Freedom Fighters is a truly fantastic third person action game there is possibly no finer team based 3rd person shooter!
The game has a very amusing storyline, with the Soviets taking over New York city, and you playing a Brooklyn plumber turned freedom fighter trying to kick out the menacing Reds. The game starts off with a basic and fairly easy tutorial explaining how to play. The game's controls are well balanced and it would work fine as a stand-alone third person actioner but once the freedom fighters start joining you the game comes into its own.
The control system for your loyal followers is fantastic and intuitive. Using the triangle, circle and square buttons you can order your fighters to attack, defend and follow. It's that simple and the AI is good enough to enable your fighters to hold their own with ease in combat, so once you have given an order there is no chance that it will not be carried out. The AI, both enemy and friendly, is generally superb with both allies and enemies making good use of cover etc in combat. It's not Ghost Recon but some strategy is required to defeat large groups of enemies and a one man rush on an enemy held outpost is not the way to complete levels.
The gameplay revolves around completing certain objectives in each area normally culminating with your taking control of an important enemy outpost (a hotel, fire station etc). There are other secondary objectives to complete for a reward in charisma (which lets you recruit more fighters for a total of 12) but these are not necessary in order to finish an area and you can usually beat most of the stages first time around without feeling unchallenged. As you generally have a choice which stages you can play in an area it is best to do the ones with helipads etc first because objectives completed in one area affect the other so it can get very hard during some missions where a stream of massive gunships constantly appear and destroy you.
The graphics are generally excellent with some stunning set pieces and backdrops of New York that will hold your attention. There are a few rough edges. The enemy soldiers' skins sometimes look a bit 2D and some of the scenery pops up but overall it is a very fine looking game with some excellent textures. This being IO, the rag doll physics are also impressive, much improved over Hitman 2's. The sound quality is also very good, with an epic orchestral score fitting the tone of the game nicely.
On easy or medium difficulty it is possible to complete the game in about 6-8 hours and it feels too short and easy, but it is worth going back on the harder difficulties which feel much more challenging and satisfying, since you will need to make use of your fellow freedom fighters much more, lending more strategy.
I have very little gripes about the game but I would have preferred possibly a few more missions to extend the gameplay, and the ending should be made a bit harder since all you have to do is rescue a fellow fighter. It feels a bit of an anticlimax especially because the rest of the game is so good.
Minor flaws aside, Freedom Fighters is a very enjoyable and entertaining game with a fantastic squad control system. If you enjoy a blend of action with a bit of strategy, I heartily recommend this.