I've gone on to start FP2 but I might as well review the first game while it is still somewhat fresh in my memory. I won't be comparing it to its sequel as I feel that's unfair on a game that released almost a decade beforehand and was made by a significantly less experienced team (and also because I haven't finished FP2 yet so my opinions may change once it's completed).
To start, the gameplay is very enjoyable. I'm in the somewhat unique situation of not having much experience with classic Sonic level design, but from what little I have played of those games, I feel like the level design here is about on par with them. It took a while to fully start using physics to my advantage, but once I did, it became incredibly satisfying to launch myself into the air and soar over chunks of the level. The greater focus on combat was a bit of a mixed bag however. While it lead to enjoyable boss fights, most of the time I was simply running past enemies to avoid slowing myself down and killing the pace. Lategame enemies got a bit too damage sponge-y for my liking too. Though like I said the combat comes together well for the bosses. There are some stinkers like (phrasing these in spoiler free ways) the peacock boss with electric attacks where you can get a shield that completely absorbs electric damage right before fighting him to make him a cakewalk, the gigantic boss with a boatload of weakpoints that takes forever to kill during a speedrun, and the midboss with ice attacks having a very boring and predictable attack pattern, but those are exceptions rather than rules. The majority of bosses are fast and frantic, being very hard the first go around but still completely managable, and you will soon master all of them with a bit of practise.
The balance of the three playable characters was somewhat iffy to me. Lilac is your Sonic for this game, being both the main protagonist and the one who plays the most like him. She can perform a multihit cyclone attack in the air that also acts as a double jump, as well as a six directional boost (can't go stright up or down) that brings her to maximum speed on a dime, lets her make massive leaps over levels, shreds bosses, and makes her invincible for its duration, with both of these techniques tied to a meter to prevent spam. She also has simpler melee attacks and a literal dragon punch, though I mostly just used these to squeeze in some extra damage after a cyclone. To me, she is the strongest character in terms of both speed and combat.
Milla would be in second place in that regard. She's notably slower, but she has a Yoshi-esque flutter jump that makes platforming trivial in many instances. It's not tied to a meter either, so you can use it again immediately after touching the ground. She has less health than the other characters and lacks a fully invincible move, but she makes up for that with her combat capabilities. She can pull up a shield that can protect her from most projectiles and even deflect them, though it is never immediately clear what projectiles are and aren't effected by the shield, so it takes some trial and error unfortunately. She can also shoot a short range projectile that deals decent damage. On top of this, she can summon cubes that she can then toss to also deal high damage. She can also carry other items this way but I only ever found use for this in her opening level (sidenote I found the characater exclusive levels to be the weakest of the bunch, though they were by no means bad). She can fuse her cube with her shield to create a stronger shield burst with longer range for massive damage. Her biggest issue is that some bosses feel like they weren't made with her moveset in mind (something that also applies to our third character, though to a lesser extent). Overall, Milla is much more tricky to use, but makes up for it with incredible power once you get the hang of her. The same cannot be said for Carol.
Carol is supposed to be your Knuckles in this game, She can climb walls with a Megaman X style walljump and hit enemies with a flurry of kicks while being invincible (also on a meter), as well as rolling into a ball on slopes to rush throgh enemies, however this is slower than Lilac's boost. Unfortunately, her focus on combat abilities in a game where combat almost never matters outside of bosses leaves feeling underwhelming. Even her motorbike powerup isn't all that helpful. It breaks very easily and I found it clinging to walls when I didn't want it to. Her biggest difference from the other two are the contextual platforms that allow her to quickly jump to areas that the others would struggle to reach as fast, but she still ends up being slower than the others. She is by no means unusable or boring to play as, but she is the weakest of the trio.
The story is something I see getting a lot of hate, and I get it. We're here to play a fast paced arcade-y platformer, and the cutscenes get in the way of that, but on a first playthough it wasn't all that intrusive, acting as a reprieve between stages. Even ignoring that, these characters are just entertaining. They're far from deep or complex, but it is a treat to watch them interact with each other and their personalities across the board are very solid. The actual plot is undeniably basic. "Evil aliens show up and ♥♥♥♥ things up and we gotta stop them" essentially boils it all down in a nutshell. There's some drama thrown in but it doesn't really add all that much. While this is a shame, it isn't the end of the world to me. I came in expecting a Sonic tier story and that's what I got. Would I like a stronger story? Yes. Does it ruin my experience? No. Would I play the classic mode that skips all cutscenes regardless of the stories quality on repeat runs? Absolutely. For what it's worth, the story of the second game feels much more cluncky so far, so as of writing I'd go as far to say this is the better of the two stories. I know I said I wouldn't compare the two, but that was moreso in regards to their gameplay and design, so I think it's fair to give a brief mention here.
Overall, Freedom Planet is a very fun game. Solid level design, amazing bosses, and a fun cast, both to play as and to watch in cutscenes. If you're reading this and wanna give it a go, I highly recommend it. Hell if you already own the game, I suggest giving it a second try. According to Steam's global achievements, about half of the people who bought this game haven't even finished the second level, so statistically there's a solid chance you haven't given it enough time to grow on you if you own it (or maybe you just bought it and never started it idk)
