You must complete objectives to gain prestige with the resistance (Freedom Fighters). As you gain more prestige you attain levels. Each level gives you the ability to recruit another Freedom Fighter. The sqaud based moves and actions available to you are limited, but are extremely easy and accessible down to a point-and-click execution.
The game's chapters advance through a series of Russian TV news brodcasts that cover your actions throughout most fo the game. You start each mission in your rebel hideout and throughout the game you have certain areas and objectives to complete. The neat part about this feature is that there are lots of secondary objectives, that if completed in one area will affect the whole region you are currently fighting for. For example, you need to destroy a Russian barracks, but you can't get through becasue of constant reinforcements. If there is a bridge in another area you could get some C4 and blow it up, severing reinforcements throughout the region, making your job easier.
The story is fairly well written, it has its nice plot twists and is of a high quality.The base gameplay is very solid, but sometimes you'll notice yourself repeating the same objectives in different areas.
Overall Gameplay: 9
Sound: There's never a whole lot to say about sound, usually it either bad or good. The few weapons that there are in the game do have recognisable sounds and most of the time they aren't annoying, although you'll find yourself using one type of weapon a lot more than another.
The music throughout the game is quite well done and nothing gets too repetitive. All in all sound is sound, it's either bad, good, or great, and in this case I would say on the whole the sound is great.
Overall Sound: 8
Graphics: For its time the graphics on Freedom Fighters is very well done. Although there is no blood effect in the game, it doesn't detract from the quality of the gameplay. If you have a decent video card Freedom Fighters will definetly look great especially if you can get the high resolutions. Frame rates are very smooth and don't suffer from any choppyness on a decent rig. Although you feel like your in a city it isn't always evident it is in fact New York City, but sometimes it will be made evident by certain locations and scenery. Explosions, fires, and other particle effects are neat to look at, and always accent the tension of the game's flow. The game plays smooth and looks good, what more can you ask for?
Overall Graphics: 9
Value: The game is just an awesome piece of work everything comes together very well in the end. The game is of the highest caliber around and ships with practically no bugs whatsoever. Although the ending of the game comes at you abruptly and sort of disappoints at the end. The whole experience of getting there is just amazing. On an unfortunate note there is no available multiplayer feature, which cuts down the game's longevity and replay value. It's not that the end is terrible it is just that it leaves you wanting more. The game is without a doubt something that you shouldn't pass up.
Overall Value: 10
The Good: Awesome gameplay, heartpounding sqaud-based action, priced at about $10.00
The Bad: Unbearably short (About 10 hours of gameplay)
The Ugly: Once you've seen it, thats all there is
Overall Score: 9.0 (Excellent)
