Rooted in the Sonic the Hedgehog fangame world, the original Freedom Planet was among the first modern-day games to go from being a fangame in its initial designs to becoming its own original IP. Sabrina DiDuro and the team at GalaxyTrail made the most of crafting a new IP by making a far more story and action-heavy game than the normally platforming-heavy Sonic games. One thing that GalaxyTrail wanted to do with the original was find a happy medium between not much storytelling and too much and with full voice acting across the series, they did that and later revised it to have a story-heavy mode or pure-action. The sequel finds a happy medium by having shorter cinematics alongside longer stages.
The foundation forged in the first game lives on in the follow-up, but with more refined core mechanics. The sequel takes the same core Sonic-style gameplay, but everything has been given more polish when it comes to movement and characters feeling radically-different from each other in some ways, while also being similar enough for it to be easy to go from one to the other. The multi-character setup enabled the first game to stand out with a blend of characters that worked for faster Sonic-style action with a less offensive-minded approach alongside those who had a greater focus on damage and turned a game that felt like a fast-paced Sonic game with elaborate stage layouts into something that almost felt like a Mega Man X or Zero-style platformer.
Dramatic Improvements
Lilac is the team leader and she’s the speedster – her dragon boost allows her to zoom forward and you can also use it to deal out damage. A second press of the action button allows her to cancel the action and leave energy behind that deals consistent damage. Compared to the first game, she’s far more fun to use and her upward rising attack offers up a makeshift double-jump. Her quick guard enables her to not only avoid damage, but deal it out. She feels similar to how she did in the first game, just with a more refined load out and a greater emphasis on traversal.
Carol isn’t as quick as Lilac, but has a never-ending attack going forward if you want to. She feels like a hybrid of Zero from Mega Man X/Zero and Sonic the Hedgehog with her ability to spin dash at any point, but also deals out damage with her spin dash and her close-range damage is killer. It’s great to just slice and dice through enemies, but it also feels rewarding to slice up obstacles too. She now gets a jump disc to toss around, allowing her to not only deal constant damage using the disc, but also soar around using it as a base to leap off of.
Revamped Characters
Mila is an oddball and has a melee attack now unlike the first game. She’s great for defensive-minded players because she can guard and send many projectiles back at enemies. She has mid-range bullet attacks and the ability to charge that up or fire a shorter-range beam attack for constant damage. She feels a bit like Mega Man with a flamethrower power-up in practice. She’s also able to fly, giving her an almost Tails-ish vibe and she’s great for exploring the world itself.
Finally, there’s Vera and she is very action-heavy. She is a power-type and has a nicely-ranged staff attack and can freeze enemies with her ice lasso – making her feel a bit like Samus with the ice beam as she can turn frozen enemies as an added platform. She also has the tundra ray to send her up and deal damage while also using a spike trap for damage while also using it as a jumping off point. Her sniper drive gun allows her to deal forward-facing bullets, adding another Mega Man-style feel to the action. Her double jump makes her feel a bit more like Bass with her blend of distance-based attacks, shorter-range heavy damage and double jumping.
Dramatic Gameplay Improvements
The increase in polish across the board with the gameplay makes the sequel even more fun than the original was. That game had a lot of promise, but never became something I wanted to play constantly like a classic Sonic game because of the gameplay being a tad janky with jumping and stages being overly-long. The former issue is largely resolved, while the latter is aided by stages having so many different areas within them that they do feel different from one another. It’s a bit like Sonic Superstars in that regard where a single stage theme can still take you across several different sections of a world that all look different.
That versatility allowsFreedom Planet 2to stand out compared to both its original game and a lot of Sonic-influenced games that don’t mix things up much. Here, the characters all feel wildly different in execution even if they all have the same basic core of running, jumping and attacking. The flow between their mechanics all varies and makes every play session with them feel almost like a new game – very much like playing through a Mega Man X game as X and then again as Zero. The feel and overall flow of the action changes so much that variety enables the same stages to feel different because you’re attacking them in different ways. The truly amazing thing is how different each kind of run through a stage feels.
Rewarding Challenge and Gameplay Change
A speedrun-style run with Lilac feels totally different than a slower run with Vera, yet both are equally satisfying to complete. Like the original,Freedom Planet 2does suffer from stages being too long compared to other games in the genre, but one thing I made sure to do was just allow myself longer play sessions to help make up for it. With classic Sonic, you know you’re able to do a few stages within even a 10-15 minute window – while here, you might get through with a single stage in that time, so you have to budget your time more. Once you get into the groove, the increase in overall play style variety showcases how much work went into GalaxyTrail taking their time to craft a truly better sequel game rather than something that was a lateral move or just a minor upgrade.
Review: Freedom Planet
Visually, the sequel follows up on the original game with a greater level of detail in the backgrounds and sprite work.Freedom Planet, likeSonic Maniayears later, felt very much like a “what if” scenario if the 32X or Saturn had their own full-fledged Sonic adventure. If the original was a 32X game in terms of graphics, the sequel is more like a Saturn upgrade with smoother scrolling amidst faster overall action. There’s a lot more going on here than before and despite that, things never slow down and the overall flow of the action is quicker during gameplay – with balance coming from the slower story sections that give the player a chance to recharge and relax the fingers before another action stage.
The original’s full voice acting was flawed, but still impressive and now, the bar has been raised forFreedom Planet 2. The cast are far more natural in their roles now and the acting doesn’t have the same somewhat-silted delivery – making the blend of comedy and drama play out wonderfully. Musically,Freedom Planet 2features a similar blend of tunes to the original that would feel right at home in the original Sonic games while also having more dramatic fair that would have fit in with the more dramatic Saturday morning Sonic cartoon too. Having a single fast-moving action-platformer that manages to pay homage to so many things with Sonic while also doing its own thing helpsFreedom Planet 2stand out.
Closing Comments:
Freedom Planet 2takes everything that worked about the original’s quick pace and diverse playable cast and improves upon it. The samey-feeling character play has been completely revamped allowing every playthrough to feel different, while keeping enough familiar elements across each character to make each runthrough rewarding. The gameplay has been tightened up while the blend of story mixed in with gameplay has been improved in terms of pacing and acting. The graphics have remained outstainding, but received a visual overhaul in terms of detail level that nicely improves upon the first.
