Ah, Freedom fall, the game where you are a prisoner in a tower, and your goal is to escape. Sounds simple, right? Not quite so.
Freedom fall is a simple, 2D game where you play as a young man, waking up in his prison cell, trying to escape the clutches of an evil princess. This trope turning has its value, but honestly, after about half of this short game, I found it to be uninspiring. Throughout the game, you’ll find messages from the princess scribbled on walls. Often you’ll see two ways you can proceed – and the easier one will be labeled as “for cowards”. But I did not care for the princess or her remarks – I play games to have fun, not be provoked by teenage wall writings.
The graphics are simple and likable. Whenever you die, whether by impalement on spikes or cut by spinning blades, you leave a blood mark on the item of your demise, which is a nice touch. The colorful palette is used in a manner pleasing to the eye, and the backgrounds change, which is always a good thing in games such as these.
The gameplay is fast pacing and fun. Your character can run and jump, which is useful, since the only way in this game is down. You can also press space for longer to jump higher, which is a tactic I really don’t like in games, but what can you do.
During the game, you might find gliders and wings that will help you reach unreachable places. In order to get them, you need to collect gears, the currency in this game. So, you collect gears to buy or rather build equipment, so that you can reach more gears, so that you can build/buy better equipment and so on.
At certain points, it can be quite frustrating, but not to a rage quitting level. The level where you try to outswim a shark gave me the most grief, mostly because the character wouldn’t do what I wanted it to do. It could also be that my reflexes are terrible, so take this with a grain of salt. You might find it too easy, especially if you are used to these kinds of games.
Save checkpoints are strewn all around, so you don’t have to worry about going back to the beginning of the stage upon death. The respawn is imminent, which is another plus for this little game. At the end, there is another hidden level, but I didn’t care enough for the story to play it through.
The story itself is ok. It has a few twists and turns, and even though they might be unexpected, I was so consumed with finishing the level and getting the hard-to-find gears, that I ignored most of it.
Overall, it is fun, quite frustrating at times, but at least it’s short. If you like arcade platform jumping games that require quick thinking and good reflexes, play Freedom fall, and become the prisoner who saved himself from the mean princess.
