Freedom Force vs. The 3rd Reich Review
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Although I haven't read a comic book in over 15 years, I can still recognize that these games are a very intentional homage to classic comic books. The game's many heroes are superhero archetypes, from the freedom-loving Minute Man, to the blazing fast Bullet, to the anti-hero Tombstone. The classic storyline and dialogue, and archetypal superheroes, give the game a familiar feel to anyone who has ever read a comic book.
The game's introduction made me laugh out loud with its somewhat kitschy cut scenes and dialogue, but I soon found myself drawn in to the deadly serious storyline. The game's storyline is one of the great strengths of the game, and is, in my opinion, one of the best computer game stories ever. As with the previous Freedom Force title, the game begins with the heroes battling super villains. Both the heroes and villains have been exposed to Energy X, an alien chemical that imbues humans with super powers.
The arch Soviet super villain Nuclear Winter has returned and is attempting to cause a nuclear war and Freedom Force must stop him. In the process of doing so, the super villain Time Master is freed by a Nazi villain Blitzkrieg. With Blitzkrieg then using Time Master's powers to travel back in time to give Energy X to the Nazis, Freedom Force must also travel back in time to stop him.
Throughout the game you will control a team of up to four superheroes. The action is all in real time, but can be paused at any time to issue commands, so it never feels frantic. The game's controls are very easy to master. Left clicking the mouse on an enemy will make your team of heroes use their default attacks, while right clicking will give you a drop down menu of which attacks you want to use. You will want to right click often, since each hero possesses unique powers that are all fun to use. Since you will have to issue mouse commands individually to each hero, the game pauses each time you right click and issue commands. Overall, I really liked the interface for this game. I was expecting more of a Warcraft III type command interface, but for this type of game the command interface was superior.
However, I do wish that it were possible to change the default attacks of some of the heroes. It would have definitely streamlined some of the combat. For a number of the superheroes, the default attacks are the weakest option. Minute Man and Tombstone, for example, have far superior melee combat attacks than ranged attacks at the beginning of the game, but they are forced to use ranged attacks as their default.
There are only a handful of keyboard commands that you will have to use in the game, such as the obligatory escape key to bring up save or load game options. You can also change camera angles, and select heroes using the keyboard, but the game is almost entirely mouse controlled.
One of the great strengths of this game was the great selection of unique heroes with unique powers. I was pleasantly surprised at the total lack of redundancy with the heroes. With nearly 20 heroes to choose from with as many as a half dozen powers to choose from, all the heroes were unique. By mixing and matching the superheroes within your team, you'll find that certain teams possess different unique strengths. A number of missions won't give you the opportunity to select your heroes or only a limited number of heroes can be chosen with the rest being pre-selected for you, which forces the player to learn the powers of a large number of the available heroes. In addition to the huge selection of heroes available, players can also design their own heroes. This gives the game considerable replay value, although you'll still have to bring along some of the pre-generated heroes during some of the single player missions.
Each hero has three power points that can be used to activate unique powers. Additionally, each hero has up to two attack options that don't drain any of these points, one of which is a default attack. The most powerful powers will drain all of the points. Points will regenerate over time, so special powers can be re-used throughout a mission. To speed up the regeneration process, Energy X power-ups can be found throughout a mission to add power points and heal your heroes over the course of a mission.
Powers range from standard punch and ranged attacks to area affect attacks, defensive powers, and special attacks. My favorite power was Tombstone's possession power, which allows the player to assume control over any enemy that fails to resist its effect. This opened all sorts of other opportunities, because in addition to unique powers that all the heroes possess, the villains are equally unique, so you can utilize the villain powers as well.
Between each mission, you can level up the heroes in your party that have gained enough experience. In the role-playing tradition, you can buff up existing powers and skills, or select entirely new ones with the points you've earned. The heroes that you use within a mission will earn more points than those that don't directly participate and stay back at Freedom headquarters.
The cut scenes between missions are told in a sort of comic book storyboard format with voice over. I liked the way these cut scenes were beautifully rendered, but intentionally left a little washed out with the colors not quite blended to look just like a comic book of that period. It was an obviously intentional effect on the part of the game designers that really worked to create the feel of being inside the pages of a 1960's comic book.
In addition to the great single player campaign, multiplayer and skirmish modes are a blast. This game really comes through on skirmish mode where other games have not. Within (The Rumble Room), you can choose a map and then either compose a group from any character in the game or let the game randomly select a team for you. By any character in the game, I really mean any character in the game. You can literally select any hero, villain, or NPC, from the lowliest unarmed civilian to the not-so-common dinosaurs.
I found the random selection mode of skirmish to be by far the most fun. It was an adrenaline rush each and every time to see what random characters I would have and try to quickly assemble them as a team to confront the AI opponent. The AI doesn't do too bad a job with the random assemblage either. It was intense to be challenged by an assault from all corners by a mind controlling floating eye, two superheroes, a giant robot, and a couple of thugs, barely get the upper hand with my two heroes, policeman, and minotaur, only to suddenly have a giant robot lumber into the battle against me! I was assured every time that the next fight would be just as random and equally intense. In addition to cool random settings for skirmish, you can also go into battle with the characters at default size or modify the character size settings all the way to gigantic behemoths. If the random selection mode isn't enough to keep you entertained, just change the settings and have your team stride over buildings into battle! Or better yet set everything into a David versus Goliath mode and confront a team of giants with your average sized crew of heroes!
Multiplayer has the standard Death Match and Protect/Defend scenarios, but also has a unique custom mode. Players can design multiplayer mini-scenarios, complete with custom comic book cover cut scenes. There is a fairly large modding community out there for both the Freedom Force titles, so if multiplayer interests you, you won't have to search very far to find like-minded players to team up with.
Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich is a terrifically unique game. As with the first Freedom Force title, FFvsTR successfully portrays a comic book theme and allows the player to assume a superhero role against classic arch villains. The superheroes are all wonderfully unique and the game possesses a great deal of replay value because of it. In addition, the skirmish mode is truly one of the best skirmish mode experiences I have ever had in gaming, making it hard to step away from game after game of random skirmish. If you're a comic book or RPG fan, this game is definitely worth checking out for a refreshing gaming experience.
