Freedom Planet
| Freedom Planet | |||||
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| Steam artwork | |||||
| Studio | GalaxyTrail | ||||
| Publisher | GalaxyTrail | ||||
| composer | Leila Wilson Stephen DiDuro Shane Ellis |
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| Erstveröffent- lichung |
Microsoft Windows July 21, 2014 OS X , Linux April 17, 2015 Wii U October 1, 2015 October 29, 2015 PlayStation 4 March 21, 2017 August 25, 2017 Nintendo Switch August 30, 2018  |
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| Game engine | Multimedia fusion | ||||
| genre | Jump 'n' run , action | ||||
| Game mode | Single player | ||||
| medium | Download | ||||
| language | English Nintendo Switch Japanese, French, German, Spanish, Korean, English |
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Freedom Planet is a two-dimensional platformers-run game, developed and published by independent game developer Galaxy Trail, a company founded by Stephen DiDuro for the project company. The player controls one of the three anthropomorphic girls: Lilac, the dragon; Carol the wild cat or Milla the basset hound . Supported by the duck-like-looking Torque, the player tries to stop Lord Brevon, who wants to take over the galaxy. While the game is mostly focused on speed, the levels also feature slower action sequences .
The game originally started as a Sonic the Hedgehog - fangame , DiDuro but lost interest in the development of a derivative work and designed the project as its own, intellectual property , new. Sash Lilac, originally a hedgehog , became a dragon; Villain Dr. Eggman was replaced by Brevon, and the ring-based life system of the Sonic titles was abolished. Further changes were suggested by fans and incorporated in the course of development. The art direction has East Asian influence: the backgrounds were inspired by medieval Chinese art and the title of the game is written in katakana .
It was first released for Microsoft Windows in the form of a demo in August 2012, and then, after a successful Kickstarter campaign, as a full version on Steam in July 2014. Versions for Linux and OS X were released in April 2015, followed by a version for the Wii U in October 2015 and PlayStation 4 in March 2017. Freedom Planet has been compared many times to the Sonic titles on the Sega Genesis . Critics praised the gameplay, the aesthetics and balance between the Sonic elements and the originality, but were divided about the pacing and the length of the game. A successor called Freedom Planet 2 is planned for a release in 2020.
Style of play
Freedom Planet is a 2D jump-'n'-run and action game with anthropomorphic animals and graphics in 16-bit style, which mimics the look of the titles released for the Sega Genesis , particularly the Sonic-the-Hedgehog series. The game lets the players slip into the role of one of the playable characters, with whom they cross each level and defeat opponents and obstacles before they face a final boss . Players have a health bar, which is refilled by collecting red petals, and a regenerative energy bar, which is used for the different special techniques of the characters. Players can earn extra lives by collecting blue crystals that can be found throughout the level or by saving the creatures trapped in cages. Players can also receive different types of shields, some of which often include bonus attributes such as immunity to fire or the ability to breathe underwater. There are also cards hidden in the levels that unlock bonus content such as music and conceptual art, and bonus tokens that allow access to a bonus game at the end of the level.
The game has three playable characters: Lilac, Carol and Milla. Melee attacks that can be used on enemies and each character has a unique set of turns that allow them to traverse the environment in different ways. Lilac can double jump and dive into an air strike, allowing her to ricochet off walls and reach high areas. Carol can curl up while running and climb walls. By picking up petrol cans, Carol conjures up her motorcycle, which allows double jump and can go up walls. Milla can throw gelatinous dice and put up an offensive shield, combining the two to perform a shield push and flicking her ears to reach high areas. The design of the large levels is reminiscent of the Metroidvania genre.
Players can play through the main game in two modes: Adventure, which tells the story of the game from the perspective of a selected character, and Classic, in which the game is not interrupted by cutscenes. The time attack mode enables the player to set the best time records for the levels.
action
The game begins when Sash Lilac and Carol Tea rescue a duckbill creature named Torque after his spaceship crashes. At Torque's request, the two set about protecting the Kingdom Stone, a powerful relic. This brings them into conflict between three nations on their planet: Shuigang, a country that has been militarized by its new King Dail; Shang Mu, led by the wealthy Mayor Zao; and Shang Tu, whose royal master is not prepared for war. Lilac and Carol rush to the Kingdom Stone shrine, but are ambushed by General Gong and officer Neera Li, who doubt the stone is threatened. The protagonists arrive when the stone is stolen from Spade, a ninja hired by Zao. When the shrine collapses, Carol is separated from Lilac and buried in the rubble, but is quickly rescued by the shy Milla.
