Freedom Planet

Freedom Planet is a wonderful Sonic the Hedgehog-esque game that mixes nostalgia with something new. The quirky characters, fantastic levels, and interesting story will make you not want to put the game down. Each character has their own advantages and disadvantages, encouraging you to test them all out. In the end, it's the whole package, and it's worth picking up.

Retro-styled Indie games are all too common these days, almost as much as fan-made Sonic games. Freedom Planet, however, manages to be a cut above both categories while still eliciting those same feelings of nostalgia that too many games rely heavily on, not to mention some of the most refined and entertaining 2D gameplay seen in any generation. The Switch port is also as perfect as it can be, with no slowdown or load times of any kind even in handheld mode.

Freedom Planet’s solid level design, clever movesets, and well-executed combat mechanics all come together to achieve a balanced flow, placing a focus on platforming and combat over raw speed. Most importantly, the game keeps a consistent pace, so the faster automatic segments are exhilarating and the slower sections don’t feel like a massive downgrade.

Four years after its initial Steam release, Freedom Planet still stands as a good modern interpretation of the classic platforming formula. The multiple characters play differently enough that it's worthwhile to replay the game to see the different pathways and use different strategies to beat bosses. The two main modes do a good job of pleasing players who value narrative and those who prefer action, and the nice presentation solidifies Freedom Planet as a good choice for platforming fans.

What little flaws there are, are down to the inexperience and budget of the team, something that makes the upcoming sequel very exciting. Imagine what can be offered now. This new release on Switch gives another platform of players the opportunity to see what it has to offer and reminds those who experienced it the first time why Freedom Planet 2 should be on their radar.

Despite echoing the design of early 2D Sonic games, Freedom Planet manages to create its own take on the formula that's well worth playing. For a game that emphasizes tightly-paced stage design and challenging boss fights, it's disappointing that the game's story never reaches the same heights. But if you have any vested interest in Sonic-like games or 2D action-platformers, you'd be remiss not to add this one to your queue--just make sure to play in Classic Mode.

Freedom Planet isn't shy about its influences, but what new spins it does add to the tried-and-tested formula is enough to keep it interesting - providing you haven't already played it.

Pros: Graphics Music (Mostly) Voice Acting (Mostly) Gameplay Story Characters Cons: The cards/badges are useless Pengu Lagoon REALLY REQUIRES you to use power-ups (Some) voice acting isn't that great Real Score: 9.7 out of 10 | #1 in my collection

Este juego Indie nació como un sucesor espiritual de sonic y a logrado superarlo en muchos aspectos. Tiene un muy buen control de los personajes y un diseño de niveles muy bien logrado en los cuales tendremos que explorar muy bien para sacarle el maximo partido, estos tiene una duración bastante mas larga que otros de su mismo genero. Los jefes finales es otro punto a tener en cuento, estos son únicos y variados.

I have never played any of the original Sonic games and never had an interest. I spotted this game as a Game of the Day on the Eshop and saw it had a demo, i tried it, enjoy it and bought it. I am a **** pixel art games and i really enjoyed this game. Ive only played as Lilac tough. The music is pretty good, Dragon Valley especially is 10/10. The levels are fun and non linear, with Dragon Valley being my favorite. The characters are fun, Lilac being my favorite (Why yes, i do love Dragons). The plot if overall pretty simple, as you set out to stop this alien conqueror from leaving with the mcguffin. Not the best or most creative story, but it works just fine. There is attention to small details; like how you can sit on benches or the characters you play as dance to the music in a certain level and i just love these kinds of small details. Though the game does`nt feel very original, the fast-paced combat feels sometimes a bit to crazy for me. A health bar for Bosses would also have been nice thing, but for some strange reason, there ain`t. Overall, a most enjoyable game and def a franchise i hope to see more of, but i hope some of its flaws will be adressed for the sequel.

I won't lie and say I'm not very far into this game, only on the 8th level of one campaign, but I don't have the force to continue, as I don't think this game is not very good. It's not bad by any mean, it's just that I don't see what everyone else saw in it. Maybe I'll update this review once I finished the game, who knows.

This game is deceptively bad. I keep going back wanting to like it, but the thing that it does differently from Sonic are partially what ruins it. Not being able to just jump on enemies but instead having to attack them with a move is anti-speed, whilst the stage design is built around going fast. The level design overall is not that good either. Nor does the game keep adding fun mechanics to the stages like Sonic. The cutscenes just drag on forever and can't keep my attention. Just stick with Sonic Mania, skip this.