Freedom Planet

Gave it a shot and it firstoff refused to give me full screen, when I finally (after being forced to hear the story) it let me in to settings I got full screen but going in to key settings and choosing controller I don't know what to do to be able to use it. (I had to use KBD for movement in the menus but hitting enter made I swapped to KBD again....) Not sure if this is a Win 10 issue or what it is but, as it didn't work for me at all, basically, there's only one mthing I can give it and it is as far from a thumbs up as you can.... Not sure if it's a Win 10 issue but if you don't hear that it works I'd adviwse you stay away from it as I will...

When you fire up Freedom Planet, you're given an amazing opening cutscene that declares the game a love letter to the Genesis and all its classic games. It is the creators' tribute to the 16-bit era of gaming. Start a game, and you're playing what could have been one of the Genesis's greatest games had it been released for the system. Then you beat a few levels and the game begins to pratfall -- a lot. The first levels are tailored well enough to be easy and pleasant to play through. It's a facade, though: the further I slogged through the levels, the more apparent it became that the developers didn't understand what made the old Genesis classics what they are. Instead, they buy into typical Sonic-clone tropes, like "make character go fast = fun!" and "spunky character make game good!" The creaters probably thought playing old games was enough to make a good one, so they didn't actually study to see why their idols were great. I have no experience in game design, and I still noticed all of these problems: > Random slapdash level design. Every level has one overarching theme: an ice level, or city mall, or a spaceship. Past that, levels are just a mishmash of platforms and hazards scattered over the place. Levels just aren't fun to play through. This is a platformer; level design is king. > Tiny screen. Just about everything in the game is offscreen when it matters. Bosses can't be read or countered because they're always offscreen. > Confusing hazards. Outside of standbys like spikes, enemies and contact hazards are difficult to tell at a glance, and then are quickly replaced by the next one before you learn what will hurt you. > Life issues. Health discourages everything but safe play; the game also tracks your deaths. It bills itself with exploration, yet it punishes and humiliates trial-and-error. Freedom Planet simply isn't the retro-classic it's billed as. Some spots can be fun, but it honestly doesn't justify the frustration of the rest of the game.

Mix together Sonic+Megaman X+Sparkster/Rocket Knight+Pulseman heck, a bit of Chip and Dale with Millia (one of the three characters in this game) and some of Treasure's magic together and you have a heck of a crazy game here. This game feels like the devs heisted people from the Saturn era to bring a game that not only looks but feels like an old school platformer. That's not to say it's like other games claiming 'retro', no this one actually has the feel, the characters have the ol' Genesis/Playstation/Saturn era weight/ feel of 2D platformers. No havok physics engine just whatever the heck made them feel like they did. Play any old platformer on the Genesis/MD, NES,SNES you know what I mean. The game clearly has a LOT of effort behind it, there's a lot of detail put into the game like holding a button to access bloopers while the story is playing out. Dancing around disco balls while fun music plays. My favorite: while in some boss fights your friends will come in to help you fight, Carol leaping in on her motorcycle to kick the boss and Milla straight up dropping health from a plane. It's really charming to see all this in action. There's 3 characters to choose from, each playing differently from one another and with their own unique level to go through. Apparently there's 2 more characters on the way to boot. If you're going to blow off this game because it looks like a Sonic ripoff you're missing out because that's not what the game is. It's inspired yes but only the narrow minded are going to call it a copy. Mario inspired Sonic, Sonic inspired ...many things (Rocket Knight, even Crash Bandicoot) it's how things go. Brilliant game and I hope to see more from the creators. $15 gets you around 3 hours for one character playthrough and for those who skipped to the end here, each plays very different and have some unique levels and paths in stages the others have.

"What if Treasure made a Sonic the Hedgehog game?" Freedom Planet began life as a Sonic fan game, but developer DiDuo quickly made it it's own ip. Freedom Planet takes tropes and gameplay elements from several classic Mega Drive/Genesis games, such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Ristar, Dynamite Headdy!, and Rocket Knight Adventures to create it's own identity and unique game. The game controls like a dream, and the speed is extremely fluid. The game's soundtrack is surprisingly not chiptunes and remains extremely catchy. Level designs is smooth, but the game's difficulty ramps up rather quickly, just like many Genesis games did. The voice work for the game is extremely well done for an indie title. In short, Freedom Planet is a love letter to the Sega Genesis platform. The high speed of Sonic, the platforming of Dynamite Headdy!, the boss fight intensity of Rocket Knight Adventures. It all mixes well, and it's a fantastic game.

Would 100% ride the green cat sideways. But the other two are pig ugly.