The following night, Torque tells Lilac and Carol that he is an alien who is supposed to arrest the intergalactic warlord Arktivus Brevon, whose spaceship has crashed on the planet. Brevon conquered Shuigang, murdered his king and made Dail his servant. He wants to steal the stone to propel his ship. The protagonists decide to retrieve the stone from Zao, but they are approached by Spade and Brevon's assistant Serpentine along the way. The delays give Dail and Brevon's forces time to steal the relic. Then Zao sends the protagonists as emissaries to Shang Tu to discuss an alliance against Shuigang. They are arrested by the Magister upon their arrival, as Neera blames them for the original disappearance of the stone. Torque will be acquitted if Lilac wrongly pleads guilty. She, Carol, and Milla quickly break out of jail to reunite with Torque, only to see him captured by Brevon and Serpentine.
Carol argues with Lilac and storms off. Lilac sends Milla to find her and then goes to rescue Torque from Brevon's nearby base, but she is caught and tortured by Brevon. Meanwhile, Carol and Milla team up with Spade to storm the base, where they rescue Torque and Lilac. However, they are all separated in the resulting conflict. Neera finds Lilac, arrests her and takes her back to Shang Tu, where the Magister finds that she is innocent and reveals that Zao is challenging Shuigang for the stone. Lilac returns to 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 fixed, and Lilac, Milla, and Carol board it. The team battles Brevon's minions, including a mutated serpentine. Brevon captures Milla and turns her into a grotesque monster who attacks the other protagonists who are forced to knock her out. Furious, Lilac and Carol attack and defeat Brevon, but the Kingdom Stone is destroyed in the process. Shortly after the battle, Milla wakes up in a medical tent and sees the sky lit by swirling, crystalline energy from the Kingdom Stone. The three kingdoms decide to harness the power of stone and divide it evenly, thus ending the war. Torque says goodbye to Lilac, Carol and Milla and returns to space.
Development and release
“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 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. "
“Freedom Planet originally began as a direct homage to Sonic . ... Then, as work on the game went on, I began to feel that it was going to end up being a complete waste of time because I was creating something under the shadow of an established franchise and that it would never be my own work. So I went on my way and tried to design a main character who would not only be a homage to the source of my inspiration, but also stand out at the same time. "
Freedom Planet was designed by American game designer and programmer Stephen DiDuro, who founded GalaxyTrail for the project. The soundtrack was composed by DiDuro in collaboration with users Shane "Blue Warrior" Ellis from VGMusic.com and Leila "Woofle" Wilson from Fur Affinity . Although it own intellectual property is, was Freedom Planet first as Sonic - fangame developed: It contained rings and Dr. Eggman was the bad guy. DiDuro decided that the connection to Sonic would hold the game back and tried, initially with failure, to design his own characters. He was later given permission to use her characters Lilac, Carol and Milla for the game from the Chinese artist Ziyo Ling, whom he discovered on the DeviantArt website .
People who saw the footage from the early alpha version encouraged DiDuro to separate the game even further from Sonic , so he replaced rings with red leaves and changed the characters' abilities. Ziyo had drawn Lilac as a hedgehog, but DiDuro redesigned the character into a dragon. Lilac's wall jumping ability was based on a similar game mechanic from Ristar . Originally, her energy level was supposed to depend on her speed, but that proved too difficult to control.
While Freedom Planet was developed in Denmark and the United States , its art direction was influenced by medieval East Asian art, particularly China. The game's imagery also relates to modern day science fiction and fantasy. Much of the text in the game world is written in Chinese characters, and the title text is subtitled in Japanese katakana as フ リ ー ダ ム ・ プ ラ ネ ッ ト Furīdamu Puranetto . However, no Japanese-language version of the game has been released.
Reviews
Pre-release
Destructoid's Tony Ponce had responded positively to the Freedom Planet demo , commenting that "it was nice to see a well-established formula applied to a new world with original characters". Similarly, Eurogamer's Jeffrey Matulef had described the game's preview as "a Sonic- style indie game done right" and was enjoying the redesigned Life system. Dominic Tarison from IndieStatik praised the “new and strange configuration” of elements of the 16-bit titles, but criticized the short visibility caused by the screen resolution. IndieGames.com's John Polson believed that "the spectacles like loops and wall runs ... [not] as magical" were in the Sonic titles, but encouraged platformers to download the demo.
Nathan Grayson from Kotaku praised the demo for the balance between Genesis Sonic elements and original content: He described the product as "a love letter to classic Sonic , except when it is not". He praised the opponents of the game, but experienced minor problems with the controls. The pacing was perceived as being slower than the Genesis Sonic titles due to the added battle sequences; however, he felt that this enabled players to explore and appreciate the levels. However, Grayson was critical of the synchronization.
