Giving the finger
There are a lot of games to keep players busy during these weird times. Freedom Finger is a game that was described to me as Gradius meets Rick and Morty, so of course I was on-board. What we have is a horizontal shooter chock full of raunchy humor and some solid game play to back it up. While we have all this time to catch up on our backlogs, this little indie shooter is more than worth adding to the pile of fun to be had.
While I love the humor and ridiculousness of this game, it can be a bit much. Players take on the role of Gamma Ray as he pilots a ship named Eagle Claw. Oh, did I also mention that the ship is in the shape of a giant fist that fires projectiles out of the fingers? Yeah this game wears its silliness on its sleeve. The ship can shoot, grab, and of course punch enemies. If that isn’t enough you can also censor the finger and any profanity during game play, which earns you a special Achievement called Tipper Gore…get it?
MSRP: $14.99
Platforms: XB1 (reviewed), PS4
Price I’d Pay: $9.99
Yes the humor is childish, but sometimes I am OK with stupid for the sake of stupid. The dialogue is all ridiculous and over-the-top. Some of it actually comes across offensive from time to time and I am not sure it necessarily needs to. Instead it feels like shock value just because and it never needed to be.
The game play is simple. There are two modes, campaign and arcade. The campaign mode follows the story which consists of Gamma Ray taking his orders from Major Cigar to take down Chinese terrorists and save the hostages, one of which is Cigar’s daughter. You only have 24 hours to complete your missions so things move pretty quick. Each level is designed with a specific song soundtrack that plays out almost like a music video. I enjoyed the game play of grabbing ships to use as shields and punching up-close enemies. It is a novel shooter that does some things exceptionally well.
The arcade mode feels more like, well an arcade mode. This features new levels with a backdrop of music from the band Aesop Rock. Again I love the idea of each level themed like a music video. It adds to the cinematic feel of each mission and separates this game from the herd of other horizontal shooters.
The biggest problem Freedom Finger runs into is its lack of variety. The story and humor carry it for a while, but by the ends I grew tired of its monotony. I wish there was just a little more to it. The game looks cool, sounds great, and plays wonderfully, and it looks and runs good to boot. I just felt like it gave little reason to keep coming back for more. Lean into the ridiculous and add more modes or outlandish power-ups to keep things fresh, as it stands this is a game that I picked up once and put down without any intention of coming back. Still, I loved the time I spent with it.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
