Show Freedom Fighters Aaron Zundel Staff Writer There is only one thing Americans like more than kicking kicking kicking kick kick- ing the crap out of Nazis Nazi's kicking kicking kicking kick kick- ing the crap out of Commies Enter Freedom Fighters a new 3rd person strategy action-strategy game by IO 10 interactive In Freedom Fighters you become Chris Stone a mild mannered mannered mannered man man- plumber from the Bronx who just happens to be fixing the sink of one of the most outspoken communist anti-communist advocates in the country when the Russian invasion invasion invasion inva inva- sion begins Naturally you are thrust into the resistance movement movement movement move move- ment and a game is born bom The thing making this game great is obviously not the story its it's the The control is razor sharp on all four platforms PC GC but is absolutely flawless on the PC Unlike almost every other game with squad tactics ever created giving commands is easy and intuitive For the most part your squad executes commands with ease and there is very little need to sit baby-sit your guys As well as following orders the squad has excellent initiative and will attack defend and support each other other- w without so much as asa a word from froin you The game has a couple of pitfalls the first and foremost is the game is incredibly short you youcan youcan youcan can finish it in about ten to twelve hours The second lem is lack of variety Your squad mates are pretty much all the same so you miss out on a lot of squad dynamics that way The choice in weapons is also remarkably lacking for a game of this nature If you can forgive these few qualms you'll really enjoy the game The sound for the game is top notch The fire fights sound fantastic fantastic fantastic fan fan- and the dialogue between characters is very well done with authentic Russian IO 10 interactive has never been a slouch in the graphics department and this game is no different Beautifully rendered environments environments environments environ environ- ments help enhance the feeling of emersion The particle effects from explosions and gunfire seem to have more work put into them than your average action game Character animation is superbly done and movement is very smooth even during times with a lot of action that may bog down the of other games I just have to mention the games game's clever save system during during during dur dur- ing missions you will move around the city using manholes at each manhole you can save your game This system allows for enough saves that the game doesn't feel cheap but not to top many p ny Jh that t th i easy I was really happy with this game but I was so disappointed with the length that I cant can't just justify fy telling people to buy it This one gets 7 C |