Freedom Force Magazine Coverage

[Ewzzy]

As mentioned in my history thread I've been digging through old magazines on the Internet Archive. Lots of interesting finds despite relying entirely on what has already been scanned. There's enough that I'm turning this into its own thread. Today I'm sharing finds from September-October 2000. The earliest mentions I can find of Freedom Force in print. The web announcement was in July of 2000. Let's take a look.

Full Gallery Here

[2000.9] Reset - Polish


TRANSLATION:

The Manhattan of the 1960s was by no means reminiscent of a monastic kindergarten. Rather, the proper term would be a mixture of evil, violence, terror, and God knows what else. However, there were heroes who decided to restore the original order, and it is them who will be in command in the Freedom Force. The fun will be selecting, training and arming a unit of four out of over 20 superhumans, and then controlling their actions through a series of missions played in a realistic 3D world, filled with flying buses and destroying half of the city. Claws, wings, stretching your body, biting through steel and concrete are features as usual in our wards and skills such as stopping time is just strange addition. With such a quartet, Superman is a piece of cake.

The cover is striking so I had to try and figure out what it's talking about. Here's what it says:

Topic of the issue: games in Polish

That doesn't quite show how the floppy design shack takes polygonal muscle gun men into scrawny farmers with spears. Maybe inside will help?

The game translated into Polish is no better than the English one. This alien is worse. Polish geese are not so stupid anymore.

Yeah that makes sense.

[2000.10] PC Zone - English

X Marks the Plot
With the X-Men film now out, Irrational Games (of System Shock 2 fame) appears to have timed hte announcement of its next game to perfection.
Although not officially tied in with this summer's superhero flick, Freedom Force will at least cash in on those hankering for a game where the characters prefer to wear their underwear over, as it were and although Wolverine, Storm and Cyclops will be absent, Freedom Force will allow players to create superheroes of their own.
Set across New York circa 1960, Freedom Force will be a 3D role-playing game. Players will be able to recruit, train and fight a pool of heroes, being able to take up to four into each mission. As well as incredible strength, some characters will have weaknesses; with bear-like power, one hero may have the temperament of a spoilt child, going berserk when things aren't going his way. As well as your typical superhero characters who can channel lightning or move cars with the flick of the wrist, there will be more off-the wall superheroes who can bounce like rubber or stop time.
For those gamers keen to control more established characters like The Incredible Hulk, Batman or Magneto, Irrational is keen to allow players to recreate their heroes, at least in multiplayer games.
Freedom Force is due for release next autumn through Crave Entertainment.
Although Irrational Games has licenced the LithTech 2.0 engine (soon to the used in Aliens vs Predator 2) we don't know whether the engine will be used in FF. Our guess is it will.

What's that screenshot? Turns out that's "Sanity: Aiken's Artifact" an unrelated game in the LithTech engine. Their speculation that FF would use that engine was totally wrong. Oh well.

[2000.10] PC-Games - German


TRANSLATION:

Superheroes on a large scale
Last year they worked with Looking Glass on System Shock 2, now Irrational Games are turning to superheroes. In Fighting Force you take on up to four world savers at the same time and fight against criminals of all kinds in New York in the 1960s. A sophisticated attribute system ensures the constant development of your heroes.

So close! They got the name right in the title and wrong in the text.

[2000.10] PC-Player - German


TRANSLATION:

Made of Freedom
System Shock 2 maker Irrational Games are currently working on a superhero game. In Freedom Force you fight your way through New York in the sixties, the tactical role-playing game should include 30 missions. With their super skills, the protagonists ensure that only super rubble will remain of the Big Apple.

This leads into my big takeaway for what info was sent out to media at first. Over and over New York and environment destruction. Two elements that are much downplayed in the final game. As we go through more of these you'll see what other bits of info get repeated over and over.

[Ewzzy]

Full Gallery Here

[2000.11] PC Powerplay - English

Developer Diary
Irrational Games Australia on... Freedom Force
After designing the brilliant System Shock 2, Irrational set up an office in Canberra. This is the tale of the team's first game...

   Hi and welcome to the PCPP exclusive developer diary for Freedom Force! We aim to write a regular column here that will give you an insight into how we go about making this game. This isn't going to be your regular hype loaded PR spiel. We'll focus less on the great features and cool things we are putting into the game and talk a little mroe about why we are making certain decisions and what it's like to be a games developer.
   A little background first: who are we? We're Irrational Games Australia. You may know us from a game called System Shock 2. Irrational is currently working on a PS2 title, the Lost, but has opened a new office in Australia - and that's us. So we're an interesting mixture of experienced developers and fresh young faces That's always a recipe for great things, I think.

