Freedom Wars

Competent as a handheld third-person shooter/RPG hybrid. Alas, the final act doesn't deliver on the promise of its premise. [Christmas 2014, p74]

Freedom Wars feels like the result of an ambitious team that gave up halfway. The missions where you fight against giant robots are much fun, especially because they distract from the many problems that occur in this game.

The game comes so very close to being an amazing experience but the gameplay doesn't quite match with its excellent concept.

With its intriguing universe and vertiginous aerial combat, Freedom Wars seemingly possessed all the weapons to win the battle of the monster hunters. But the narrative is slowly being pushed in the background by the repetitive flow of missions required to craft more and more powerful equipment. Fortunately, the gameplay is both sharp and deep thanks to the polyvalence of the thorn, which opens a tactical approach that perfectly gets into cooperation, multiplayer representing the main reason to take part in these never-ending conflicts.

Freedom Wars is a solid action RPG that's put behind bars by a slew of elements that end up lacking.

Freedom Wars is not a perfect game by any stretch of the imagination. Its flaws are obvious, constantly present and, in the case of the storyline, disheartening. However, the gameplay itself is good enough to lift its quality above average.

Freedom Wars is a decidedly solid action-RPG.

In a way, I guess, they're kind of a stand-in for Freedom Wars as a whole. They — like the game — may look nice, and they may be part of a story that's surprisingly engaging. But the moment they — or the game, for that matter — actually have to do anything, it all falls apart.

For game that wants you to spend hundreds of hours playing it, Freedom Wars is depressingly shallow.

Freedom Wars can't match the series it aims to ape, but this is almost as worth checking out for its bizarre, clever conceit as its satisfying, if shallow, combat mechanics. [Christmas 2014, p.87]

Though it makes a sound first impression it’s ultimately held back by a forced narrative and gameplay segments that fall by the wayside.

The striking visual style, the intriguing premise that’s expertly tied in to the gameplay- it all felt like it was going to be a special experience. But at the end of day, the poor balancing of difficulty and dubious mechanical design choices makes this one really hard to enjoy and even harder to recommend.

There’s plenty of potential here, to make a Monster Hunter clone Western gamers can really get behind, but all its best ideas are sacrificed to endless grinding and repetition.