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| Source // Moby Games |
When someone says 'Freedom Fighters', someone else replies 'Where's my sequel, IO Interactive?'
A lot of people care about this third-person shooter, set in an alternate history U.S. that has been invaded by the Soviets, full of squad-based firefights, guerilla-war style tactical approaches to crucial objectives throughout the city, and a literal underground resistance movement taking back the streets for the citizens.
If it's not the gameplay that fans love, and it's not the setting, then it'll have to be the music, sung by a Hungarian choir for that foreign feel. Something - maybe everything - about Freedom Fighters appeals to an entire generation of gamers that grew up with the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube and PC, and I certainly count myself in that number. This game is excellent. At least that's what I remember it to be...
Has it aged well? Is it still worth demanding a sequel? Should it be left untouched, as a brilliant highlight of the past?
I am looking forward to firing it up again and finding out.
Fun Times
If ever there is a time to play a soundtrack alongside a blog post, make it Jesper Kyd's Freedom Fighters OST. I've had it circulating my playlist since I bothered storing music in a playlist, along with countless other video game soundtracks, sure, but as an oft-played one nonetheless.
The Soviets dropped the atom bomb to end the Second World War, and since then have been spreading out across the world, bringing more countries into the Soviet bloc. Britain fell some 50 years ago, and after success in Mexico, it looks like the United States are next.
I don't recall what difficulty I've played Freedom Fighters in the past, though it probably wasn't as a Revolutionary. "You got what it takes?" stands out as exactly the question I aim to answer, so that's where we're going to start. What is that, hard? Normal? A struggle against the Soviets in any case.
The game starts with a conversation between two plumber brothers - no, really - as they moan about the state of the world. Their next job will take them to the condo of Isabella Angelina, a notorious anti-Soviet figure, which sparks a discussion between the bearded Troy and his brother, our character, Chris.
Do you think it's all a conspiracy theory now, Chris? Out of trouble only because of incompetent Soviets not sweeping all the rooms, our lives have changed quite drastically. We need to save our brother. That's the plumbers' way.
After avoiding a Hind helicopter gunning the apartment to pieces, we introduce ourselves to the resistance by clocking a Soviet around the head with our wrench. The R2 button serves as our melee attack in this third-person affair, which feels a little like a spritely version of Hitman, no doubt because this was IO Interactives next game after Silent Assassin.
Thankfully, Freedom Fighters doesn't seem anywhere near as strict and demanding as Hitman, and we can get swept up by what's going on without having to worry too much about the controls.
After tutorials on jumping, climbing and shooting, we get to see that this is really happening. The Soviets are actually invading New York City, and all I've got is a wrench, whatever weaponry I can find, and the help of anyone who will listen.
This is the first mechanic that makes Freedom Fighters stand out - the Charisma bar. Doing good deeds, like healing people and opening up new areas of the city, rewards you with Charisma. The more charismatic you are, the more people are willing to fight alongside you, risking their lives for the greater good.
You can recruit and order around a whole squad of fellow freedom fighters, allowing you to take on the Soviets with backup and support. The more successful your resistance forces are, the better equipped and supplied the resistance movement as a whole is.
As Americans on the surface are getting used to a change in the news broadcasting personnel, we're getting used to a change in our entire character. We're no longer a plumber, but we do now make the sewer system our base of operations. Manhole covers across the city will serve as fast travel points between levels and this base, which serves as our hub world for deciding what objectives we need to tackle next.
Deciding that a Post Office is probably easier to muscle our way into than the Police Station, I head there first, only to be met by a young lad clearly unconcerned with the heavy Soviet presence in the area telling me that I need some C4 before coming here.
A short level load later, and I'm heading to the Police Station on the hunt for some explosives. The cops are currently pinned down by sniper fire and can't do a whole lot until that problem is dealt with. Those snipers are back at the Post Office, on top of a nearby gas station that I can blow up with some C4...
You can see how levels interact with each other. While they're separated by a loading screen or two, they still give a sense of the entire city being swamped with Soviets, with everything connected and influenced by everything else.
These cops also just happen to have some C4, so I'll grab it, stuff it into my weapon wheel, and head back to the Pos-
Oooh, crikey. Good shot, Sniper. I'll just do that again...
