Freedom Planet
Freedom Planet | |
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Platform | |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Freedom Planet is a 2014
DiDuro first began developing Freedom Planet as a
With development focused on the
A sequel,
Gameplay
Freedom Planet is a
Unlike in Sonic, the player character has a
Each of the playable characters make use of an "attack" and "special" button.
Lilac's basic attacks consist of strong but sluggish hair whips, an uppercut into the air, a crouching kick, and a dive kick from midair. The Dragon Cyclone, used by pressing jump midair, lets Lilac spin like a
Carol regularly attacks with a cycle of three fast but weak punches, which is changed into a single strong claw attack while rolling or pouncing. The pounce acts as Carol's double jump, slightly moving her forward. Her special attack is a series of rapid kicks which steadily consume a fifth of the energy gauge and give her invincibility. Collecting a fuel tank mid-stage allows her to change into a "motorcycle mode", where her top speed is increased and her acceleration doubled. During "motorcycle mode", the double jump becomes a rolling attack and gets the same properties as Lilac's cyclone move. Pressing "special" on-ground triggers a nitro boost that consumes energy. For vertical mobility, the normal Carol is able of doing a
Milla, who does not have an energy gauge, can create a cube of energy by holding down the attack button, which she can then throw at enemies. Holding down the special button lets her pull out her shield that can reflect projectiles.[9] Pressing "special" while holding a cube lets Milla use the Super Shield Burst, a strong mid-range beam which pushes Milla in the opposite direction. Milla can fly for a short time while holding the jump button midair by flapping her ears like wings.[10] Milla is considered to be the hardest to play as, since she only has 6 life petals and even though she could heavily damage an enemy by throwing a cube or reflect projectiles, it would always take some time before she could summon an energy block again.
The player may complete the game in either the "Adventure" mode with all cutscenes or "Classic" mode, which omits them
Plot
The game begins as Sash Lilac and Carol Tea—an
That night, Torque tells Lilac, Carol, and Milla that he is an alien sent to apprehend the intergalactic warlord Arktivus Brevon, whose spacecraft wrecked on the planet. Brevon has invaded Shuigang, murdered its king, and brainwashed prince Dail to be his servant. He intends to steal the Stone to power his ship. The protagonists decide to reclaim the Stone from Zao, but they are accosted en route by Spade and Brevon's assistant, Serpentine. In a conversation with Spade, it's revealed that he secretly worked for his half-brother Dail all along. Talking to Spade soon falls short as the group is suddenly attacked by Serpentine using one of his mechs. The delays given by the chase give Dail and Brevon's forces time to steal the relic.
Afterward, Zao sends the protagonists as emissaries to Shang Tu to discuss an alliance against Shuigang. Traveling by airship, the team gets ambushed by Shuigang's sky battalion, and they crash into a river leading to Shang Tu. Arriving at the palace, they are detained by the Magister, as Neera accuses them of trying to cover up Zao's crimes. After an unsuccessful attempt of Milla to break out of jail, Torque is acquitted when Lilac falsely pleads guilty. Lilac, Carol, and Milla quickly break out together to reunite with Torque, only to see him captured by Brevon and Serpentine.
