60 Second Preview of…

Freedom Force at E3 2001

The Specs

Freedom Force is being created at the new Australian branch of Irrational Games, the fellows who gave us System Shock II. It's a real time, pausible tactical combat engine with destructable environments. The game is set in the "silver age" of comic books, when only bad guys used guns, superheroes were idealistic, and the dialogue was cheesy. This means when a character is "killed", he's only knocked out for the rest of the mission. Although the game is real time, you can pause at any time and give orders. The game automatically pauses when you bring up a menu, which is how you'll give most orders. A status bar along the bottom of the screen gives the details of your chosen action, such as how much damage an attack will do or how far you can throw a car you've picked up. During combat, "biff" and "pow" balloons spring up with the damage amount of damage you've inflicted. Freedom Force comes with a team of pre-made superheroes, but you can also build your own. Superhero powers develop along a skill tree as you earn prestige, the game's currency. The engine crisply renders a city in the 1960s, divided into small chunks and strung together in a linear campaign. Your superheroes will also go underground to fight ants, fly up to a floating island over the city, and travel through time.

The Speculation

Tom's Comments: Can a tactical combat game like this succeed with a canned set of missions? Can you have X-Com's compelling gameplay without X-Com's strategic shell? I personally don't think so. But nevertheless, it looks like a hearty tactical combat engine. It's about time someone did fully destructable environments (although the point seems to be to avoid collateral damage, at least while you're in the city). And Freedom Force gets points for going somewhere we haven't already been a million times: the goofy world of cheesy comic books.

Mark's Comments: This was the game I most enjoyed seeing at E3. It met all of my expectations. It really is a comic book transformed into a computer game. You can tell that Irrational has a love and understanding of this genre. All the little touches are there, from the dialog that reads, sounds, and looks like it was ripped from a comic book to the origins of the heroes themselves. Perhaps the most pleasant surprise was the slick interface. When you click on a hero to use a power, the game automatically pauses and you can choose the power and the target all with the mouse in one smooth motion. Believe me, it makes picking up a car and then throwing it at the evil robot a snap. Great concept, great looking art, and Irrational's history of great execution puts this game at the top of my personal most wanted list. If you're a current or one-time fan of superhero comics, you have to give this game a try when it's released.