Gas station blown up, snipers killed, we're ready to head into the Police Station. I thought I was aiming for the Post Office, but whatever, it all needs taking back from the Soviets, so let's just do what we can.
This guy says the safest way in is via the subway, so let's head down there and see what we can manage.
Frustrations
Ok, these Soviets aren't messing around. There are quite a few in the subway, and they've got more guns than I have. Until I'm able to increase my supplies by scavenging weapons from corpses and the like, I'll have to play this a little smarter, and use whatever tools I have available to me.
The L3 button can be used to zoom in and aim your weapon, and the L2 button toggles crouch, so I can sit at the top of the subway stairs and start picking Soviets off one by one. They'll react to being hit in the legs and feet and eventually go down, giving me enough room to descend the stairs and make it through to the other side.
I'm not sure what aiming system is at work when you don't use L3, but if you've got the ammunition, it feels good enough. Get too close, and you can always start a fistfight and hope to come out on top without being shot at point-blank. Health kits are scattered around and are collectable, so you can use them at any time, providing you fumble with the equipment and weapon wheel fast enough.
Another cop at the other end of the subway (how did he manage to get here?) tells me that the best way in will now be to sneak through the parking garage. Given the whopping great big machine guns out front, I'm going to agree...
It wasn't the stealthiest of approaches, but I manage to grab a lovely shotgun and emerge behind the Soviet defensive line. At this point, I assume I can just crouch around without anybody noticing, and get to my objective with no trouble at all.
I forget whether my objective is to free my brother or Isabella, but someone is here in need of being set free, and then to rub it in their faces, we're going to raise the American flag from the rooftops to successfully end the level.
Ooh, no, maybe not. Immediately seen and shot at. Repeatedly. That's death number 3. I think I might not be cut out for this difficulty...
I didn't even get to play with the squad mechanics, I was so bad. Let's run through them as best as I can recall, and cobble together from other screenshots.
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| Source // Moby Games |
Fond Memories
Each circle underneath your health and charisma bars represents one fellow freedom fighter. If they're empty, you haven't recruited anyone yet, but fighters often hang around the start of levels, or before some big firefight to give you a helping hand.
Once recruited, they can be issued commands, either individually or as a group, from attacking something, defending a specific point on the map, moving around to somewhere more useful...
The micromanagement, from what I remember, is pretty swift, with each general command being assigned to one of the face buttons, and fine-tuned orders available through using L3 and pointing to a spot or individual fighter.
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| Source // Moby Games |
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| Source // Moby Games |
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| Source // Moby Games |
As the story goes on and your reputation drafts new people into the fight, your squad will grow up to twelve strong, if I recall, such that by the end of the game, you really do command a resistance force that is doing everything they can to kick the Soviets out of the country.
I forget how useful your squad is in the grand scheme of things. I doubt they're all crack-shots capable of finishing the levels for you. Still, they're there to soak up damage and dish out some firepower, occupying the opposition so that you can tick off the level objectives uncontested.
The whole mechanic isn't just one that is rarely seen in gaming, but one that resulted in a great impression, along with a story that fans couldn't get enough of. Players wanted more Freedom Fighters, and the multiplayer mode wasn't going to be enough.
Final Word
On this occasion, I was most definitely unsuccessful in thwarting the Soviet invasion plans. However, having not played it in probably a decade, I was still enjoying what it had to offer. Memories of how it played and sounded came flooding back, and I need to go back and play it without having my pinky finger stuck out over the screenshot key.
I've got the disc (I assume it's my original copy from way back when), I've got the PS2, I've got no sequel to play in the meantime, so I might as well go back and see what fun I can have. I can't remember much of the plot, save for the good guys winning (spoilers), so it'll be nice to go through once again at some point.
If you've somehow missed out on Freedom Fighters, do yourself a favour and see what it is that so many people want a sequel to, even though by this point in time, it'll never live up to the ideal Freedom Fighters that exists in our minds.
Fun Facts
A sequel has been rumoured and hinted at by various parties for the last 15 years. Nothing has come from anything, and yet there is still a chance, with IO Interactive maintaining the rights to the game.
Freedom Fighters, developed by IO Interactive, first released in 2003.
Version played: PlayStation 2, 2003, via emulation and teenage memory.