Freedom Finger

2/6/25 - 8/10 - 10 hrs to complete - This is a side scrolling shoot'em up game (Shmup) and it’s the best game of this style that I have played since Cup Head - The game goes all in with its style and theme and this is where it's both well done, yet also relies on the crude and rude style that reminds me of South Park (not my favorite) - Whereas Cup Head delivers a smooth well-made game with a trippy theme, this game is trippy, well made, yet has racist stereotyping that South Park fans likely wouldn’t blink an eye at - Generally speaking if the game didn’t have these problematic story elements, the game is great, I just wish the story telling could be more creative and not rely on problematic tropes and race relations between America and China - There was clearly an extremely talented group of people working on this game - Each level has its own individualized style and the music is excellent - The game play is so smooth and controlled as well as difficult and requires multiple play throughs and experimentation to beat some of the harder levels ○ Many times I found myself holding my breath as I felt the end of the level was approaching and then letting out a sign of relief when the level was cleared

[i]Freedom Finger[/i] is a series of gimmicks one on top of the other: it's a horizontal shmup where the ship is hand-shaped and can turn into a punch to smash stuff or grab enemies to use them as alternate weapons and/or shields. It's also completely hand-drawn and the enemies move to the beat of the soundtrack: pretty much every stage is synced to the song associated to it. But it is any good? Well, yes, but with a few issues. Let's see: [b]Pros[/b]: + Eclectic collection of songs in the soundtrack: there's indie rock, hip hop, synthwave and many other genres, so anyone can find something they like. + When they say "bats%!* shooter" they're not lying: nice variety of bizarre stages, including the innards of a giant space monster, a spaceship looking like a haunted castle from the inside, fighting as a sperm cell or playing a fake 8-bit video game. One stage where we fight giant bugs and common animals could even be a reference to [i]Apidya[/i]. + Branching paths (e.g. whether or not you spare certain bosses) to guarantee some variety in the gameplay. + Grabbing and throwing enemies gives different scoring opportunities than just shooting all the time, also lets us destroy multiple enemies at once. + You can tailor the difficulty on the fly from the pause menu by toggling collision against walls, not losing the enemy weapons after hit, doubling/tripling/halving the life bar or even turning it to one hit point, or turning invincible if you just want to enjoy the game's wackiness instead of playing for score (scoring is affected by the various mods). + Wacky cutscenes with professional well-known voice actors, who had a blast voicing all those weirdos and madmen. [b]Cons[/b]: - Everything being hand-drawn means that sometimes it's hard to tell what is part of the background/scenery and what is an obstacle or enemy, with the result that some defeats don't feel fair, also given the ship's unclear hitbox. - The game doesn't clearly tell which enemies can be grabbed, for example some turrets that seem just part of the scenery can actually be grabbed, while other ships can only be punched or shot at, without rhyme or reason. They could have color-coded them in a game that becomes hard quickly. - Wildly inconsistent difficulty: every stage is directly based on a song, so some of them are short and easy, while others are overly long and jam-packed with every kind of obstacle to keep with the track's structure. (I'm not ashamed to say that I lowered the difficulty from the standard one because some parts were getting too frustrating) - Enemies being in sync to the music doesn't really add much to the gameplay, this is not a rhythm game; having the baddies completely stop in their tracks makes them less relentless but it's quite bizarre to see. - There are a lot of stages, more than 30, and the graphical variety does not hide the fact that after a while they start to get samey in their structure. - [Not the devs' fault, but since 2019 world politics have become much more idiotic on all sides, so the game's satire about aggressive armies and foreign threats has become depressing instead of funny]

Удивительно, что у этой игры так мало отзывов. Может это и не шедевральный шмап, но он, как минимум, нормальный. Хитбоксы не идеальные, но управление приятное. Оригинальные механики управления рукой, где некоторые препятствия можно расстрелять, а некоторые нужно разбивать кулаком. Каких-то противников можно схватить и бросить, а какие-то дают тебе новое оружие. Но, конечно же, в игре прекрасный визуальный стиль. В купе с дизайном уровней, ты словно играешь в музыкальный клип Mtv 2000х годов. Где-то противники движутся под музыку, где-то задний фон, очень прикольно. На нормальной сложности уже не очень просто, но настройки обширные, вы можете настроить себе вплоть до бессмертия, чтобы просто посмотреть сюжет и насладиться музыкой. Сама музыка очень не плохая. Ну и, конечно же, довольно юморной сюжет с клюквой. 9 сычуаньских соусов из 10. Контента в игре уйма.

Creative, fun, exciting, varied, explosive, unique.

good way to waste time

Wow... what an absolutely bad shoot-em-up. Great atmospheric design, graphics, creativity. Sound is decent, and I appreciate that there are actual songs, not just bleep-blorp like most games. But here's the thing... I'm able to see past window-dressing, and when you take away the hype and the music and all the confetti and glee... you're left with one of the most tedious and unexciting shooters I've played, and I've played hundreds across my shmup life. Didn't hook me in the slightest. I regret buying this. Feels like the key ingredient (game mechanics & level design) is the one thing the developers aren't good at. Because the rest is great. But I'm here for game play not cartoons, streamers and haha laffs.

Un space shooter a la vieja escuela con una gran personalidad y diseño, y con mucho más contenido del que esperaba, muy recomendado. Pero dificilícimo.