Freedom Force (2002 video game)

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. 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 $2 million.[5] A sequel, Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich, was self-published in early March 2005. The games were made available on Steam on May 29, 2009.[6]

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
Genre(s)Real-time tactics, tactical role-playing
Mode(s)Single player, multiplayer

Plot

Fleeing Lord Dominion and his invading forces, Mentor headed towards Earth in a small spaceship containing many canisters of the mysterious Energy X. Lord Dominion's ships pursue Mentor and destroy his craft just outside the Earth's atmosphere; the blast scatters containers of the substance over the metropolis of Patriot City. Energy X strikes many of the city's inhabitants, giving them superpowers that echo their personality traits (for instance, Minuteman's staunch patriotism and El Diablo's fiery temper) or draw on the situation they were in when energized (e.g., The Ant or Nuclear Winter). Most of the game is set in Patriot City, but a number of other locations and time periods are used, including magical realms, prehistoric times, and realms entirely removed from time and space.

The game involves a diverse roster of characters embodying traditional comic book archetypes and paralleling popular DC and Marvel properties.

Comic book tie-in
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. This series was scripted by Eric Dieter and featured Jack Kirby-influenced artwork by Tom Scioli. Dieter also wrote the series "bible" and served as community manager for the official website's forum, "Freedom Fans".

Reception

The game received "universal acclaim" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[7] GameSpot named it the best computer game of March 2002.[20]

Freedom Force won Computer Gaming World's 2002 "Strategy Game of the Year" award.[21] 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.[22] GameSpot presented it with its annual "Best Story on PC" prize.[23] Freedom Force was also nominated for PC Gamer US's "2002 Best Roleplaying Game",[24] 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.[23][25]

Sequel

Freedom Force was followed by a sequel, Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich.

References
  1. 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. Grant, Christopher (May 8, 2009). "Ken Levine: Next project will cost 'a fair amount of money'". Engadget (Joystiq). Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  6. "Freedom Force - Now on Steam - Save 10% for one week!". Steam. May 29, 2009.
  7. "Freedom Force for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  8. Deci, T.J. "Freedom Force - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  9. Coffey, Robert (June 2002). "Freedom Force" (PDF). Computer Gaming World. No. 215. pp. 80–81. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  10. Edge staff (May 2002). "Freedom Force". Edge. No. 110.
  11. Taylor, Martin (August 2, 2002). "Freedom Force". Eurogamer. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  12. Brogger, Kristian (May 2002). "Freedom Force". Game Informer. No. 109. p. 92. Archived from the original on February 25, 2005. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  13. 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.
  14. Dulin, Ron (March 29, 2002). "Freedom Force Review". GameSpot. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  15. Chick, Tom (March 15, 2002). "GameSpy: Freedom Force". GameSpy. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  16. Lafferty, Michael (April 10, 2002). "Freedom Force Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on December 31, 2008. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  17. Osborn, Chuck (May 2002). "Freedom Force". PC Gamer. p. 58. Archived from the original on March 15, 2006. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  18. Brooks, Mark (May 10, 2002). "Freedom Force". Entertainment Weekly. No. 653. p. 84. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  19. Steinberg, Scott (March 26, 2002). "Freedom Force". Maxim. Archived from the original on June 6, 2002. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  20. The Editors of GameSpot PC (April 5, 2002). "PC Game of the Month, March 2002". GameSpot. Archived from the original on June 3, 2002.
  21. Staff (April 2003). "Computer Gaming World's 2002 Games of the Year". Computer Gaming World (225): 83–86, 88, 89, 92–97.
  22. Staff (March 2003). "Best of the Year 2002; 12th Annual Computer Games Awards". Computer Games Magazine (148): 58–61.
  23. GameSpot Staff (December 30, 2002). "GameSpot's Best and Worst of 2002". GameSpot. Archived from the original on February 7, 2003.
  24. Smith, Rob (March 2003). "The Ninth Annual PC Gamer Awards". PC Gamer US. 10 (3): 48–50, 54, 58, 60, 66, 68, 70.
  25. Staff. "Blister Awards 2002". The Electric Playground. Archived from the original on March 8, 2003. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
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