The Concept
   Well, enough background - what are we actually doing? In this column I want to talk a little bit about the process of turning an idea into a game. Lots of people come up with great game designs all the time but very few of these ever get burned onto a CD and put on a store shelf. Where do the real shipping game designs come from?
Many game ideas are sequels - like Shock 2. Sequels appeal to publishers because they are far less risky for the publisher than an original title. Game playerts generally like sequels for the same reason - they're getting a known quantity. Of course, the problem with sequels is that they can get stagnant and boring - and from a development point of view they are less fun because they're far less creative work for the developer.
   Many other games are licensed products. These aim to cash in on characters or worlds created in other media. Sometimes publishers do something really daring and spin a licence into new genre like X-Com Interceptor or Barbie Combat Simulator. But let's face it, licensed products, with a few obvious exceptions, are generally uninspired efforts. It's not hard to see why this is so - developers have to work within pretty tight constraints, often having to get all content cleared through a 3rd party who really isn't interested in the game.
   The rarest of all game concepts are new concepts. Within this category an even rarer game that branches out into a new genre of gameplay. Most games are fairly straightforward reinterpretations of established gameplay ideas: realtime strategy, firstperson shooting and so on. To be allowed to create a new form of gameplay or a new genre is a rare luxury for a developer because it's so risky for the publisher.

A Super Idea
   So, in creating a new game concept you have to think how you are going to pitch the idea to a publisher. What is going to sell this idea to the publisher? Do you have a licence? Do you plan to make a sequel? Are you doing a twist on an established genre? If so, how will you distinguish yourself from the rest of the pack? Do you have a brilliant new concept? If so, how will you convince the publisher that it will sell?
   With Freedom Force, we think we have discovered an interesting niche that is both clearly popular and yet strangely untapped. Our gameplay contains interesting novel elements (destructible terrain), a mix of established mechanics (RPG systems, realtime tactical combat) and a genre that is popular but under represented (comic book sueprheroes). Those are the basic ingredients that we mixed to get this game from our heads and into the publisher's marketing plan.
   Of course, once the game has been sold to the publisher, one commences the long process of actually building the monster that has been dreamed up. This process is largely a process of compromise along with a large measure of blood, sweat and tears. We'll talk more about that in teh next edition of the diary, coming soon!
Jonathan Chey
Managing Director Irrational Games Australia

This developer diary is shockingly light on interesting info but it promised future frequent exclusive interview in PC Powerplay. I need to look deeper to see if that happened because I haven't found any. IGN had their own series of developer diaries online that I'll be posting eventually.


[2000.12] Computer Gaming World

SCOOP!!!
Marvel This
Freedom Force could be the superhero game we've been waiting for.
   Fifty years of comic books have given us some of the best stories and characters in fiction, spawning dozens of books, magazines, and movies (including the recent X-Men), but not one superhero game has been worth the box it shipped in. Finally, we hope that's about to change. Irrational Games, creators of last year's award-winning System Shock 2, is taking a very rational approach to the subject. "We decided not to licence a comic book property, which would cut our resources in half the game," says Ken Levine, creative director at Irrational. "Several of us are huge comic book fans, and we love to create characters and settings for superheroes, so we thought we could create a universe as compelling and detailed as anything we could have licenced."
   They plan to create three superhero games, the first one set in 1962 in New York City. "The early 60s were the coming-of-age of comics, where heroes had interesting quirks-they were not paragons of virtue," says Levine. "Our game will be in the style of Steve Ditko's Spiderman and Jack Kirby's The Fantastic Four."
   The game will use the same engine as the upcoming Bridge Commander and Dreamland Chronicles: Freedom Ridge, which supports plenty of graphic detail in a pannable, zoomable environment. Freedom Force will reportedly have much of the visual complexity of Freedom Ridge, combined with the bustling activity of Syndicate Wars. The streets will be filled with traffic and people, the latter of which are sure to become hapless victims. You'll start out with one superhero with adjustable attributes, and you'll acquire more heroes throughout the game. Taking down the evildoers confers prestige points to invest in increasing your heroes' powers.
   When news of trouble reaches headquarters, you'll choose up to four superheroes per mission and sweep into action. Sometimes it'll be henchmen harassing the crowd; other times it'll be supervillains tearing up parts of the city. This is where the game should shine: Everything is being built with destructibility in mind. Your superheroes will be able to grab a telephone pole or a bus, and commence with some high-octane arse-kicking. Walls will be smashed, trees uprooted, bystanders injured, and large structures destroyed. Depending on their ability, heroes can fly, burrow, or use force beams to contend with villains wielding powers that could be stronger than that of your heroes.
   "You can make a mess, from knocking over the Statue of Liberty to taking out the Brooklyn Bridge - the scale and scope of these battles should be huge," says Levine.
   Irrational Intents to support multiplayer and a wide range of mods from users. But for now, they're focusing on the basics: story and characters. "Aside from the technical aspects of blowing stuff up, it's important to have a range of characters with interesting motivations and complexities to them. We're really working hard to make this world feel honest and realistic to the period, on top of making it an incredible game."
Stay tuned - we'll bring you more details as it nears its Winter 2001 release.
-Ken Brown

Proto El Diablo! I love him! The article talks a lot about similarities with unreleased game Dreamland Chronicles: Freedom Ridge. Worth taking a look at. I'm getting a real sense of how oversold the scope of the game was at this point. The quote about knocking over the statue of Liberty and Brooklyn Bridge is wild.

