Freedom Force vs. the 3rd Reich

Played this when it first came out and I still have only one complaint... they never made a third game in the series. Both this and the original are two of the most enjoyable PC games I've ever played.

I've played through this title a few times over the years and I still get a tickle every time. I only mark it down because the character-creation mechanic can make the game hilariously easy to beat (I beat the final boss with one move, used once) but if you stick with the 'canon' characters its a well-balanced and deeply enjoyable experience that will stay with you for a long time afterwards. Just prepare yourself for cheese and B-movie stylings.

It plays and looks and sounds quite a bit like the first. I think they got either all or most of the same voice actors, too. One minor difference I noted was that you used to be able to underpower teleport and digging and sprint powers, but you can't in 3rd Reich. Mission-wise it starts slow, but picks up after a few missions. I especially liked the 40's characters, but at the end of the game... Let's just say that the game makes quite a few characters unavailable in the final missions. It was a major turn-off to me that characters I'd spent the entire time developing - and that I found much more interesting than the rest - were suddenly not available. While there was a reason for it, story-wise, it still annoyed me enough that it took a long long time before I forgave the game enough to play it again.

If Jack "the king" Kirby was still alive, he'd have great funny with Freedom Force vs the III Reirch. A masterpiece, buy it and -obviously- its prequel FreedomForce.

Three years was a long wait for the sequel to ‘Freedom Force’. Unbeknownst to many fans, including myself, the developers spent part of those 3 years sorting out rights to the game before they could start work on the follow-up. For better or worse, the developers eventually delivered ‘Freedom Force vs. the 3rd Reich’, hoping to meet the high expectations that fans had. ‘FFvt3R’ was a good game. It delivered more superhero RTS/RPG goodness that the fans loved. The story, alternating between the Silver Age and the Golden Age of Comic Books, had the right balance of drama and 1960s camp. A couple of characters inspired by the Golden Age were drawn with the proper stylings. Plus, some rough edges from the first game were smoothed out, ally AI was improved, roster of heroes was expanded, and environment textures and lighting were enhanced. Despite having an elaborate story and being fully featured, ‘FFvt3R’ felt a bit like a big expansion pack for ‘FF’. Technologically, this game was barely a full step forward from the last one. Character models and skins stayed the same, character movements and lip syncing remained stiff and robotic, and the camera still couldn’t zoom out far enough for proper strategizing. ‘FFvt3R’ was also unbalanced with regards to its gameplay and story. Levels of difficulty were uneven, with the ultimate boss battle being way easier than an early one against a minor villain. Many new heroes were quickly sidelined, as they didn’t have their own special levels to showcase their abilities as in ‘FF’. I never felt invested in the new heroes as I did with the main roster in the first game. So while ‘FFvt3R’ was a good game and improved on ‘FF’, it’s a bit underwhelming for a sequel. It’s too bad we won’t (or would unlikely see) a third game to tie up loose ends. Games like this just don’t have the same commercial appeal as action-oriented ones. Thus, I think ‘FFvt3R’ is worth playing, even if it’s just to see what a superhero strategy game can be.