Fun with a Dragon and Her Pals – Freedom Planet Wii U Preview

<p>Gamers who grew up playing <em>Sonic<&sol;em> games and have been wanting the same type of experience found in the golden years of the 16-bit era will find their wish granted in <em>Freedom Planet<&sol;em>&period; The colorful backdrops&comma; Eastern Asian influence&comma; great voice acting&comma; and the focus on lovable female characters all make it highly enjoyable&period; There are two modes offered to the player&colon; the Adventure Mode &lpar;offering the storyline cutscenes in between the stages&rpar;&comma; and the Classic Mode &lpar;which omits all cutscenes&rpar;&period; For those looking to simply play the game and who are impatient with semi-lengthy cutscenes&comma; Classic Mode is the one to choose&period; However&comma; since the main reason I play video games is to experience the story&comma; I decided to play through the Adventure Mode instead&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;93814" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-93814" style&equals;"width&colon; 848px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;10&sol;04122511&sol;freedom-planet-screenshot-2&period;png"><img class&equals;"wp-image-93814 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;10&sol;04122511&sol;freedom-planet-screenshot-2&period;png" alt&equals;"Freedom Planet&sol; GalaxyTrail Games" width&equals;"848" height&equals;"480" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-93814" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Freedom Planet&comma; GalaxyTrail Games&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The Wii U edition of <em>Freedom Planet<&sol;em> supports off TV play&comma; and this feature is helpful for players who can&&num;8217&semi;t use the television set or would rather play on a smaller screen&period; It would have been nice to have some sort of advantage or incentive for playing the game on the Wii U&comma; but it would most likely defeat the purpose of trying to experience a <em>Sonic<&sol;em>-like game&period; The reason to play on the Wii U instead of on a computer could be the use of the <em>Freedom Planet<&sol;em> Miiverse page&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s a wonderful place to ask for help or advice while also having a venue to brag about accomplishments to accompany screenshots&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Since the story is on the light side&comma; I will refrain from discussing it too much lest I spoil the plot and surprises that lie in wait&period; The cutscenes explain the reasons for each stage&comma; and obviously the story is played out through dialogue&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s certainly a game children can enjoy&comma; but since the story involves the assassination of a king and a takeover of a militant dictator capable of brainwashing&comma; it would be best for young kiddies to play in the Classic Mode&period; Two adorable female fighters&comma; Sash Lilac the purple dragon&comma; or Carol Tea&&num;8211&semi;a green wildcat who is always ready for adventure&comma; are the character choices for the Adventure mode until the player unlocks more&period; In the Classic Mode&comma; Milla Rasset is playable in the beginning&comma; but be careful&semi; this cute canine has a lower health bar than her fellow adventurers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;93815" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-93815" style&equals;"width&colon; 848px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;10&sol;04122450&sol;freedom-planet-screenshot-1&period;png"><img class&equals;"wp-image-93815 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;10&sol;04122450&sol;freedom-planet-screenshot-1&period;png" alt&equals;"Freedom Planet&sol; GalaxyTrail Games" width&equals;"848" height&equals;"480" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-93815" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Freedom Planet&comma; GalaxyTrail Games&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Special attacks are available for each character and can only be used while their energy gauge is full&period; Thankfully&comma; it doesn’t take long for the gauge to fill itself&period; <em>Freedom Planet<&sol;em> is a splendid homage to the 16-bit gaming era that enveloped so many childhoods&period; Since <em>Freedom Planet<&sol;em> was greatly inspired by the <em>Sonic the Hedgehog<&sol;em> series&comma; the game&&num;8217&semi;s mechanics are simple and clean&period; Without the fuss and frustration often found in today&&num;8217&semi;s controls&comma; <em>Freedom Planet<&sol;em> offers a purely enjoyable experience&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;93816" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-93816" style&equals;"width&colon; 852px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;10&sol;04122431&sol;freedom-planet-screenshot-3&period;png"><img class&equals;"wp-image-93816 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;10&sol;04122431&sol;freedom-planet-screenshot-3&period;png" alt&equals;"Freedom Planet&sol; GalaxyTrail Games" width&equals;"852" height&equals;"480" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-93816" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Freedom Planet&comma; GalaxyTrail Games&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Unfortunately&comma; the Wii U edition of<em> Freedom Planet<&sol;em> has a bad habit of freezing the console during some of the cutscenes&period; The freezing resulted in a loud buzzing and prevented me from even reaching my Home Menu without completely turning off and restarting my Wii U&period; With the promise of a fix from GalaxyTrail Games&comma; <em>Freedom Planet<&sol;em> has the potential for being a must have game for everyone&&num;8217&semi;s Wii U digital library&period; Having such fluid and clean run-throughs of stages&comma; and a fairly interesting storyline of a kingdom in need of a hero along with a bit of girl-power sprinkled in&comma; has created a game that will treat you to an old-school experience&period; Despite the heart-stopping freezing of my Wii U&comma; I am thoroughly enjoying playing a game whose visuals are a pure delight&period; You may want to wait for the freezing patch to be released&comma; but it you&&num;8217&semi;re in a hurry to play <em>Freedom Planet<&sol;em> than you should stick to the Classic Mode to avoid freezing your Wii U during cutscenes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;