It's a horrible way to describe games these days as Blah with Blah... or like game A had a baby with game B... or game C is the lovechild between K and W. It's completely lazy and gives often the wrong impression that a game is a complete copy of another game... or sets up the unnecessary and unfair expectation that it has the same structural systems and gameplay as the games that had inspired it!

However, just this once (well... guess it isn't going to be just the once...)... I'm going to submit to this sort of description. After all, we gamers have a shared experience of games and easiest way is to use a heuristic and just give this slogan type description of a game... which instantly gives us a base impression of what a game is about. However, keep in mind that this sort of thing is only a beginning point and shouldn't be used to judge and define a game completely!

Freeman: Guerrilla Warfare IS Mount and Blade WITH GUNS!

So, I'm glad I've gotten that out of my system!... and I mean with guns, I don't mean like the Napoleonic Wars expansion. Napoleonic Wars was an update that added muskets and primitive firearms to a game that was heavily melee based and set in a distinctly Swords and no Sorcery setting. Now, this comparison is meant to be a favourable suggestion... as I LOVED Mount and Blade... the open world, the running of a ragtag mercenary company in a medieval setting... all combined with a novel and unique hand to hand combat system that was intuitive and WORKED!

How does Freeman: Guerrilla Warfare stack up, both as a standalone game... and in comparison to its gaming inspiration? (I'm gonig to get really sick of spelling Guerrilla wrong....).

Setting

Ummmmm... a bit like Mount and Blade... Freeman doesn't really have a narrative setting. There are warring factions all sitting in a open sandbox island with villages and towns providing centres of power and commerce. I guess there used to be a single government, but disaster befell and the island splintered into equally balanced factions intent on wiping each other out. There is some very basic narrative elements and flavour given by companions that you can recruit... but apart from that, the "story" is your own emergent story of your character and the formation of your Guerrilla army and the eventual domination of the island!

Character Setup

There is a character creation process when you start up a new game... with some pretty rudimentary choices with the cosmetic look of your character... and then a handful of points to divvy up between quite a bewildering amount of skills. Thankfully, there is a bit of a mouseover when you hover over the skills, which gives a basic description of the skill and attribute uses... So far, everything is like a graphically updated version of Mount and Blade, but set in the present day with modern equipment and trade goods.

Before getting into the game proper, you are also presented with a short 6 question questionnaire (ala Jagged Alliance 2!) to determine some initial skill boosts and starting equipment (and army...). Most of the answers are pretty self-explanatory and obvious in what their results would be... unlike some of the JA2 questions! I find this to be a better design, even if it is slightly less amusing....

I ended up choosing answers that emphasised leadership and book skills... I figure that if this was anything like Mount and Blade, then it is better to go into battle with a group behind you rather than trying to play Superhero!

The Overland Map

The strategic overland map is very similiar in style to the Mount and Blade map... there are large cities and smaller villages which are under the control of various factions... plus some mining areas, bandit/terrorist camps and black markets. Like Mount and Blade, it follows a similar style of time moving on when your army is moving... so it is easy to plan and map your movement without feeling too stressed that things are happening rapidly whilst you are thinking.

Villages and Cities are essentially glorified menus... which is actually a welcome change from the Mount and Blade formula... which dropped you into FPS sort of event... which was actually quite inefficient for doing what you needed to do... which was to trade, buy guns/armour and hire mercenaries... plus take quests and visit the bar! Or if you felt like it... robbing and raiding...

At the moment, I'm more of a nice guy... well, that also has to do with the fact that the standing armies of the cities and nation states would pulverise me if I stepped out of line... but give me time... I will come back for them all... in the name of glorious reunification of the island under my enlightened rule!

Speaking of trading... it isn't glorious... but it what you will be doing a decent amount of at the start of the game... you are just completely overmatched by the wandering bandits, and so you will be dodging them whilst trying to buy low and sell high. A bit like crypto really... You are limited quite heavily by your initial inventory space (which you can level up with skills...) like many of games of this type (space based ones as well...)... so you will find yourself making lots of short runs to get some money going...

... and this is where the bulk of your money will be going.... to hiring very expensive mercs to flesh out your army. They do level up and are individually equipped... but buying them is a large investment (plus they need ongoing pay and food...).... however, they are a huge step above the villagers that you can get relatively cheaply at the smaller towns...

This was my initial militia group of villagers... with whom I would try and catch a single (or two) bandit unawares... so that I might be able to plunder some sweet equipment loot... but even then, I could expect to lose most of my army until I could run a better squad. These days, I have snipers and real soldiers... packing some very serious firepower and armour! Even still... the game is quite realistic... so zero loss battles are a matter of very careful planning and picking fights with overwhelming positive odds... and even then, things aren't guaranteed to go smoothly...

