Introduction
Overview
Freedom Fighters is a third person shooter game from 2003, and it was developed by IO Interactive. That name should ring a bell, as these are the people behind the popular Hitman series. In fact, this game uses a modified version of the engine for Hitman 2. With a big publisher like Electronic Arts, it's no wonder that it was also released on four different platforms - Pc, Gamecube, Xbox and PS2. And while it's certainly not a bad Pc port, the multiplayer is only available for the console versions. The big selling point of the game was it's advanced AI for enemies and allies, coupled with a sleek control system for said allies. This proved to be true, within limits, and reviews upon release have been positive. Even ten years later, it still holds a solid 8 on Metacritic, with a 8.5 from users. But despite being a success, this game somewhat flew under the radar and it does have it's shortcomings. Let's discover those together, shall we?
Setting
The game is set in an alternate universe, where Russia ended the second world war by dropping a nuke on Berlin. The influence of communist Russia quickly swept through the world, which also prevented the Cold War from happening. By 2001, the Red Menace reaches America with a large scale invasion of New York city. We'll follow Christopher Stone, who gets caught up in the events of the invasion. He's a simple plumber, but by being at the wrong place at the wrong time, he found a new profession - Freedom Fighter.
Gameplay
The meat of the game is shooting Communists. A whole lot of them.
Okay, you also have to complete objectives and conquer areas of the city, but you shoot a bunch of Commies on the way. Your best tool for the job are actually other people - your freedom fighters. With a simple three button control system, you'll have control over a rapidly increasing group of fighters, that follow your orders without objections. The AI is pretty neat and didn't age badly. It does have a few quirks and shortcomings, but overall it's good at what it should do - kill Commies. This also gives you some flexibility with how you want to play the game. While you'll certainly need the help, you can also do some Rambo-shit or just hold back completely and be a commander.
The Lp
I'm going to swing the editing knife pretty frequently during the videos. See, there is a lot of backtracking, going from/to places, searching for supplies and other shit that you really don't need to see. Also it's damn boring. I'll try to not go overboard with it, but it'll often fuck with the sweet soundtrack of the game. That's why I will upload it to Tindeck, so you that you can listen to it at your leisure. It was done by Jesper Kyd and received a couple of awards in 2003. You can also buy it, if you so desire. Just google and you'll probably will find a copy or something.
Other than that, I'll try to aim for two videos a week. The majority of chapters have multiple goals to complete and a cutscene at the end. Like, that's the main design formula, with only a few chapters breaking away from it. After editing, a chapter usually clocks in around 40 min. Personally, I don't enjoy watching or making videos that are this long. I'll split them into two parts, giving you the bigger part on Wednesday(20-25min), and the smaller on Friday(10-15min). My reason for doing this is that I don't want to have a week between parts of the same chapter. It's real easy to loose connection to the events otherwise. But I guess I should also mention that I'm refering to my Wednesdays and Fridays. (CET)
Also I'm playing the Pc version, so there sadly won't be multiplayer hijinks. Sorry!
Thread conduct
Please don't spoil the story!
It's poor, small and kinda dumb. So just leave it be.
Chapter 1 - Soviet Domination
Chapter 2 - In A New York Minute
Chapter 3 - Breaking Free!
Chapter 4 - Desperate Revenge
Chapter 5 - Winter Revolt
Chapter 6 - On Thin Ice
Bonus Level - The Battle for Liberty Island
Bonus
Fighting Tatarin like a man
Intermission - Concept Art, Easter eggs and glitches.