Freedom Fighters review

Missions take place all over New York. This mission is one of the earlier ones.

Sometimes the 'what ifs' are the most interesting questions in regards to history. What if Napoleon hadn’t tried to conquer Russia? What if the Chinese had colonised North America before the Europeans? 'What if…' those are two powerful words to play with, and Danish IO Interactive have done exactly that in their first title since the hugely successful Hitman games. But they have not confined themselves to one alternative scenario like a historian would have done, in order to examine all the consequences that one change in history could produce. No. IOI have actually taken some of the most important events in the 20th century and altered them so that the world is dominated, not by the US, but by the Soviets. The result is Freedom Fighters…

Freedom Fighters is a third-person shooter with squad and stealth elements that take place in an alternate reality. The Soviet Union developed a nuclear bomb before the Americans and nuked Berlin in order to win World War II. Since then countless countries have succumbed to the Reds and now it’s the US’s turn. You are a simple New York plumber, who suddenly is caught up in the invasion.

Raise the flag

More charisma earned. Soon they will all follow one leader: me.

Like a real patriot it’s your ultimate duty to replace a Soviet flag with an American flag on top of a certain building in each mission. There are secondary objectives as well, though. Sometimes you must free prisoners, at other times it’s your job to blow up a bridge. During these missions you can earn charisma and thus work your way up in the ranks of the freedom fighters. Charisma is the most interesting part of Freedom Fighters as charisma allows you to recruit followers. Basically you get charisma by performing certain task like freeing a prisoner. When you've reached a certain amount of charisma, you level up and can recruit one additional follower. In the end you’ll be able to command 12 other freedom fighters.

The missions themselves are not that interesting or meaningful (why don’t the reds re-claim the freed buildings…), but the command system makes up for that. It’s very easy to send your fellow fighters into battle, to recall them or to set them to defend an area. The more fighters you get to command, the better the game gets. It’s a very different experience from the typical shooter.

They think, thus they are

Your squad is very competent and will manage most situations. I think I'll take a short nap...

Thankfully all these computer squad mates are cleverer than the usual video game A.I. controlled character. They actually navigate very confidently through the environments and it’s nearly impossible to lose them. They are tactically adept during battles as well and are actually a big help. They can figure out when to take cover, when to advance, when to man stationary machine guns and so on and this is no small achievement by IO Interactive.

The enemy soldiers are quite intelligent as well and are very challenging. Since they nearly always come in superior numbers, you should consider all your options before rushing ahead. Typically there’s always an easier, though not as obvious, way towards your goal. The missions are tied together in groups and you should always pay attention to the briefings, because solving them in a particular order may help you during the later missions as well. Sometimes you can take out snipers or attack helicopters that make your life difficult in one mission in one of the other missions.

Not all that shines…

One of the irritating aspects of the games: you can only save by accessing the sewer

Freedom Fighters does provide a lot of excitement, challenging fire fights and good old fashioned fun. But a few things prevent the game from really being a major hit. First of all there’s the lack of multiplayer. The single-player portion can be completed relatively fast, if the game isn’t played on the hardest difficulty settings. As there aren’t really a lot of reasons to complete the game more than once (no secrets or new game modes) a co-op mode would have been perfect, if not a full-blown deathmatch option like the console versions offer. Additionally the save game system is quite irritating. You can only save when you enter the sewer, and those kinds of saves are not considered permanent, so if you exit the game before completing a mission, your progress will be lost.

The background story is clever and refreshing, although I would have liked a more clever focus on the lead character’s transition from a plumber to a charismatic freedom fighter. That’s probably the only error made in that respect by IO Interactive.

Shall we wait for Hitman 3 instead?

CNN in Soviet clothing. Well as long as the anchor is this nice, you won't hear me complaining.

Graphics are very nice indeed with the rag doll system acting as the sugar in the coffee. It’s always entertaining to see your enemies fall realistically, when you shoot them. Models, textures and effects are also very nice indeed – as you’d expect from a major title. I have to mention the cut scenes as well – especially the ones made as some kind of Soviet CNN. Those bits are hilarious in their own scary way. The controls are naturally much easier to handle on the PC and really show that much of the challenge in the console version derived from the tricky precision handling while aiming at enemies.

The game itself is very good as long as it lasts and you’ll be in for a couple of very entertaining hours. Trouble is that you’ll be able to complete Freedom Fighters all too soon and without multiplayer there isn’t really much fun to be had after that. However, due to the refreshing backdrop and the splendid A.I., it would be a shame to miss out on Freedom Fighters. Thus renting it may be the best solution… after all we don’t want the reds to rule New York, do we?