Freedom Finger

Genre: Shmup

Players: 1

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Review:

Freedom Finger is a Shmup released on PC and Nintendo Switch in 2019 and ported to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2020. This game has players piloting a ship shaped like a hand with a middle finger extended, fighting spacefaring Chinese terrorists who have taken over America’s moon base.

You can probably tell from that description, but Freedom Finger is very tongue-in-cheek, with much of the game narrated by a foul-mouthed US General that’s as stereotypical as they come, with characters in the game voiced by A-list voice actors like Nolan North and John Dimaggio. This is mirrored by the game’s whimsical hand-drawn 2D visuals, which are not in any way impressive, but still exude a simple cartoony charm that works well enough for this game.

However, while your mileage may vary with the graphics and overall presentation here, the game’s soundtrack is phenomenal, full of classic rock-style songs. Unfortunately, I don’t have examples for you, but just know that this game’s soundtrack rocks in a way most Shmups can only dream of doing.

When it comes to the gameplay, your ship being hand-shaped isn’t just for a silly sight-gag. In addition to normal shooting, players can use their ship to punch enemies with melee attacks, and even grab debris and some enemies to toss at other enemies, with special enemies even acting as a weapon pickup as you turn their big guns against them.

In theory this is an excellent idea, but in practice it often proves to be self-defeating. Players move more slowly when holding a ship, so it feels like a tradeoff more than an upgrade, and objects you’re holding will be destroyed when you take damage, which is more likely with your reduced mobility. As if that wasn’t enough, levels often have switches or enemies that need to be punched, forcing you to discard a weapon regardless of how much you want to keep it. And punching enemies seems like a great idea too, but you can only ever punch directly to your right, and your limited movement and punching speed means this will really only prove useful against larger enemies that aren’t actively firing at you… and even then you may be better off keeping your distance and simply firing. Really, you’ll mostly only want to punch when the game requires it, which is not the sign of a well-implemented combat mechanic.

With all of the upgrades coming with frustrating trade-offs, and the game’s more unique gameplay elements getting mixed results, it leaves Freedom Finger a decent Shmup, but not an especially good one. It may be worth playing just for the soundtrack, but beyond that, this is a game with some interesting ideas that fail to meet their potential.

tl;dr – Freedom Finger is a Shmup that has players fighting enemies in a cartoony ship that looks like a hand with a middle finger extended. The game has some interesting mechanics, but none of them work very well, leaving the gameplay largely bland and uninteresting. At the very least, this game has an excellent soundtrack, but overall you’re probably better off going with another Shmup on the Nintendo Switch.

Grade: C

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