Nova Game Reviews: Freedom Wars · 5:23pm Jun 23rd, 2016

What's good, subscribers?!

Welcome to another Nova Game Review! So, I decided to switch things up and do a review on a game I carry in my pocket in case of likelihood of boredom. The game in question? Freedom Wars.

It didn't take me long to get into the swing of the game. If you played Monster Hunter, God Eater, or any of those, then this game is right up your alley! So let's start with a simple summary of the story while I lead you through some of the stuff in the game.

The story takes place in the year 102014. I kid you not. I did not miss anything, add a digit or two, or tweak it in any way. It's literally 100,000 years in the future ("Not-so-distant future" my ass). But luckily, there's no laser beams or Star Wars reminders in it (thank heavens!). So, many millennia ago, humanity screwed up: resources were severely depleted, cities were reduced to ruins from war between nations to gain these rare resources, and the surface was so badly damaged, it can no longer support life. I didn't see a single pigeon, not ONE! Hence, the rest of humanity fled to underground cities called Panopticons (or 'Cons for short).

Your mascot?

Cute, but also known as the voice passing down the very laws that cause time to keep on being added to your sentence!

Each of these cities became a nation of its own, providing protection for it's citizens in return for their contribution to The Greater Good (supporting their Con). But history repeats itself and the struggle for resources turned into tension as each Con went to war with the other. Not only that, but overpopulation became a growing issue (grad to see hormones haven't diminished over 100,000 years). That, coupled with scarcity of EVERYTHING led to some strict, even messed-up, laws. For example, living. That's right, it's so bad, that the very fact that you were born and exist in the world makes you a criminal, now dubbed Sinners/Criminals.

And guess what your sentence is?

Go on, guess?

Have you?

Well, you're wrong.

1,000,000 years... Just for living! And there aren't just a few million.

WTF?!

But don't worry! They wouldn't give you a sentence and no way to work it off because they aren't 100% dicks and they value whatever contribution you can make! Specifically, on the battlefield! As a Criminal, your job is to go out on the surface and gather resources, fighting enemy Cons and their forces along the way! And guess what? That's exactly what you are! But by God, do you look badass!

Bottom middle? That's you (if you pick male). With an array of outfits you can customize to your own specs, ranging from military fatigues to a casual suit, you'll soon be looking way cooler. Of course, you have to unlock these using Entitlement Points. These are points earned from completing missions and donating resources, earned separately from standard in-game currency. EP are used to buy rights. Literally. As a Criminal, you're denied some of the most basic rights in human history, including the right to take more than 10 steps in your own cell, let alone leave it! Not to mention you are under constant surveillance.

So no such thing as sneaking off, your Accessory (Will be explained soon) follows you everywhere. Luckily, as you progress, you take exams which not only alow you progress with the story, but also let you earn more rights, get a better cell, and generally more respect, although some members of the law-enforcement (called the Surveillance Society) have zero respect for Criminals. Some of the crimes include:
Crime of Living (1,000,000 Years)
Crime of Amnesia (1,000,000 Years)
Crime of Unauthorized Sinner Interaction (20 Years)
Crime of Remaining Silent (100 Years)

As for the others in the picture, they are other Criminals in the game that you can add to your four-man/woman team on missions. Your main allies will include:
The veteran.

Your new close friend.

the freaking strict-as-hell law enforcer.

And this mysterious dream girl.

You forgot the giant robots that look like skeletons.

Oh yeah! There's also these bastards!

Abductors. Their name says it all! These bad boys were made to capture Citizens (scientists, researchers, management staff, etc) and fight Sinners. Yep. Other Cons are so scared of losing their precious Criminals, they send giant freaking robots to do it! Inconsiderate jerks. BTW, spoiler alert, at the very beginning, in the opening cinematic cutscene, you get fucking REKT by one of these things and end up losing your memories, adding another few millennia to your sentence for "wasting resources" (your memories). And yes, we have some too.

Look at how badass we look. Unfortunately, they're unmanned and the only time one of these things is on your side is in a mission where you have to escort it to the objective; it doesn't fight, so you've got to protect it from the enemy, luckily Criminals and Accessories. That guy in the first one's chest? Yeah, that's a prisoner, our Citizen, and the chick is you (if you pick female) about to rain justice from above with an awesome jet-powered kukri blade called the Musasame Mk 9 (standard, but super efficient). You can destroy, or "sever" their parts (hands, arms, head, chest cavity, weapon attachements, etc) which you can salvage and either donate for EP and years off your sentence or keep and use to upgrade and mod you weapons. In addition, when destroyed, they leave behind unique resources like engines and fibers for crafting, upgrading, and modifying. BTW, they don't all look like giant skeletons. These are All-Purpose Adbductors. You've also got the Carrier.

Where did they come from? Well, they were reverse-engineered from the Three Prototypes, pretty much the forerunners of this technology. But these are just Panopticon Abductors.

Remember when I said that the Cons were underground? Yeah, well turns out one group thought they deserved more sun than us: On High. These condescending bastards look down on Panopticons and built their own city, wait for it, in the freaking sky! Jerks. Also, they're on the cutting-edge of Abductor research and manufacture their own instead of reverse engineering the Prototypes. Their inventions included:

T-Type Tiger-inspired Ramosa. (Love this one)

S-Type Arachnid-like Paradoxa.

And the D-Type draconic Dionaea.

Luckily, now I get to move on to the next part: combat. So, a few paragraphs up, I mentioned something called Accessories.