Carol quarrels with Lilac and storms off. Lilac sends Milla to find her and then goes to save Torque from Brevon's nearby base, but she is captured and tortured by Brevon. Meanwhile, Carol and Milla ally with Spade to storm the base, where they rescue Torque and Lilac. They are all separated in the ensuing conflict. Neera finds Lilac, arrests her, and brings her back to Shang Tu, where the Magister determines that she is innocent and sends her on a mission to recover a drone containing information about Kingdom Stone and their history in return of clearing her name. After she delivers, the Magister reveals that Zao has challenged Shuigang for the Stone. Lilac rejoins her friends and convinces Shang Mu and Shang Tu to unite against Dail and Brevon's army. During the battle, Brevon announces that his ship is repaired, and Lilac, Milla, and Carol board it. The team combats Brevon's minions, including his AI assistant Syntax and a mutated Serpentine. Brevon captures Milla and turns her into a grotesque monster that attacks the other protagonists, who are forced to render her unconscious. Enraged, Lilac and Carol attack and defeat Brevon, but the Kingdom Stone is destroyed in the process. Although he was defeated by the girls, Brevon has seemingly disappeared. Shortly after the battle, Milla awakens in a medical tent, and the girls and Torque see the sky lit up by swirling, crystalline energy released from the Kingdom Stone. The realization of the Kingdom Stone persisting in a different form brought an end to the war. Once Milla has fully recovered, Torque says goodbye to the girls and returns to space, with the promise that he will one day meet them again.[11]
Development
Freedom Planet was conceived in late 2011 by American game designer and programmer Sabrina DiDuro, who had just founded the
Freedom Planet originally began as a direct homage to Sonic. ... As work on the game continued, I felt more and more like it was becoming a waste of time because I was ultimately creating [sic] something in the shadow of an established franchise and that it would never truly be my own work. So, I set out to try and design a main character that would pay homage to my main source of inspiration while still being unique enough to stand out on her own.
—Sabrina DiDuro[8]
Before becoming its own
In an interview, DiDuro described Freedom Planet as "a nod to '90s-style Japanese platform games, like Sonic, Mega Man, and a little bit of Gunstar Heroes".[14] Lilac's Dragon Boost is based on a game mechanic from Ristar, where the titular character slams its body against enemies similarly. Carol's Wild Kick ability resembles Chun-Li's signature special attack, and her wall kick feels similar to the one found in the Mega Man X games for SNES. Milla's floating ability as well as the ability to pick up items are based on Yoshi's flutter jump and Super Mario 2's throwing mechanics respectively.[14][15]
While the game was developed in Denmark and the United States,[16] its art direction was influenced by medieval East Asian art,[6][10] particularly that of China.[5] The game's visuals reference modern science fiction and fantasy as well.[6] Much of the text in the game world is written in Chinese characters, and the logo includes a subtitle written in Japanese katakana, Furīdamu Puranetto (フリーダム・プラネット), despite the game originally lacking Japanese language support.[10]
When DiDuro first attempted to design her own protagonist for the game, it was unsuccessful. Browsing on the art website DeviantArt, she soon discovered Chinese artist Ziyo Ling, requesting and getting permission to use her characters Sash Lilac, followed by Carol Tea and Milla, for her game.[8] Lilac, originally conceived as a hedgehog, was redesigned to be a dragon after criticism about her similar looks to Sonic were made. The design of Robotnik's replacement Lord Brevon, originally named Dr. Brevon, was inspired by Dr. Sloth, one of DiDuro's favorite characters from Neopets.
The soundtrack was composed by DiDuro in collaboration with Leila "Woofle" Wilson and Claire "Blue Warrior" Ellis,[7][13] the latter having contributed to two of the game's tracks before leaving the project. DiDuro would often provide a base composition in MIDI format, with Woofle creating the final arrangement, but also create additional compositions. Voice actor Dawn M. Bennett, the voice of Lilac, provided voice samples for the tracks Relic Maze 1 and Pangu Lagoon 1 respectively. There were disagreements on the direction of the soundtrack sometimes, with DiDuro wanting "fast-paced and in-your-face from the get-go" while Woofle aimed for more "fly-by-night"; starting "quieter and more happy" and progressively getting intense. Woofle mentioned the track Sky Battalion to have been the hardest thing to compose, stating that it was "the low point in [her] entire career", it wasn't a song that she felt was "appropriate for the game". Regardless, Woofle described DiDuro as "a great musician and (...) easy to collab with".[17]
