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Freedom: First Resistance
The Specs
Freedom: First Resistance is a 3D third-person action adventure
game that puts the player in control of a small squad of underground
resistence fighters. Earth has been conquered by the Catteni,
a race of bipedal catlike creatures, and the player will attempt
to overthrow them during the course of the mission-based game
that combines stealth, action, and puzzle-solving. The player's
small squad will be led by a freedom fighter named Angel Sanchez.
They will consist of characters with unique abilities -- one
will be good with electronics, another at fighting, etc. All
the dialogue is spoken, with over 6000 recorded lines of speech.
Freedom: First Resistance is set in the world of a series
of novels by Anne McCaffrey, who is best known for the Dragonriders
of Pern novels.
The Speculation
Mark's Comments: Everything Red Storm has done
has been interesting -- Shadow Watch is one of the year's
best games -- though only the Rainbow Six series has been
a hit. So that automatically puts Freedom on my short list
of games I want to play. Third-person action games where you
have to control multiple characters worry me, though, and
puzzle-based games usually make me want to toss my mouse through
a window. Red Storm better have a nice interface devised for
this game to help us control the action, and I hope the puzzles
are both clever and yet easy to solve. Nothing destroys a
game's immersiveness more quickly than an inane puzzle.
Tom's Comments: Mark's a little more bullish
on Red Storm than I am. They've done a handful of superlative
games, but they've had their share of middling fare: ruthless.com,
Dominant Species, Bang!, Force 21, and the latest Rogue Spear
expansion. Freedom: First Resistance sounds like it's straightjacketed
into telling a linear story with fixed characters and scripted
puzzles. Unfortunately, I remember how well that didn't work
in Eidos' Commandos. I also have reservations that this is
the first computer game from lead designer Richard Dansky,
whose background is in writing horror RPG's and fiction at
White Wolf.
Publisher: Red Storm Entertainment
Developer: Red Storm Entertainment
Genre: Adventure/action
Release Date: December 12, 2000
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