Flames of Freedom

The Good
The real selling point to this game is the free hand it gives you in playing it. Using a linking structure on the strategic map, you can move out in many different directions; either go straight for the most key islands or build up your support before moving in for the kill. You also have an almost daunting character generation system, almost CRPGish in its complexity of skills, behaviour and appearance. Plus, of course, you have an incredible variety of transportation available to you, from trucks to submarines to jets. And the game allows many ways of executing your missions. Either engage in an all-out firefight with the enemy or sneak around assassinating key targets and blowing up important installations. If only every game, even these days, would allow such unrestricted gameplay! Plus the visuals were impressive for the day, rendering the world in true 3D graphics. It also had a very intuitive icon system for your actions, again giving everything an "action game meets CRPG" feel.

The Bad
But even when I first played this game, the graphics were pretty sparse and static, sometimes almost eerily so. I dunno if it was the tense music you heard when you were travelling, or the fact that entire helicopter platoons would turn to attack you while on foot and you only had a lone palm tree for cover, but I would get creeped out sometimes. Plus the villages were ghost towns, well rendered but void of signs of life except for your target, who would unfailingly be standing in the middle of town looking like the polygon dude from I, Robot.

The Bottom Line
Blending the best elements of action, strategy and CRPG games, Flames of Freedom makes for some great, unrestricted play.