Post-release, the game received updates, such as an update in December 2015 that made Milla accessible in Adventure mode.[18] Updates to make Torque and Spade playable characters were planned for release in 2016 but have been postponed to focus on the sequel. Another reason, according to DiDuro, were her displeasure with the way Torque felt in the existing stages.[19]
Release
Freedom Planet was first released as a
To advertise the game, GalaxyTrail created branded T-shirts,
A Nintendo's Wii U version was planned for release on the eShop online store for late 2015,[26][27] later specified as August 13.[28] A demo was released as part of a promotion titled "Nindies@home", wherein players were invited to try several upcoming Wii U games between June 15 and 22.[29] While it was still in production during the summer,[28] the projected release date was delayed; the Wii U version was set back by a "console-freezing bug", which would postpone the Wii U release indefinitely until the issue was fixed.[30] DiDuro later explained that the bug had taken so long to detect because it only occurred in retail versions of the console, preventing GalaxyTrail and Nintendo from learning of the issue. The bug required a hard reset of the system to address the problem, which could potentially cause damage to the Wii U hardware.[31] The bug was eventually fixed, and the game was successfully released on the eShop on October 1; customers who had tried the game's demo were rewarded with a 15-percent discount.[32] On the American Nintendo eShop, Freedom Planet was a best-seller, peaking at the 2nd spot, right behind Super Mario Maker.[33]
In November 2015, GalaxyTrail joined forces with the
A version for the
Reception
Pre-release
Tony Ponce of
Nathan Grayson of Kotaku praised the demo for its balance of Genesis Sonic elements and original content: he described the product as "a love letter to classic Sonic, except when it's not". He praised the game's enemies, but experienced minor control issues. Pacing was remarked to be slower than that of the Genesis Sonic games because of the added combat sequences, though Grayson felt that this gave the player time to explore and appreciate the level design. Grayson was critical of the voice acting.[3] Ponce strongly praised the visuals, though criticized the bland foreground design.[4] Polson noted minor audio and visual flaws, most notably the recycling of sound effects from Genesis Sonic games, but he lauded the game's music.[7] Tarison praised the music and visuals, as well as the varied designs of the environments and playable characters.[5]
Post-release
Aggregator | Score |
---|---|
Push Square | 7/10[50] |
Freedom Planet was met with highly positive reviews upon release. Reviewing the full version, Jahanzeb Khan of Hardcore Gamer felt that it was a worthy successor to the 1994 game
Khan commented that the levels "never feel like they're over too soon nor do they drag on unnecessarily", and he appreciated the
Regarding the game's visuals, Taboada said, "Técnicamente es excelso" (technically, it is excellent). He praised the colorful and detailed backgrounds, expressive character animations, sound effects, and music.[52] Khan agreed: he commented that "every inch of it exud[es] artistic diversity with high resolution sprites that resemble the quality of yesteryear". He called the audio a "nice mix of catchy chiptune style melodies with infectious synthetic beats".[6] Both Khan and 4Gamer were intrigued by the game's East Asian visual style.[10][6] Taboada believed that each character was likable and interesting to play.[52] Allin found himself unexpectedly captivated by the story, which he guessed many players would miss due to impatience with cutscenes.[45]
Sequel
A direct sequel, Freedom Planet 2, was released on September 13, 2022 for Windows, with console versions published by Xseed Games released in April 4, 2024.[53]
References
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- ^ a b c d e f Matulef, Jeffrey (August 9, 2012). "Freedom Planet is an indie Sonic-esque platformer done right". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
- ^ a b c d Grayson, Nathan (July 25, 2014). "Freedom Planet Is Basically A Classic Sonic Game, Except When It's Not". Kotaku. Archived from the original on July 31, 2014. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
- ^ a b c d e Ponce, Tony (August 8, 2012). "Sonic-inspired Freedom Planet tickles my platforming itch". Destructoid. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
- ^ a b c d e Tarison, Dominic (September 14, 2013). "First Impressions: Freedom Planet". IndieStatik. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
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- ^ IndieGames.com. Archivedfrom the original on December 11, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
- ^ a b c d GalaxyTrail (August 12, 2012). "The Evolution of Freedom Planet". ModDB. Archived from the original on December 28, 2014. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
- ^ a b c d GalaxyTrail (July 21, 2014). Freedom Planet. GalaxyTrail.
