Freedom: First Resistance Review

If you disapprove of games with a huge amount of dialogue, puzzles, running around searching for door keys and access codes, then I have to advise you to leave this one alone! Otherwise, prepare yourself for a extensive adventure that holds many challenges and secrets. Personally, I like games that bring fresh and new ideas to the storyline, but I don't think that this game is one of them. Coming up with new concepts is pretty difficult today, particularly in computer games. Acknowledging the reputation of such a writer as Anne McCaffrey, I must say that my estimations were somewhat different than what I have seen in this final version of the game. Fair enough, I haven't read most of her novels, nonetheless I imagined a much more thrilling concept over the worn out idea in the world of science fiction. Namely, more aliens conquering helpless humans and the same old underground resistance forming as a small but flourishing opposition to the alien terror (man, we're on the brink of the 21st century here, didn't we explore this kind of horrendous vision of the future for a hundred freaking times?). Although thanks to Anne's involvement the game introduces quite a lot of characters with thorough background stories and personality profiles. Your main task is guiding Angel Sanchez, a pretty ordinary individual, through a certain number of huge locations. Using Rogue Spear's engine, and presenting a solid visual treat, Freedom: First Resistance may hold your attention for many days.

The story begins with the aliens that call themselves the Catteni, and have a much more superior way of fighting, smashing, and governing than human beings. Conquering Earth in a few days time the aliens started sucking the life out of humans with their brainwashing machines (Now that's original - not - Ed). The Catteni overpowered every military stronghold on the planet, except one. After nine months of living under dictatorship, hunger, and despair a few humans have formed an underground movement, which keeps out of Catteni sight and tries to sabotage their operations. You'll be 'traveling' with Angle Sanchez, a young woman who suffered a pretty traumatic destiny; she lost her parents, her fianc' was liquidated, and then she got captured by the aliens and was put in a refuge camp. Immersing yourself in the life of this average individual, you try to conceive how would you have felt if all that crap happened to you. Pretty darn furious!

Angel Sanchez...hmm... What can we say about her? Well, she's not like Lara that's for sure. This is a good thing in my opinion, because I'm getting sick of miss Croft and her two pistols with unrealistically infinite ammo supply. Angel is different. She appears fragile and weak, but when the action begins she can take down aliens that are twice her size; entirely pissed cause of the death of her fianc' (who was killed, by the way, fighting the alien scum - the poor dear) she never looses hope and is always ready to kick Catteni butt. Since there's nobody else sane enough left on the planet, who can save the human race, your character is required to lead a team of rather cool individuals through an environment packed with unfriendly aliens.

Once you've had the pleasure of meeting Angel from the nice little intro sequence, your first order of business is to get familiar with the game's options. The map screen that appears prior to every mission highlights the areas you'll need to visit. Available characters are going to be presented next to the map and each of them will have hints and tips before every mission. Next, there's the so-called 'Journal' where all of your actions are reported: accomplished tasks, dialogs, and mission briefings. The main thing that needs your attention before every mission is the character equipment inventory. Supplying every member of your team is crucial for the successful ending of the objectives. In the beginning your pockets are empty; so you'll have to see to it that you acquire as many necessary items as you can during the assignments. Eventually, you're going to figure out which items you'll need the most, and what weapons are most effective against the Catteni (and their human allies).

The game begins, and you find yourself in a huge shopping mall which has been turned into a prison camp for sappy humans. Your goals are finding a way out and proving yourself to the resistance by carrying out all sorts of delightfully risky jobs. The first couple of assignments are easy and don't require any particular strategy, although they will help you to get the hang of all the moves, weapon issues, and item combining. The excitement rises as you go along, and it gets harder with each mission to achieve your goal and remain undetected. Kicking Alien butt in Freedom: First Resistance can prove a difficult task at times, but not on account of the Alien intelligence. The AI sometimes just craps out and it causes the Catteni to simply stand like they're on drugs or something, while they receive injuries from your entire weapon arsenal. Oh, and one other discrepancy regarding the gameplay difficulty -- Angel Sanchez is an ordinary human being, right? Wrong! She appears to have the ability to knock down enormous aliens (armed to the teeth and double her size) with two precise kicks of her tiny feet. Oh I'm sorry, that's my mistake, and I just realized that the point is the aliens are all tough and macho in their big ship thingies, but when it comes down to one on one they prove to be saps.