Developed by IO Interactive (the folks behind the Hitman series), Freedom Fighters is squad-based action war game based on an alternate history in which the Soviet Union has won the Cold War and invaded America. Not only that, they've managed to take over the whole country. You play the role of average New Yorker, Christopher Stone, and evolve into a fearless patriot who recruits and leads an army of freedom fighters in the streets of New York City. When the game starts, Soviet troops just invade Manhattan and you are running away from the invaders while escorting one of the key resistance members to safety.

Freedom Fighters plays a lot like the non-stealth partitions of Eidos' Hitman 2 - like an arcadish and simplistic 3rd-person shooter, with smooth and responsive controls. You can also expect the same physics and a lot of thesame Hitman 2's AI. Well, why not. You’ll have a pretty small arsenal of weapons at your disposal but they’re all worth using. You can choose from: Pistols : Beretta 9mm / .44 Mag Revolver, Carbines : PP-19 Bizon 9mm SMG, Rifles : AKs, Shotguns : Franchi Spas-12, Grenades , Molotov Cocktails, C4 Explosives, Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs), Dragunov Sniper Rifles, RPK Machine Gun However you can carry only a limited number of weapons. To be exact, you're given one main weapon and one secondary weapon (one gun and one rifle) with limited amount of ammo, along with some grenades, Molotov cocktails, C-4 explosives, and first aid kits.

The key component of the game is the player s ability to recruit and lead fellow New Yorkers in the battle against the Red Menace. The recruited fighters are able to follow you and help you defend positions, attack the enemy, or be coordinated into an ambush. An intuitive recruiting command system allows him to give orders to his fellow soldiers and execute critical missions at the touch of a single button. You've got three options when commanding your team: Follow, Scout / Attack and Defend. Up to 12 people can be commanded, but they won't join you just like that, you’ll have to be a charismatic figure. The game's charisma system could be compared to the trust system employed in another team-base game - The Thing. The team-mate AI is surprisingly pretty good and also the AI for the Soviets is pretty strong at taking cover and using nearby gun turrets to ensure that your advance is a difficult one. As you progress through the levels, you'll face more experienced and hence, tougher enemies.

There are 19 missions in all, divided into eight chapters and your main objective is always to replace the Soviet flag with Old Glory on some high-profile building in New York City. To accomplish the main goal you must sometime complete secondary objectives, like freeing a few prisoners of war. I'd say that the gameplay is done well, the mission architecture keeps things interesting. But my major complaint about Freedom Fighters is a bit frustrating save game system. You can only quick save at certain locations between levels and once you quit, the quick save games are no longer available and hence, you'll have to start that level over. Also the enemies in the game are a bit unbalanced. At times it takes at least 10 shots to take down some of your enemies, even a nice clean headshot with the sniper rifle will not bring your enemies down. Sometime you will be angry since they will kill you always pretty fast. Another glaring error is the lack of multiplayer. Needless to say, that a co-op multiplayer would be cool. The last my complaint about the game is its length (~ 15 hours). A few extra levels would be nice. Overall, its a pretty good game, definitely something a little different from the normal shooter. If you like squad-based action, then go to buy this game. You can also download this playable demo (75MB).