- ^ a b c d e "インディーズゲームの小部屋:Room#342「Freedom Planet」" (in Japanese). 4Gamer. July 30, 2014. Archived from the original on October 26, 2014. Retrieved October 25, 2014.
- ^ a b "Characters". GalaxyTrail. Archived from the original on June 25, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
- ^ a b EdEN, Owner (September 10, 2018). "[PS4Blog.net Interview] GalaxyTrail On Freedom Planet". PS4Blog.net. Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
- ^ a b c d GeneHF (July 15, 2014). "Retro Interviews: The Freedom Planet Invades Florida Supercon Edition". Sonic Retro (interview with Sabrina DiDuro). Archived from the original on August 19, 2014. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
- ^ a b "Retro Interviews: The Freedom Planet Invades Florida Supercon Edition". Sonic Retro. July 16, 2014. Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
- ^ "Update 19: 9 Days To Go! Goals, Greenlight and Gameplay Galore! · Freedom Planet - High Speed Platform Game". Kickstarter. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
- ^ Galaxytrail. "Kevin Milligan on Twitter". Twitter. Archived from the original on September 8, 2016. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
- ^ Marts, John (October 9, 2017). "Dashing Nerds Interview: "Woofle" on Indie Gaming Music". Dashing Nerds. Archived from the original on August 1, 2020. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
- ^ "Freedom Planet DLC Announced". TSSZ News. October 29, 2015. Archived from the original on October 31, 2015. Retrieved October 30, 2015.
- ^ Seraphna. "State of the DLC". www.galaxytrail.com. Archived from the original on October 19, 2016. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
- ^ a b Parisi, Vinny (June 4, 2014). "Freedom Planet T-Shirts Now on Sale!". IndieGameMag. Archived from the original on June 8, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
- ^ Strife (June 20, 2014). "Final Release Date Change – July 19th". FPBoards.net. Archived from the original on July 27, 2014. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
- ^ "Freedom Planet – High Speed Platform Game". Kickstarter. July 18, 2014. Archived from the original on October 3, 2015. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
We wanted to get the game up on Steam tomorrow, but, sadly, we have just learned that Steam does not release games on weekends. So although everything's good to go for our launch, we'll have to wait until Monday for our storefront to update. Hang in there for just a bit longer, folks!
- ^ "Freedom Planet - Official Soundtrack on Steam". store.steampowered.com. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
- ^ "Freedom Planet". GOG.com. Archived from the original on November 28, 2014. Retrieved November 26, 2014.
- ^ "Download". GalaxyTrail. Archived from the original on February 8, 2015. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
- ^ Meli, Jowi (March 9, 2015). "Freedom Planet Bringing Its Brand of Sonic-Style Action to Wii U". Nintendo Life. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on March 9, 2015. Retrieved August 29, 2015.
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- ^ a b Whiethead, Thomas (July 28, 2015). "Freedom Planet is Speeding Onto the Wii U Soon". Nintendo Life. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved August 29, 2015.
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- ^ Moyse, Chris (August 10, 2018). "Cute adventure Freedom Planet hitting Switch this month". Destructoid. Archived from the original on July 15, 2022. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
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- ^ a b c Allin, Jonatan A. (August 15, 2014). "Freedom Planet – Anmeldelse". Eurogamer.dk (in Danish). Archived from the original on November 2, 2014. Retrieved November 1, 2014.
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- ^ Tailby, Stephen (March 28, 2017). "Review: Freedom Planet (PS4)". Push Square. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
- ^ a b McElroy, Griffin (June 26, 2014). "Freedom Planet – Overview video". Polygon. Archived from the original on July 30, 2014. Retrieved August 11, 2014.
- ^ a b c d e Taboada, Pablo (August 1, 2014). "Freedom Planet" (in Spanish). MeriStation. Archived from the original on August 12, 2014. Retrieved August 11, 2014.
- ^ Romano, Sal (August 14, 2023). "Freedom Planet 2 for PS5, Xbox Series, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch to be published by XSEED Games". Gematsu. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
External links