Style and gameplay is identical as in the original Freedom Force, so anyone familiar with that game will feel right at home here. Unfamiliar should catch up quickly, but although this game works pretty well as a stand-alone title, the plot is connected with previous events, so knowledge of them would be preferable or many things will be unclear. I'd say this game aged slightly better than its three years older predecessor. Graphics-wise it looks significantly nicer and everything is more detailed, and gameplay-wise seems to be more approachable for less patient players. Original Freedom Force was often a pretty harsh and demanding game which didn't leave much margin for mistakes, and this is mostly not the case here (except maybe a couple missions). Health canisters, which were a rarity before, now are generously scattered over the maps, the "heroic revival" ability is much more potent, and heroes overall feel tougher and more powerful. It also adds few useful QoL improvements, like showing which heroes leveled up on the training screen, or possibility to view details of every skill without a need to unlock it first. Of course, outside the old squad, which returns in the full package, there are new heroes too. I found the ones from WWII era to be all rather "meh" and boring, but Tombstone, Genie and the Aztec guy are awesome (perhaps even OP) and I used them very often. Unfortunately this game is also quite short, which is its biggest drawback. Raw number of missions might not show it, but it took me to finish the campaign on normal difficulty approximately 1/2 or maybe 2/3 the time of the first Freedom Force campaign. Which is a shame because it really feels like the game ends at the moment where it should pick up steam again. There should be at least NG+ mode, so all the high level heroes wouldn't feel so underused.
