Ubisoft have recently decided that Freedom Cry warranted it’s own stand-alone release and I have to say I whole heartedly agree.
Freedom Cry takes us on an unflinching journey through themes of slavery, the cost of freedom, liberation and resistance. It plays roughly four to five hours long depending on how you commit to story or side missions. The game offers a powerfully emotional look into the solo adventures of a new assassin and character Adéwalé. Some of you might remember Adé as Edward Kenway’s quartermaster aboard the Jackdaw in AC4:Black Flag. The story follows Adéwalé in his new found cause to liberate the Maroon slaves of Port-au-Prince and kick start the resistance movement there.
Like any other Assassin’s Creed game Freedom Cry doesn’t shy away from some of the darker elements in history. Remember in any of the Ezio games where you could ‘G’shunk‘ some poor (probably innocent enough) guard face first into a wall and feel a little guilty because he was only doing his job? Well that’s not a problem here. While the backdrop of Port-au-Prince is beautifully detailed with bustling streets and lush jungles to explore, it’s also tainted by scenes of brazen slavery and the oppression of the Maroon people. On a walk through the city streets you’ll see cages, slave auctions, runaways being chased and even scenes of punishment as slaves are whipped and beaten. Thankfully, you can do something about it.
These scenarios function as some of the games side missions among some others including liberating plantations, and I have to say I really found it hard to proceed with the main story line missions and not get involved with these scenes as often as I could. It was almost morally impossible not to stop whatever I was doing and go kick some ass. It was nice though to see that the themes of the story actually synced with its side missions for a change, as you liberate slaves you also add to the growing resistance of the Maroon people and earn new upgrades for weapons and pouches but I don’t think this is designed to function as any kind of incentive mechanism because again, you really don’t need it.
The gameplay and weapons themselves are largely familiar to anyone who’s played Black Flag but with a few new additions. While Ed Kenway’s was a much more skilled approach to combat, Adéwalé’s is a much more crude as you hack enemies down with a rusty machete or just blow four of five of them to bits with the clumsy but immensely powerful blunderbuss, this I find fits as a cool metaphor for the brutality in the story but don’t worry as you’ve still got your hidden blades, smoke bombs and blow darts for the more stealthy kills. Trust me you can’t have enough smoke bombs.
Naval combat is here too, during the course of the story you acquire your own ship to explore and visit new islands and locations across the seas while trading cannon ball shots with enemy ships. A new dynamic is the liberation of slave ships. The challenge here being to take out the escorting ships without damaging the slave ship itself before boarding it to liberate the slaves aboard.
The missions themselves are presented with familiar elements from the Creed franchise such as the follow-the-guy and eavesdropping type missions as well as a few ‘Leroy Jenkins‘ style ‘kill everything that moves’ missions. Now while we all love to hack and slash through enemies I have to say the the potentially more annoying missions weren’t actually that bad at all. When I encountered my first eavesdrop mission I found myself groaning thinking “oh god no not this,” then suddenly realizing “Hey, that wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be.“
The other thing and I have to mention is, these missions can be seriously compelling and powerfully emotional. I’m not joking there’s at least one mission in here that will get to you. Honestly if it doesn’t you have no soul. I found myself almost immediately trying to replay missions thinking “If I can just move faster, if I can just do better.” So be warned your feels will be tested.
Another item I have to spotlight here is the games soundtrack, The Assassin’s Creed games have a reputation for compelling and drivingly innovative soundtracks and and I have to give credit to Freedom Cry for its use of traditional Haitian music that helps set this DLC apart from the main game while it keeps with the Haitian setting of the game. Using an orchestral feel driven with drums and vocal choruses, there are some tracks featuring synthetic sounds that blend wonderfully. The soundtrack was put together by Olivier Deriviere who’s previous works include Remember Me.
[easyreview title=”The Arcade Verdict” cat1title=”Gameplay” cat1detail=”Some new elements add a fresh feel to a familiar system.” cat1rating=”9″ cat2title=”Story” cat2detail=”Powerful story telling with compelling emotion and new characters put this game over the top.” cat2rating=”10″ cat3title=”Presentation” cat3detail=”A beautiful world to explore on land or see with an engaging soundtrack” cat3rating=”10″ overall=”true”]
