Might makes right!

Although there are many competent titles put out every year for the PC, it is rare to find a truly original game that combines humor, action, and strategy in a single title. Freedom Force manages to do all three very well, and its presentation and concept are refreshing enough to make its weaknesses forgivable.

The game is a sort of RTS affair, but the gameplay actually is more reminiscent of Baldur's Gate than Command and Conquer. In the game, you command a team of cheesy superheros with names like "Minuteman", "Man-Bot" and "Liberty Lad" against a mysterious alien villain who aims to destroy the universe and live forever. Your heros are ordinary humans who have been exposed to "energy-X", giving them super powers.

The plot is fairly silly...in fact, the whole game is silly. That's the point. There's nothing dark and edgy about Freedom Force. It's a delightfully good-natured romp, where your enemies are "KO'd!" instead of killed and there isn't a drop of blood or guts. Unlike some recent titles, this one should be okay for kids to play without being immersed in gore. The missions are linear, and each of your team-members are introduced through the use of clever cut-scenes. Everything is over-acted and cheesy, fitting with the comic-book theme.

The gameplay took a little getting used to for me. You control your characters in a 3-D, overhead position. Everything happens in real-time, which can make it a bit difficult to keep everything straight. Your heroes can attack with melee or ranged weapons, each of which drains their precious energy. Each character has an arsenal of super-powers to choose from, some of which drain more energy than others. It takes a lot of practice to figure out which powers to use in which situations. Characters will automatically attack melee targets until they are "dead", but more energy-costly ranged attacks usually occur one at a time. There were times when I would forget to target new baddies, and my heros would simply stand around and get pummeled until I realized my mistake. THis lack of personal inititative is annoying at times, but I can see why the programmers were forced to do it.

The use of a "pause" feature in which commands can be issued to your heroes is the life-saver of the whole system. Without the pause feature, I don't think the game would work.

The maps you fight on are typically urban environments with street lamps, signs, traffic lights, and cars. Everything, and I mean everything, is fully destructable. Street lamps can be ripped out of the grand and used as weapons, and I found that cars make great missle weapons. To keep things from getting out of hand, you are penalized for creating needless damage by taking away prestige points. These points allow you to recruit new heroes as well as make your current heroes more powerful.

The development of the characters was a little frustrating...some characters throw the game out of balance. Of course, without Microwave's cloning feature (which I did not get until very late in the game) I don't think I would have won. With the cloning attack, the last boards became too easy.

The game supports a detailed character-creation system, but I did not get into this very deeply. It was a bit intimidating to design new characters, and the generic skins included with the game did not excite my imagination as much as the pre-made characters.

The graphics of the game are excellent in their technicolor cheesiness. In much the same way as "No One Lives Forever", this game uses the brighter colors in the palette to set the mood. Sounds are also well done, and the voice-acting is hilariously cheesy. Minuteman, in particular, is a riot in his niave, patriotic dialogue. With my setup, the game ran smoothly, with only a few slow-downs during hectic battles.

Overall, this is a wonderful little game. I'd recommend it to anybody looking for an original RTS game with a kick.