "Freedom Force". Maxim. Archived from the original on June 6, 2002. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  28. ^ The Editors of GameSpot PC (April 5, 2002). "PC Game of the Month, March 2002". GameSpot. Archived from the original on June 3, 2002.
  29. ^ Staff (April 2003). "Computer Gaming World's 2002 Games of the Year". Computer Gaming World. No. 225. pp. 83–86, 88, 89, 92–97.
  30. ^ Staff (March 2003). "Best of the Year 2002; 12th Annual Computer Games Awards". Computer Games Magazine (148): 58–61.
  31. ^ a b GameSpot Staff (December 30, 2002). "GameSpot's Best and Worst of 2002". GameSpot. Archived from the original on February 7, 2003.
  32. ^ Smith, Rob (March 2003). "The Ninth Annual PC Gamer Awards". PC Gamer US. 10 (3): 48–50, 54, 58, 60, 66, 68, 70.
  33. ^ Staff. "Blister Awards 2002". The Electric Playground. Archived from the original on March 8, 2003. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  34. ^ "D.I.C.E. Awards By Video Game Details Freedom Force". interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
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