Freedom Force Fans?

[2600Lives]

Man, I just finished FF Vs. the 3rd Reich, and WOW. I was a huge fan of the first game, and while this one didn't introduce any new features or anything, the story was much more focused and intriguing. These two games combined are some of the best PC gaming anywhere, period.

 

For one, I love the old, Jack Kirby look and feel to everything. Characters have strange little circles and zig-zags on their costumes, and unnecessary flourishes everywhere (which are cool, don't get me wrong). Everyone talks like every single thing they say is of the utmost urgence (especially Mentor and Minuteman), and the overacting is atrocious, but it's all intentional! That's what I love about these games, they take every thing, good and bad, about the Silver Age comics, and bring them to life. The cutscenes feature limited, cardboard-cutout style animation, with every character describing what is obviously happening to them (just like in the comics), and striking dramatic Kirby-like poses every chance they get.

 

What I really like about the sequel, though, is it's refreshing lack of political correctness. It takes place in 1963 and in 1942 (you'll see why in game), and chracters speak as if they would during those times. Germans are referred to as "Krauts", and just about everyone in the game represents some sort of stereotype. The main German bad guy, Blitzkreig, speaks like every German in every war movie made in the 1950s and 60s ("Ve haff vays ov making you talk..."). Red Sun, the Japanese bad guy, speaks like a bad Charlie Chan impersonator, dropping pronouns left and right. Even Fortissimo, the evil Italian opera star, is an amalgam of stereotypes of that era. He's fat, got a huge, pointy moustache, and says things like "Get-a that thing away from-a me!". You've got an English super-bloke who speaks in almost nothing but cockney colloquisms, a French swordswoman who speaks in a sort of broken English, but uses French phrases frequently, and an American in a suit of flying armor who sounds exactly like Jimmy Stewart. It is just how things were thought of back then, and it took some huge balls for Irrational to make a game that tries to capture that time frame (with super-heroes and monsters, of course). Of course, it's always funny to listen to Minuteman spout patriotic rhetoric, and say things like he's ready to stand against the "Communist Hordes." The game is obviously made with the utmost love, though, so none of these characters are meant to be offensive, just a mirror of a bygone era.

 

Graphically, it's not the greatest in the world, but it's not meant to be. Everything has a pastel, minimalist look to it, and it works on all levels. Little details abound, like the fact that most every object in the game world is given some sort of description (usually heavy on the alliteration, like "Pround participant in the Patriot City skylike"). Later, a certain character has a mishap (won't say who or what happens), and you can see that he limps along now when moving, and his armor is now cracked (even his character portrait reflects this).

 

The music is just amazing, with a rousing, war-time theme (complete with humming) for the main screen, then all sorts of music in game. There's latin beats, Japanese beats, congo beats (seriously), more rousing humming. It's awesome!

 

You should be able to pick up the original FF for under 10 bucks now, and the sequel is now like 20 bucks, so grab 'em both and enjoy. Besides, where else can you play a game where one of your enemies is called a "Kill-a-Rilla"?

[jboypacman]

I watch some video of this game a while ago and thought it looked great and i agree love the Jack Kirby inspired look to it.

 

My question is does this game play like the old Diablo and Diablo2 games? I was just curious about it.

[2600Lives]

No, it's much more of a tactical type of game. You start each mission with 3-4 characters (and you usuually pick up a fourth in mission if you start with three). You're given a set of objectives at the start of each mission, such as "Defeat soandso badguy" or "Don't allow any citizens to be hurt". Some of these are mandatory to finishing the mission, some are secondary. You can control your characters as a group, or each individually (just click on a baddie, and if you're in control of all your guys, they'll all start beating on him). This means you sometimes need to split the group up to accomplish different things at the same time (which can get hectic). Each character usually has both melee attacks and ranged attacks, so if your guy can't fly, he or she can still reach bad guys that can fly. Each character gets experience with each mission, whether they actually participated or not (obviously, ones who went on the mission get more), and you get what's called "prestige" with each mission depending on certain factors, that functions as money to recruit new characters that come knocking at Freedom Plaza's doors. You can train each character between levels, either boosting existing powers or buying new ones. That's pretty much the game. It's one of those games you have to play to fully understand. Hearing Minuteman shout "Right makes might!" before clobbering someone with his staff is just too good, man.

[zombiecraig]

I absolutely loved the first game. I bought the second game, but have yet to start that one.

 

The first game is definitely one of my all-time favorites.