1 stars (Buggy without a patch) - This game has been out now for 6 months. It has suffered from numerous bugs from the VERY FIRST DAY! There has not been a single patch released from IG.
It is my opinion that once they've made their money, they don't care. There is not any profit in fixing the broken games they sell.
If it weren't for the bugs and lack of tech support/patches this would be a 4 or 5 star game.
3 stars (A 4-Star game, but it loses a star for false advertising) - "Freedom Force Vs. The 3rd Reich" is the sequel to the original "Freedom Force" released in 2002. In fact, this game is almost identical to the original -- the story is different, and the graphics are a little better, but other than that, it's the same. But that's not a bad thing -- the original was a great game, and so is this. The characters, the voice acting, the story line -- several times while playing I've said "Just one more level" because I had to know what was coming next. And after that level would end, I'd say "Just one more level" again! The game really captures the fun of 1960's comic books (I used to collect comics in the 80's, but stopped when I realized that I had begun collecting for profit instead of fun). The game also has low system requirements, which is nice.
I do however have two gripes with this game. The first is that the game is advertised as having "Story-Based Multiplayer." To me, this implies that you can play a series of missions in multiplayer, possibly cooperatively. In actuality, for this game, it means neither. The "Story-Based Multiplayer" in this game is a NORMAL multiplayer game, with a "story" description which you can give it, and an optional picture that you can assign to it. That's it! There's no "story" per se, no sequence of missions, and no cooperative play.
The other gripe I have is with the game's "amazing hero editor". This is how it's described on the box, featuring a graphic of a group of heroes from the game standing together. But surprise, that picture isn't the hero editor, it's just an in-game shot. The actual hero editor is identical to what was included in the first game: you can pick a good amount of skills and powers for your character, but they only provide 4 sample "skins", which determine what your hero looks like. So if you want to create more than 4 new characters, some will look alike -- unless you also download the 20MB mod kit, which includes a character editor...sort of. The "Character Tool 2" program allows you to copy skins and "meshes" (the wireframe model which determines the size and shape of a character) and edit skins using an existing graphics program on your PC. Editing skins can be a painstaking process using a paint program because the skin appears as a flattened, disjointed version of the character. There may be an easier method of editing skins, but unfortunately, if there is, I'm not aware of it. I've edited several skins for the original game, and each one usually took about an hour. I would love to get some sort of 3D modelling program, maybe that would allow editing of the skin on a wireframe, but why should you have to purchase something additional to do what the game implies that IT will allow you to do? This is in stark contrast to a game like "The Sims 2", which includes a character editor which allows you to customize your characters in almost any way imaginable -- you can easily create characters in "The Sims 2" which look like people you know. I realize that this game's developer, "Irrational Games", probably doesn't have the resources to put towards an effort like that, but how about SOME sort of skin editor -- perhaps a utility that would allow you to choose from various pre-defined faces and costume types, allow you to set the colors, and then generate a skin file on the fly?
Those misgivings aside, this is a great game. But they do mislead you with the claims made on the packaging.
2 stars (Good game but way, way too short) - If you liked or loved the original Freedom Force but thought it was too short, you'll both love and loath Freedom Force v. the Third Reich.
Essentially, FFVTTR is the same great game as FF but it's hard to justify the $30 price tag for what is essentially a an add on mod. I played FFVTTR four times while playing the original FF in parallel. Then near the end, characters are taken away making it hard to max those characters out.
Wait for it to hit the bargain bin, $10-$12 is an okay price to pay for this very, very short game. I was stunned to come here and find someone thought there was enough of a game to make an official strategy guide.
I really wish game reviewers in magazine would start doing their job and point these things out. Especially magazines that one of the lead designers work for.
But still not as bad as the Steam debacle. |
