Freedom Fighters

Many will die for the cause… recruit accordingly.

EU release: 26th September 2003
NA release: 1st October 2003
JP release: N/A
Developer: IO Interactive
Publisher: EA Games
NGC Magazine Score: 53%
Mods Used: None

When IO Interactive went independent, on top of the Hitman license, they were also able to keep hold of the Freedom Fighters license (Square Enix kept Kane & Lynch and Mini Ninjas, though). This takes place in a world where WW2 went differently. The Soviets developed nuclear missiles first and continued to proceed past Germany to take over Europe. Years later, Russia launches a surprise attack across many US cities, taking over almost instantly.

The game starts with two plumbers from Brooklyn, one tall and skinny, one stocky. They both wear overalls and hats, one of them with an M on it. They get invited to the house of the leader of the anti-communist movement when the attack happens. One of the brothers and the damsel end up getting kidnapped and you have to fight your way out and join the resistance, using pipes to get around. I’m not sure if the Mario Bros references are intentional or not (IO do reference them in Hitman as well), but it kind of seems like if the Mario Bros movie went deeper into the “real world” and “gritty” side of things.

In Hitman-style, each level is made up of small, open areas and you’re free to move around them. This expands it even more in that you have a few missions open to you at once and can start one mission and move to another before finishing it. In the first proper level, you can’t get past some snipers as they’re camped on a gas station, but you can go to the gas station level, blow it up and return to get past. Unfortunately, this is the biggest example of changes made throughout the entire game, the rest just reduce enemy counts, the weapons they use and support choppers. It’s still neat, but having the biggest one be the tutorial (especially if you do the levels in a sensible order and leave the ‘main’ mission until last) is a bit disappointing.

In fact, there’s only one other time in the entire game where you need to go to another map to progress, and that’s the final assault where you’re left without any C4 – although I took a while to figure this out because one of the characters says to check a crashed helicopter for any. There was another instance of miscommunication from a game where it tells you to win back a fire station and then blow the bridge – but taking over a building (by raising a flag) will “beat” the level and prevent you from doing any secondary objectives.

Throughout the game, you’ll gain charisma from these secondary objectives and some other actions. As this levels up, you can recruit more soldiers, up to a maximum of 12. You can tell them to stick with you, march forward or stay in place (although they will find cover for the last option). They’re quite competent and will perform quite well. You can use them as a distraction as you flank the enemy, or you can be the distraction (circling around turrets worked well for me) while they mop up everything else. The system is simple, but it works well, and it’s great having a bunch of people backing you up.

It’s a massive shame that Freedom Fighters never got a sequel, because it has some great ideas and mechanics that are never realised, and the levels end up getting repetitive as a result. It’s still very enjoyable, but there needed to be more interactivity between levels over slightly altering the sea of enemies.

Fun

The terrain – a sprawling urban mass – is not only details and structurally solid but also designed to allow you to approach skirmishes with an impressive degree of strategic thought. You can crouch and run around barricades while your squad causes a distraction, use parked cars as an explosive means to root out fortified opponents and take over gun turrets for your own ends.
Geraint Evans, NGC Magazine #86

Remake or remaster?

I’d love to see the ideas of the game expanded.

Official Ways to get the game

The PC version is available on Steam, GOG and Epic.