A weird feeling to play something that looks much more modern, yet still feels like the original. The controls are responsive, no problems there. If you fail, you only have yourself to blame. The level design is basic by todays standards but I think that was intentional, and it works really well for a game like this. The enemy AI replicates the Descents feeling of uneasiness every time you enter a new area, and seemingly gets increasingly aggressive as the game progresses. Good variety of weapons which are different enough to excel in specific situations, but not too gimmicky to be useless in any. The game also adds an upgrade system for your ship on top of everything, to give you some sense of progression and an incentive to search for secrets and scour the levels for upgrade points. There's a few little nitpicks about the clarity of the HUD and maybe the UI could have been streamlined a tiny bit more, but they're quickly drowned out by the fun I'm having.
Let me give you some perspective first. I don't play platformers. I haven't played them in more than 15 years. I left them as not a worthwhile use for my time. Freedom Planet changed this. The game captivated me with it's colorful graphics and varied gameplay thanks to Jesse Cox streaming it for GOG. The characters are cute and endearing, thanks to the great charcter design, animation and voice acting. The graphics are colorful and detailed and the level design has a lot of variety to keep things fresh. The controls are very responsive even with a keyboard and the game is a joy to play. The platforming is challenging and fun, and the combat is satifying with a variety of different ways you can dispatch your opponents. The music is themed well for every individual level and I found myself humming along to the tunes more than once. The story mode is a nice addition. It gives you a brief respite between the action packed levels and helps getting to know the characters and thier motivations. You start to care about them and their world and that in turn motivates you to play the game. What more I can say. Freedom Planet captured me and didn't let me go until Lord Brevon was defeated and I still keep coming back when I need some fun in my life. In short, this game is more than the sum of it's parts. Something unique that effortlessly made it to my list of best games of all time along with titles like Thief 2, System Shock, Civilization, Elite and XCOM. This was something I did not expect.