Ponce praised the graphics, but criticized the bland foreground elements. Polson noticed slight audio and graphics errors, especially the recycling of sound effects from Genesis Sonic titles, but praised the music for this. Tarison praised the music and graphics, as well as the diverse designs of the surroundings and characters.
Release
| International ratings | |
|---|---|
| Eurogamer.dk | 8 of 10 |
| Hardcore gamers | 4.5 of 5 |
| MeriStation | 8.5 out of 10 |
Hardcore Gamer's Jahanzeb Khan thought it was a worthy sequel to 1994's Sonic 3 & Knuckles game - which is considered the highlight of the series - and that it "may have been released since 1994". Jonatan Allin, from the Danish edition of Eurogamer , who hasn't enjoyed a single Sonic title after the Genesis era, Khan agreed. Polygon’s Griffin McElroy said Freedom Planet successfully performed "a difficult balancing act of leaning on and transforming Sonic the Hedgehog and Rocket Knight Adventures game elements without coming across as a derivative."
successor
On December 25, 2015, GalaxyTrail announced that Freedom Planet 2 was in development. In contrast to the original game, this one is developed in the Unity engine and the resolution of the sprites is higher than in the predecessor. With the goal of defining Freedom Planet as its own franchise, all characters from the game have been redesigned by Tyson Tan. While the early concept art on the game's official website remained unchanged, Tyson experimented with a new style of art with the involvement of fans. Christian Whitehead will be involved in the development by helping DiDuro with the programming and being responsible for porting the physics calculation from Clickteam Fusion to the Unity engine. The release on PC and other platforms is planned for spring / summer 2019.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jordan Devore: Platformer Freedom Planet borrows from the Sega Genesis greats . Destructoid . July 22, 2014. Archived from the original on July 29, 2014. Retrieved on August 17, 2014.
- ↑ a b c Jeffrey Matulef: Freedom Planet is an indie Sonic-esque platformer done right . Eurogamer . August 9, 2012. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
- ^ A b Nathan Grayson: Freedom Planet Is Basically A Classic Sonic Game, Except When It's Not . Kotaku . July 25, 2014. Archived from the original on July 31, 2014. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
- ^ A b c Tony Ponce: Sonic-inspired Freedom Planet tickles my platforming itch . Destructoid. August 8, 2012. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
- ↑ a b c d John Polson: Sonic the Hedgehog-Inspired Greatness: Freedom Planet Demo . IndieGames.com . August 7, 2012. Archived from the original on December 11, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
- ↑ a b c d GalaxyTrail: The Evolution of Freedom Planet . ModDB. August 12, 2012. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
- ↑ a b c イ ン デ ィ ー ズ ゲ ー ム の 小 部屋 ： Room ＃ 342 「Freedom Planet」 ( Japanese ) 4Gamer. July 30, 2014. Retrieved October 25, 2014.
- ↑ a b Pablo Taboada: Freedom Planet ( Spanish ) MeriStation. August 1, 2014. Archived from the original on August 12, 2014. Retrieved on August 11, 2014.
- ↑ a b c d e Jahanzeb Khan: Review: Freedom Planet . Hardcore gamers . November 11, 2014. Archived from the original on November 11, 2014. Retrieved on November 11, 2014.
- ↑ a b Characters . GalaxyTrail. Archived from the original on June 25, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
- ↑ a b GeneHF: Retro Interviews: The Freedom Planet Invades Florida Supercon Edition . Sonic Retro (interview with Stephen DiDuro). July 15, 2014. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
- ↑ Galaxytrail: Kevin Milligan on Twitter . Retrieved January 17, 2016.
- ↑ a b c Dominic Tarison: First Impressions: Freedom Planet . Indie statics. September 14, 2013. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved on June 8, 2014.
- ↑ a b Jonatan A. Allin: Freedom Planet - Registration ( Danish ) Eurogamer.dk . August 15, 2014. Archived from the original on November 2, 2014. Retrieved on November 1, 2014.
- ^ Griffin McElroy: Freedom Planet - Overview video . Polygon . June 26, 2014. Archived from the original on July 30, 2014. Retrieved on August 11, 2014.
- ↑ Freedom Planet 2 - Now in Development! . Archived from the original on July 11, 2017. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
- ↑ Freedom Planet 2 Girls . Retrieved July 26, 2017.
- ↑ Freedom Planet 2 Girls ver 2 . Retrieved July 26, 2017.
- ↑ Site Update for 2016! . Retrieved July 26, 2017.
