Freedom Force Take On Third Reich

Thanks to GameSpot for their preview of Irrational's PC RPG sequel, Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich. According to the first look at this previously unannounced title, a follow-up to the popular tactical role-playing game which featured "a stable of superheroes based on classic 1960s Silver Age comics", this sequel boasts an enhanced 3D engine and Nazi tentacle-bots, as "...the Freedom Force team must travel back in time to World War II to battle a new supervillain named Blitzkrieg, who is the defender of the Reich."

Woo Hoo!

[The Munger]

I think this is great news! When I saw this over at Blues News [bluesnews.com] I was very excited. Freedom Force was a great game on so many levels. It was a hell of a lot of fun, the script was hilarious right from the opening sequence, and it was just such an original take on the strategy genre.

The "Dirty Commi Bastard" humour was very amusing (even to an Aussie), so I can see the Third Reich angle being an easy target for them. I hope they bring back the same characters.

Re:Woo Hoo!

[gmhowell]

The first game mirrored (to some extent) the golden age comics. These were followed up by silver age comics. Stories a bit more interesting (until killed by self-censorship in the 60's), characters a bit more colorful. Many characters were new. Those who survived were revamped in a big way. Look at the Alan Scott Green Lantern vs. the Hal Jordan Green Lantern for one example.

Supposedly, the second game will feature a largely 'silver age' feel. I suspect that most of the characters will change and/or be upd

Smash the Kaiser! oh wait, wrong war.

[August_zero]

Sort of cute really, the first freedom force is a great game that didn't get the sales that the accolades should have predicted. i am glad that a sequel is in the works, good games deserve good sequels.

I can't help but think though, are they giving it the WW2 spin because they think it might be interesting, or is it because WW2 games are the "in" thing right now?

Thats a rhetorical question by the way.

Re:Smash the Kaiser! oh wait, wrong war.

[dtolman]

I'm hoping because its interesting - also a lot of Golden age comics really got there start fighting the Nazi's (evil Red Skull vs Captain America). If anything Silver Age should have been anti-commie, and the first game should have been anti-nazi... Lets all just hope enough people buy this one to get us another sequel!

Interesting name...

[rekkanoryo]

I think the villian's name is a rather interesting choice. After all, Blitzkrieg ("lightning war" if memory serves) was the name given to the German air force's battle tactics--fly over, strike fast and hard to eliminate all the targets, and fly out. So is the supervillian supposed to be lightning-fast too?

Re:Interesting name...

[Babbster]

Actually, it wasn't an air force tactic per se (though it did involve aircraft), but rather a combined force tactic developed by Hans Guderian in order to take advantage of the then newly developed battle tanks. You can find a bit more information here [historylea...site.co.uk].

Re:Interesting name...

[igny]

Actually, Blitzkrieg was codename for the war with Soviet Union. Hitler apparently expected to finish the war before the winter striked. In the game, does the superhero have a girlfriend, named Winter, who helps him to fight the supervillain?

Re:Interesting name...

[igny]

Sorry I messed up, Barbarossa was the name.

Politically Incorrect Joke

[mraymer]

Does this mean that the Freedom Force will also take on Arnold Schwarzenegger? Goodbye Karma! ;)

the WW2 spin

[fireduck]

probably because Nazis are the ultimate bad guy. FF was really a live action cominc book. And while I know next to nothing about the history of comic books, I do know that characters like Captain America had great runs during WW2 because they had story lines where the heros would go after the Nazis.

and I must second the Freedom Force being an underrated game comment. One can still find it in bargain bins and at non-game retailers (Walmart, Target, etc.) for around $15 US. Definitely worth your money at

Progression of Comic Age?

[superultra]

Whenever I heard Ken Levine talking about possible sequels to Freedom Force just after the game came out, I remember him and other Irrationals speaking specifically of moving the Freedom Force characters through comic ages with each sequel. Maybe I'm just not seeing the correlation with this one, but it doesn't seem like this is following in that trend.

That's not say that I won't be the only one lined up at EB's gate the morning the sequel's out. I absolutely adored the first one and consider it among th

Official announcement from Irrational

[The Munger]

Here's the official announcement mirrored at Blue's News [bluesnews.com].

One line that intrigued me:
A radically revised rendering engine that gives "Freedom Force" a look torn right out of the comic book pages.
Are they moving to cel-shaded rendering? At least it's more than just a novelty in this case. Although I think it would be kind of cool if they'd tried to do a kind of 50s TV look as well - just to distinguish it from the multitude of cel-shaded games already).

Original game's sales?

[pebsmith]

I'm surprised they're making a sequel. I thought that the first game didn't sell well to warrant one. But I'm glad it's happening because the first game was very cool. I think over time this could be a great franchise. I can totally see this evolving from the Silver Age of comics into the jaded, morally-complex 80's era (personified by the X-Men). But the first game was great for its corny dialogue and the black-and-white morality of the characters.