[Ewzzy]

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[2000.12] Giochi Computer Italian

Adventure / Action
Freedom Force
Irrational Hames flexes the muscles

   There are many video game enthusiasts and PC owners who complain about the almost total absence from the market of real games with comic super-heroes as protagonists. Why hasn't it been possible so far to play in depth with characters like cyber-robots, flying super-men or steel mutants? Thank goodness the development team Irrational Games (the name is already a program) now runs to their rescue with the attempt to fill this videogame gap. The programmers are using all their (super) skills to make a 3D action game with a propensity for role-playing and adventure genre, with characters like "Ant-Man", "The Bullet", "Microwave" and the terrible duo "Law and Order". The title of the game is Freedom Force, and we will play the role of these supermen who will have to defend democracy from the equally super-powerful threats of the bad guys on duty. We will be able to create our own character with customized powers and costumes and fight against enemies controlled by the computer or against our friends in battles worthy of a comic. We just have to wait...
   Unfortunately we will have to wait a long time, that is until the autumn of 2001, to be able to see this discs on the shelves of shops.

This Italian article struggled so much with computer translation. No idea why. Everything else in Italian did fine. Another mention of the fall 2001 release date. That of course would slip to March of 2002.

[2000.12] PC Zone

A superhero strategic RPG from the System Shock boys
   Irrational Games, the team responsible for the fabulously cool System Shock 2 (produced in conjunction with Looking Glass) is working on another groundbreaking RPG. Going by the name of Freedom Force, the game takes its cue from the Marvel and DC comics of yesteryear and is set in New York during the '60s. The characters are all typical superheroes, with powers such as flying, freeze rays and energy shields and will be hellbent on fighting crime in all its forms, while at the same time getting swept up in an epic in-depth storyline.
   The terrain and environment will be completely destructible, much like in the FPS Red Faction, so you'll be able to have plenty of fun destroying and wrecking buildings while you battle the bad guys. This also means that there are no indestructible walls and thus no tediously simplistic find-the-key-to-open-the-door type of puzzles.
We are also promised a more strategic approach to fighting, with a combination of real-time and turn-based combat you find in games such as X-Com: Apocalypse (a game it has consistently quoted as being a source of inspiration) and Planescape: Torment.
   But, of course Freedom Force is still primordially a RPG and you'll be able to build your characters from the ground up. If you think about it, special powers are really just and extension of System Shock 2's psionic and other skills. Irrational is working very hard to provide plenty of mod and fan support and want to generate the same kind of community Half-Life has. Obviously being able to create almost any of your favourite superheroes should help tremendously. The developers, by their own admission, are trying to recapture the golden era of comics when unforgettable classics such as X-Men and The Avengers first appeared, but a publisher has yet to snap it up. Expect it to be super sometime next year. So until then, cool your boots.
Superheroes or anarchists? Whatever you might think of them, the boys keep swingin'.

This is one of the first articles to really bring up the possibility of the modding community. Don't know if we ever got to Half Life level but the Community was always bigger than the games themselves. Now somebody tell me what the heck that photo caption is about. Anarchists? Swingin'?

[2000.12] PC-Player - German

More than a dozen pages of a roundtable interview featuring Irrational's Ken Levine, EA's American McGee, Ion Storm's Stevie Case, Relic's Alex Garden, Vertant Interative's Brad McQuaid, Epic's Cliff Bleszinski, Liquid's Ed Del Castillo, and Valve's Robin Walker along with profiles of legendary developers Will Wright, Warren Spector, Peter Molyneux, Sid Meier, Gabe Newell, Chris Roberts, and more. Here's Ken's profile:

Ken Levine
Job: CEO / Founder of Irrational Games
Age: 34
Merits: Works on Dark Project, was a designer and scriptwriter at System Shock 2.
Fun fact: Was once a stage writer and screenwriter in Los Angeles. But we don't want to blame him for that, do we?
Current project: Creative Director at Freedom Force.
Background: I worked in the film industry for a while until one day I applied for a job at Looking Glass.
Sources of inspiration: Doug Church (creator of Ultima Underworld and System Shock)
His first game: Star Trek 1976 on a mainframe computer.
About Freedom Force: Freedom force is a tactical RPG set in New York in the early 1960s. Full of the exaggerated action of the comics of the time, classic role-play fare is announced here in a refreshingly unspoiled environment. It is the player's task to create his own Freedom Force, a kind of superhero team, and with him to fight a whole series of supervillains, whose sinister plans range from the usual bank robbery to world domination.

"If the Japanese take a serious look at the American market and find out how to produce games for it, then good night." -Ken Levine

I'd love to see a translation of the whole roundtable, but it's too long to transcribe in German and computer translation doesn't handle the conversational talk as well as the informational news articles.