I’m the PlayStation Vita’s biggest fan and I’m glad Freedom Wars is out for everyone
I HAVE always loved the PlayStation Vita, but the vast majority of the handheld’s library is already available on other platforms.
Freedom Wars is one of the last games that was still a Vita exclusive until Bandai Namco announced Freedom Wars Remastered.
Set in a dystopian future where resources are scarce, you play as a Sinner, someone born with a 1million year prison sentence.
Sinners must grapple up to the top of giant mechs and sever off parts to collect resources to donate to the greater good.
Every dangerous mission you take part in and every item you donate will shave a few hundred years off your sentence.
Freedom Wars was innovative at the time it was released, with the introduction of the Thorn, a grapple that helps you quickly explore the verticality of the maps.
You can also use it to travel quickly across the world, close the distance between you and an enemy, and hang onto a mech until you’re shaken off.
The game is over 10 years old at this point and was created with the PlayStation Vita’s hardware restrictions in mind.
One of the Vita’s biggest restrictions is the size, and Freedom Wars reuses just a few enemy types and battle arenas, but this would need to be tackled in a remake rather than a remaster.
There are a number of quality-of-life improvements in the remaster, including auto-save, quick travel, shinier graphics, and faster movement.
However, like the lack of variety, the biggest issue with Freedom Wars remains the limitations of the original.
Tutorials are text boxes with a large amount of text that the average gamer will likely skip through.
Freedom Wars has a lot of systems like severing, drag downs, weapon crafting, modules and abilities that are not obvious when playing.
Many people think that the difficulty curves sharply and you need to grind in order to finish it, but if you use the game mechanics as intended you should have no problems.
Gamers have been conditioned over the years to play games like cover-based shooters, but in Freedom Wars you’re supposed to get up close and personal.
However, earlier missions would need to be restructured to emphasise this and improve on the difficulty issue.
Freedom Wars suffers from its limitations, and while the remaster improves on the original in many ways, a remake would be needed to fix everything.
It is still one of the most innovative big-budget games made, and getting it all on a 4GB cart is a work of magic.
I’d love to see a new Freedom Wars game with all of the resources game developers now have at their disposal.
Whether that happens or not depends on players and how much love they show for this new version, so go play it for the greater good.
Freedom Wars launches on January 10, 2025, for PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch and PC.
If you want to read more game reviews, check out our Super Mario Party Jamboree review.
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