My favourite game on PC. The defintion of gameplay. Excellent music by Jesper Kyd
What makes this game stand out is the gameplay. You easily jump around, run, and take cover; controlling your character is really enjoyable. You also control the rest of the squad which grows in numbers as you become more popular (complete tasks). You give them directions to charge in, defend a position or to follow you. It all works fantastically well, it is very fluid. However, problems may occur. A slight miscalculation may send your soldiers way too far, and I have experienced problems sending them to some locations, like up and down stairs. However, this happens very rarely in my opinion, the system is in fact quite flawless. I must mention how great it is to be able to handle your squad that easily. You decide how the battles are going to proceed: send your teammates slowly forwards while you snipe, or charge in with two teammates while three others are covering? It is just great.
In each mission you are supposed to take out one or several targets (buildings) by hoisting the flag on top of that building. Many factors affect the difficulty of the mission, and the smartest is always to take out smaller targets first, like helipads, bridges, communication centres, release prisoners, and so on to weaken the enemy's numbers or defence and attack power. So you'll have to travel between areas. This opens for many different approaches.
One other thing that Freedom Fighters scores extremely high on is the music. It is fantastic, composed by Jesper Kyd. It is the only video game soundtrack I have ever gotten myself. Although most of it consists of "military marching songs" with Russian chorus, it just raises your fighting spirit as you rush through the snow or other great areas like towns with tall buildings, bridges, cars. The sound effects are very good also.
The replay value is, any my eyes, great (obviously). Completing the game on normal or below is just pure fun, enemies doesn't offer much resistance. On the hardest difficulty however some few selected spots are extremely hard, which leads me to something I disliked about the game. The game saves each time you proceed to enter the sewers to change area. So when playing on the hardest difficulty, in some areas, you can be killing of hundreds of enemies just to die in an instant and have to do it all over. I guess I should bear it, being the hardest difficulty, however I really think the saving should have occurred more often. Also when taking the sewers to another location, most of the enemies revives, adding to the annoyance.
The graphics are satisfying; sometimes the surroundings are pretty amazing. I love it when it snows. In a whole, most of the characters look like toys, a plastic kind of look. Don't get me wrong, it works very well.
The story is interesting: Russia invades the United States and you become a member of a rebel terrorist organization. Some say it is inspired by the movie Red Dawn, I haven't seen it, so I don't know. Also worthy of mention is the movie flicks between missions, most often a news report by Russians telling Americans how they are working for a peaceful future, and that the so-called terrorists (you) are a threat.
The reason the game didn't reach a 10 is the minor problem with squad-controlling and the time distance between saving-moments in hardest difficulty. In addition to that: the lack of things to blow up and the impossibility to take out transport vehicles even with bazookas and grenades; you must take out the bridges. That is quite annoying. These four (really quite insignificant) factors together subtract a half point from an otherwise clear 10 out of 10.
In conclusion: this is my favourite game on PC and also the game I have played the most. The reason for that, is the fantastic gameplay, movement is so easy and enjoyable. This combined whit fantastic sound and music, great replay value and graphics, and a cool story. The feeling you get when taking over the television broadcast building, and later the fort, are worth buying the game to experience.