So, yeah. These androids serves two purposes: to help you in combat and to snitch on you when you do something wrong; so... win-lose. Whether in your room, or out on the streets, they're watching, waiting, looking that moment when you slip up, then POW!

But on the plus side, you can order them around on the battlefield. You start of with basic stuff: Attack, Carry Citizen to Extraction, Heal Me. But then you get more advanced stuff: Sever Abductor Parts, Focus on Enemies with Higher/Lower Health, etc.

In addition is the weapons. There's a fairly reasonable variety (although nothing compared to games like Monster Hunter: melee weapons are divided into Light Melee (short blades which allow for fast combos and destroying, or "severing", Abductor parts, which you can salvage for resources), Heavy Melee (slow, but can cause Abductors to stagger and have the highest damage of any melee weapon), and Polearms (spears with great reach that can be charged and thrown at the enemy from a distance).; firearms are divided into Assault (ARs, SRs, and the like which are super accurate with decent damage and can be fired while hanging on walls), Portable Artillery (rocket/grenade launchers which do a lot of damage, but slow you down), and Autocannons (full-auto heavy MGs, flamethrowers, and laser cannons that are also heavy and not as accurate, but have massive ammo clips and damage which can chew through enemy health like nothing). On average, there's about five weapons in each category and each weapon can be upgraded and modified using you Facilities, factories where you can manufacture, upgrade, and mod weapons and equipment. There are also combat items you can take into battle, including grenades and mines, and support items, like First Aid Kits. But the the one thing you're going to need to learn to use is the Thorn.

This grappling attachment can be used to grapple enemies and pull yourself towards them for a charging attack, pull yourself towards walls or across areas to avoid enemies or get good vantage points, reviving downed allies, and can even be used to drag enemy Abductors down to the ground, stunning them and allowing your team to bring the pain. There are three types:
-Binding: which can be used to lay traps for enemy Criminals and Accessories and paralyze Abductors.
-Healing: which can heal allies by attaching it to a teammate or creating a large thicket with an AOE heal.
-Shielding: which increases ally defenses and can create a massive wall that blocks enemy fire, while allowing you're shots to pass through.

Now, in Freedom Wars, day-to-day life depends on Will'O: a primary energy source found in many things, including humans (think of it as the bio-electricity from your nerves... but more sci-fi/magic-y). Weapons use it for ammo, Thorns fire and recharge using it, some Abductor parts, like the engine and fibers, are made from condensed Will'O, and it's even used for power generation! It's one of the most important of the four elements, each of which when granted as a weapon mod, allows for various effects: Fire (which causes continuous damage), Ice (which weakens enemy defenses and parts), Electricity (which slows and paralyzes enemy Abductors), and Will'O (which causes a buildup of energy until it explodes, dealing extra damage). Certain Abductors also use or are resistant to a particular element, so learning the strength-weakness cycle is fairly important for certain missions.

The multiplayer encourages teamwork. When online, you fight for your Panopticon in the League of Panopticons, a global table that shows how much your city prospers from your contributions. You can team up with others in your Panopticon to take on missions, which, if completed, means you don't have to do it again in the story mode. You get a sort of certificate of completion and when you select it in single player, you get an instant victory! There's also the competitive option, where you and a group can go up against enemies from rival Cons. Again, not much variety; the only ones I've tried myself are a TDM and Hardpoint modes. But the best part? Whatever resources, EP, sentence reductions, anything you gain in the MP carries over to your SP!

But there are also Retributions. A major aspect of the game, these are batshit-crazy difficult missions that involve you going into enemy territory and attacking them. Retribution missions include destroying certain Abductors and capturing/rescuing citizens. These not only do some serious cutting down on your sentence, but MP Retributions diminish other Con's GPP (Gross Panopticon Product) while increasing your own.

Now, graphics-wise, don't get your hopes up. It runs smoothly with few to no drops in frame rate and some environments are nicely stocked with cover and vantage points and there are also the unclaimed resources littering the area, but the background... the background is so bland! Don't get me wrong, the sparking from the stump of a severed Abductor arm and the exploding when you rip out it's chest cavity to free a prisoner are very impressive indeed, but that's it. Aside from some of the nicely animated cutscenes, there's isn't much to look at that'll impress you. Propaganda screens in your city-state add some nice color to the bland, dystopian world, but it lacks in visual appeal. It was great to concentrate on fighting the 20-or-so-foot-tall monsters, but afterwards, I realized it wasn't because the battle was intense, but also because there was nothing to look at! It's not bad for a PSVita game; actually, it's good. But that's just it: it's a PSVita game, so there's only so much they can do with graphics.

The game is fun and very interesting and even after finishing the story, there's even more to work towards, like taking special, optional operations and trying to get your sentence down to zero to gain your freedom! But after the story, you'd also rather do that online with other people good enough to help you out with tougher missions. The story itself is decent, although some aspects are not always very clear, it does a good job with creating its own image. Customization is decent, but I'd have preferred more weapons, especially seeing that the handgun and knuckles some characters use are unavailable to you, but plenty of cosmetic options in terms of outfits, accessories (not the android), and stickers you can use to add some style to both you and your Accessory. MP runs nicely and I love how ties in with your SP stats.

All in all, I'd give it an 8/10.

So, ladies an gentlemen, that concludes my review of Freedom Wars. Leave a comment below if there's any game you'd like to see me review and if I've played it, I'll do something on it. Until next time, have a FW trailer and song I've have on my playlist for the past few months now!

Sayonara~!