Of course, the easiest and cheapest way to build up your army with decent soldiers is to find captured prisoners and then persuade them to join your glorious cause... these can be enemy casualties in battle or prisoners that were previously held captive by your opponents. The latter case is much better, as it means that they are likely to be higher quality soldiers that you wouldn't ever had hoped to defeat in battle... whereas if you defeated the enemy in battle, then they are likely to be inferior in quality (or you had overwhelming numbers)...

Most of my current army are released captives... with a smattering of hires... but the hires are really just that expensive... and can easily go down to a unlucky hit.

Going tactical

The initial drop into the tactical setting is this map overview of the battlefield. You can issue checkpointing for your squads if you are tactically minded... or you can just rush the enemy en masse. In the beginning of the game, you are better doing the latter rather than being tricky... as it really matters how many guns you can bring to bear on the enemy. It's a pretty realistic shooter... don't expect to go superman here... you run out in the open, you get gunned down. Think more like ARMA for how the battles go....

So, I find it more prudent to lead from a mid to aft position... partly that is self preservation... well, mostly. Unlike Mount and Blade, you can't take down a whole company by yourself. Half the time, you can't even see who is shooting you... let alone from which direction! It's confusing.. probably like real life! So, it is great to be surrounded by an AI who knows where the hell the shooters are... and then start shooting in the same direction. Or lie face down, and hope your guys win....

Now, the reason for trying to stay alive (you never "die" you just get dragged off the field and resurrected with minimal health)... is that your army performs MUCH worse if you aren't on the field... you will take more casualties and deal less damage. Which means that you are going to lose those precious and expensive mercenary hires.

Finding the enemy is half the battle (or more...). Relying on your naked eye for trying to find distant soldiered that are hiding or camouflaged is next to impossible... using iron sights to hit a minuscule target is also an exercise in frustration! I'm currently finding that it really is best to keep distance and pop up for shots... and leave the close quarters combat for the others!

Night vision goggles and sniper scopes... I can't tell you how much a difference they make... it's really night and day (ha ha....). They are hideously expensive, the they pretty much never loot drop on the enemies that you can actually defeat... however, your efficiency in combat is untold magnitudes of order better when you can actually see what you are shooting at!

Unfortunately, the friendly AI has this habit of running in front of your shooting... so, lining up that perfect shot... only to plug a bullet in one of your team's arses... is an all too common occurrence. For this reason, I would suggest turning friendly fire off (which makes the damage very small rather than zero... I've still managed to kill my own team....)...

Graphics and Performance

On my system... the graphical settings were turned up to High, with an additional tier of Highest still left above... it runs smoothly and with no problems... The overland map isn't really demanding, and the tactical map is pretty decent. On the Highest setting, there was a little bit of lagging (especially with lots of combatants)... not a lot, but it is really the sort of thing that you notice when you are playing a FPS. Load times are a touch on the long side though... the initial game load is astoundingly long on an SSD!

The graphics are a huge step up from the inspiration, Mount and Blade... in fact, it is worlds apart... however, that is an unfair comparison as Mount and Blade is more than a few years old now! Mount and Blade 2 should reset that balance!

Sound wise, the music is repetitive and annoying... there hasn't been much of a budget allocated there I think... so, I've turned it off... besides, you need to try and hear the incoming shots! Unit barks are incredibly limited.... it is obvious that this was an area where there was some severe cost savings...

Conclusion

Mount and Blade with modern guns! The most annoying thing about Mount and Blade was the horrible massed melee battles with hundreds of combatants in close range hacking away at each other and getting stuck in the middle was a sure way to die... however, that was the medieval age... and I guess that was the norm!

Freeman updates the Mount and Blade formula to the modern age... and mostly, it does pretty well... this time, distance is the thing that defines the battles. Finding and locating the enemy on the tactical field is a challenge... and when you do, well, it is pretty realistic (from my non-experience....) modelling of the combat situation. You are no superhero.... stick your head up for too long, and you are likely get it shot off.... and shooting is never a guaranteed hit and kill.

... and these are the settings for the normal mode! There is a "realistic" mode that I've not dared play! I have no idea even.....

So, Freeman is a great open sand-box game with not so much story attached to it. If you liked Mount and Blade, and love the idea of a open ended sandbox game... with some pretty unforgiving combat mechanics... then this is the game for you. I do enjoy it quite a bit... but the lack of a story and incremental progress does make the game a touch repetitive after a while...

Review Hardware

Played at 1080p on:

Intel BX80662I76700 Core i7-6700 Processor (3,4GHz)
6GB EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 SC GAMING
GIGABYTE Z170N-WIFI
Ballistix Sport LT 16GB DDR4
Samsung 960 EVO M.2 512GB
S4 Mini Case (NFC Systems)

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Humble Bundle Subscriptions, it's a no brainer for the dedicated gamer!

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