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Freedom Force (2002 video game)

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Not to be confused with Freedom Fighters (video game) or Freedom Wars.

Freedom Force
Developer(s)Irrational Games (Windows)
The Omni Group (OS X)
Publisher(s)Crave Entertainment and Electronic Arts (Windows)
MacPlay (OS X)
2K Games (Steam)
EngineNetImmerse
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X
Release
March 26, 2002
  • Windows
    • NA: March 26, 2002[1]
    • EU: July 12, 2002
    OS X
    • WW: December 21, 2002
Genre(s)Real-time tactical role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Freedom Force is a real-time tactical role-playing game[2][3][4] developed by Irrational Games and published by Electronic Arts and Crave Entertainment in 2002.[5][6] The player guides a team of superheroes as they defend Patriot City from a variety of villains, monsters, and other menaces. The game's budget was around $2 million.[7] A sequel, Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich, was self-published in early March 2005.[8] The games were made available on Steam on May 29, 2009.[9]

Setting

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Players control the character Mentor across a series of locations and time periods in pursuit of and in contest with the game's primary antagonist, Lord Dominion. The game begins with a fight between Lord Dominion and Mentor resulting in the latter's ship exploding, releasing a substance named "Energy X" over the game's primary setting, Patriot City. The substance acts as a context specific agent that grants an individual superpowers based upon their personality or the environment wherein they made contact with the substance. This substance, "Energy X" acts as the driving plot device for the game as it generates allies for Mentor along with new environments for the player to pursue and fight Lord Dominion. Mentor's first ally and the first playable hero is Minuteman a.k.a. Frank Stiles, who seeks to protect the city from the Red Menace before becoming involved in the real plot.

Development

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The game used the NetImmerse game engine.[10]

Comic book tie-in

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Cover of the first issue

From January to June 2005, the story of the first Freedom Force game was retold in a six-issue comic book miniseries published by Image Comics.[11] This series was scripted by Eric Dieter[12] and featured Jack Kirby[13]-influenced artwork by Tom Scioli.[14] Dieter also wrote the series "Bible" and served as community manager for the official website's forum, "Freedom Fans".[citation needed]

Reception

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The game received "universal acclaim" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[15] GameSpot named it the best computer game of March 2002.[28]

Freedom Force won Computer Gaming World's 2002 "Strategy Game of the Year" award.[29] The editors of Computer Games Magazine named it the ninth-best computer game of 2002 and called it "the superhero game fans have been waiting for". It also received the magazine's "Best Voice Acting" award.[30] GameSpot presented it with its annual "Best Story on PC" prize.[31] Freedom Force was also nominated for PC Gamer US's "2002 Best Roleplaying Game",[32] The Electric Playground's 2002 "Best Strategy Game for PC" and GameSpot's "Best Music on PC", "Biggest Surprise on PC" and "Best Graphics (Artistic) on PC" awards.[31][33] During the 6th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, Freedom Force was nominated for "Computer Role-Playing Game of the Year" by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.[34]

Sequel

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Freedom Force was followed by a sequel, Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich, which released three years after the original game.

References

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  1. ^ a b Sulic, Ivan (March 26, 2002). "Freedom Force". IGN. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  2. ^ "Freedom Force FAQ". Taktikzone.
  3. ^ GameSpot staff (July 17, 2000). "Freedom Force Q&A". GameSpot. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  4. ^ Allman, Mark (October 22, 2000). "First Looks: Freedom Force". RPGPlanet. Archived from the original on December 17, 2007. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
  5. ^ "Freedom Force". Metacritic. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  6. ^ "Freedom Force Review". GameSpot. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  7. ^ Grant, Christopher (May 8, 2009). "Ken Levine: Next project will cost 'a fair amount of money'". Engadget (Joystiq). Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  8. ^ "Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich". Metacritic. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  9. ^ "Freedom Force - Now on Steam - Save 10% for one week!". Steam. May 29, 2009.
  10. ^ "A Freedom Force Update". ndl.com. September 2000. Archived from the original on February 4, 2001. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
  11. ^ "Freedom Force (Volume)". Comic Vine. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  12. ^ "GCD :: Issue :: Freedom Force #6". www.comics.org. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  13. ^ "On the Irrationality of 'Freedom Force', Gaming's Forgotten Superhero Series". www.vice.com. June 23, 2015. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  14. ^ "GCD :: Issue :: Freedom Force #1". www.comics.org. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
  15. ^ a b "Freedom Force for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  16. ^ Deci, T.J. "Freedom Force - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  17. ^ Coffey, Robert (June 2002). "Freedom Force" (PDF). Computer Gaming World. No. 215. pp. 80–81. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  18. ^ Edge staff (May 2002). "Freedom Force". Edge. No. 110.
  19. ^ Taylor, Martin (August 2, 2002). "Freedom Force". Eurogamer. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  20. ^ Brogger, Kristian (May 2002). "Freedom Force". Game Informer. No. 109. p. 92. Archived from the original on February 25, 2005. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  21. ^ The D-Pad Destroyer (March 27, 2002). "Freedom Force Review for PC on GamePro.com". GamePro. Archived from the original on February 7, 2005. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  22. ^ Dulin, Ron (March 29, 2002). "Freedom Force Review". GameSpot. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  23. ^ Chick, Tom (March 15, 2002). "GameSpy: Freedom Force". GameSpy. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  24. ^ Lafferty, Michael (April 10, 2002). "Freedom Force Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on December 31, 2008. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  25. ^ Osborn, Chuck (May 2002). "Freedom Force". PC Gamer. p. 58. Archived from the original on March 15, 2006. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  26. ^ Brooks, Mark (May 10, 2002). "Freedom Force". Entertainment Weekly. No. 653. p. 84. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  27. ^ Steinberg, Scott (March 26, 2002). "Freedom Force". Maxim. Archived from the original on June 6, 2002. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  28. ^ The Editors of GameSpot PC (April 5, 2002). "PC Game of the Month, March 2002". GameSpot. Archived from the original on June 3, 2002.
  29. ^ Staff (April 2003). "Computer Gaming World's 2002 Games of the Year". Computer Gaming World. No. 225. pp. 83–86, 88, 89, 92–97.
  30. ^ Staff (March 2003). "Best of the Year 2002; 12th Annual Computer Games Awards". Computer Games Magazine (148): 58–61.
  31. ^ a b GameSpot Staff (December 30, 2002). "GameSpot's Best and Worst of 2002". GameSpot. Archived from the original on February 7, 2003.
  32. ^ Smith, Rob (March 2003). "The Ninth Annual PC Gamer Awards". PC Gamer US. 10 (3): 48–50, 54, 58, 60, 66, 68, 70.
  33. ^ Staff. "Blister Awards 2002". The Electric Playground. Archived from the original on March 8, 2003. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  34. ^ "D.I.C.E. Awards By Video Game Details Freedom Force". interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
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