Freedom Fighters

GameSpot

Deftly avoids the many pitfalls of AI squad tactics, and this, combined with great control, mission design, and presentation, makes for a truly fantastic game.

GameReviewer

Everything about this game has such a polished feel to it that one is left wondering what possible improvement could be made in the hopefully forthcoming sequel?

Cinescape

While the gameplay is pretty tight, it’s the addition of charisma and squad mates that sets the game apart.

GamePro

It’s a fairly mindless shooter with some cool strategy elements, and aside from some optional tactical coolness, it’s pretty straightforward. It’s a fun and violent game with a really great reward structure.

Cheat Code Central

Freedom Fighters is one of the most engrossing action games on the market today and if you think the concept is cool, wait until you are in the thick of battle. The length may be an issue, but as I've been told, it's not the length it's how you use it.

GameZone

With a story that will have you cheering for the people’s revolution and action sequences that will have your adrenalin pumping, Freedom Fighters will hook you from the beginning to end.

Official Xbox Magazine

Controls are idiot-proof, and deliberately simplified to make sure that controlling your squad is never an impediment to the action... This is an approachable and enjoyable shooter. [Oct 2003, p.76]

IGN

A game that gets better the more you play it. The challenge increases at the same rate as your skills and abilities so that you're really appreciating the level of control you've got towards the end and the cool action you can create because of it.

games(TM)

It's far less intricate than a regular squad-based game, yet it retains all the elements that make them fun - as opposed to a title like Brute Force, which had none of them. A fine display of IO's creative talent. [Oct 2003, p.116]

Yahoo! Games

The AI is surprisingly excellent - if you send a batch of troops out to scout, they will take up careful positions, scale machine gun positions, engage the enemy, and redeploy defensively without any more commands having to be issued.

Game Informer

For all the great things Freedom Fighters does to create an immersive experience, it constantly comes crashing down because the player and camera controls are poor. [Oct 2003, p.136]

TotalGames.net

It’s worth playing through the game a few times to find varying routes through the levels, but after that all you’ve got left is the split-screen deathmatch, a feature that not only plays badly but really isn’t needed.

Team Xbox

The greatest weakness for Freedom Fighters is its length, which is really disappointing considering that overall the game is nothing but an enjoyable thrill ride. As a single-player experience, you can’t do any better than Freedom Fighters.

Games Radar UK (Pre-2006)

A nearly mindless squad-based shooter, oozing with arcade appeal. Don't expect the world and you won't be disappointed. This is all about the best possible kind of ass-kicking, with an insane amount of firepower. As surprising as it is fun. [Xbox Gamer]

Adrenaline Vault

Even with a somewhat weak split-screen multiplayer mode, the challenging gameplay and engrossing plot will satisfy players on their first run through, while the superb AI and outstanding level design will keep them coming back for more.

XGP Gaming

If you're a patriotic American, you will be standing at attention every time you raise an American flag on the top of a Soviet Headquarters.

Electronic Gaming Monthly

Eliminating enemy forces and hoisting our country's colors high above Manhattan rooftops never feels repetitive... Sadly, Freedom Fighters is over too quickly, it's easily completed during a weekend sitting. [Oct 2003, p.131]

Play Magazine

Relentlessly entertaining, finely crafted and smartly engaging. [Oct 2003, p.73]

GameSpy

The qualifications -- short length, lack of replay value, and control issues -- knock the game down value-wise, even though I think anyone who's attracted to quick, violent squad play will have a good time.

Xbox Nation Magazine

While level design is solid, NPCs have the personalities of spatulas, and environments are often jarringly noninteractive... Worth the ride, certainly, but this one could have done with a little less fighting and a little more freedom. [Oct/Nov 2003, p.98]

Gamestyle

Stumbles just shy of greatness.

GMR Magazine

Fighters plays up the action while devaluing its story with cookie-cutter bad guys, bad accents, and jingoistic sentiments. [Oct 2003, p.76]

netjak

The squad-based AI is definitely worth a look, and despite all the flag-waving, the game manages to tell an involving story. It’s a shame that more effort wasn’t put into the graphics, or more variation wasn’t put into the gameplay.