Heads-up: I was gifted this game by a friend of mine back in May 2015, so I essentially got this game for free. Figured I'd mention that.

Ever since I discovered this game back in the summer of 2014, I've been obsessed with Freedom Planet's lore and story, having carefully crafted a master plan for a whole-ass alternative-universe fanfiction series ever since 2017 or so.

Anyways... I'd bet that this game's success was partially due to the GalaxyTrail team having impeccable timing with the release back in summer 2014, given that the Sonic fanbase had recently had been slapped with Sonic Lost World and Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric at the time.

Freedom Planet is a game that gladly wears its heart on its sleeve, having taken inspiration from classic games from the 16-bit era like Gunstar Heroes, Ristar, Rocket Knight/Sparkster, and even traces of Super Mario Bros. 2 and Yoshi's Island. Of course, you can't deny that this game has been heavily influenced by the classic Sonic games, and this game was often called a "Sonic clone" as a result.

In spite of the excellent Sonic Mania releasing in 2017, Freedom Planet easily stands on its own, given that the game has easy-to-understand combat mechanics, where each character has a set of basic attacks and a special attack. However, aside from the bosses, you can simply ignore combat by running past all the enemies throughout the stages, since you're not missing out on anything by doing so. Whether you take that as a pro or as a con is up to you, since your mileage may vary.

Lilac's the most Sonic-like of the three heroines available, having a double-jump "cyclone" attack and a "Dragon Boost" technique that can launch you in a few directions, and she uses her hair whips for her basic attack. She also has a drop-kick attack you can use by pressing Down + Attack while in the air, and she has an uppercut attack that you can use by pressing Up + Attack while on the ground.

Carol on the other hand uses her claws for her basic attack, and she can wall-jump like in Mega Man X. Carol can also roll and pounce, use her "Wild Kick" special technique to damage foes and get a moment of guaranteed invincibility, and her "Wild Claw" technique can be used by pouncing or rolling before attacking. She also has a motorbike power-up she can get by grabbing a gas can in a stage, but it breaks down after roughly three hits or so. The bike also gives her a spinning aerial attack for a double-jump and increases her overall movement speed.

Lastly, there's Milla, who's a bit of an oddball. She has less health compared to Lilac and Carol, but she can shred through bosses with skillful use of her Super Shield Burst, which is made by summoning a cube before lowering her shield to prepare the attack. Speaking of the shield, Milla can summon a shield that can deflect projectiles, which definitely comes in handy for bosses and enemies that fire off projectiles, like the DNA Cannon enemy and a certain boss in one of the game's final stages I won't spoil here. Oh, and she can also hover in the air with an adorable ear-based version of Yoshi's flutter jump.

The end of Trap Hideout was particularly painful during my play-through as Carol, where I kept on (effectively) bashing my head against the wall during the boss fight with Spade, and I somehow managed to beat him through (what I'd like to think) was dumb luck.

If you're also annoyed with Spade, try using Carol's motorbike to ride up to the wall to the right of the collapsing bridge that's above the arena with the 100 ninjas, and use your double-jump attack and/or Wild Kick to hit Spade from where he hides off-screen before jumping down into the arena. This'll soften up Spade, and the damage you've put on him will be applied after he jumps down into the arena after beating the ninja horde, and it'll only take one more attack to beat Spade for good. You'll thank me later.

The fight with Neera in Jade Creek was another pain point, but after you figure out that you're supposed to attack her from behind while avoiding her attacks, you'll be golden.

Torque and Spade were once planned to be playable characters via DLC that would've come down the line post-release, but I believe technical issues surrounding the game's engine, namely Clickteam Fusion 2.5, had resulted in the DLC ultimately being canned.

As an aside, I personally feel that people who still complain about the Torque and Spade DLC being canned need to... Oh, I dunno, go touch grass or something. It's been eight years, and this game's been at end of life since that one update that added a couple of languages to the text boxes.

I'm not sure on the exact details at the time I wrote this, but Sabrina and/or the GalaxyTrail team did mention that they had plans for standalone Torque and Spade games. I'm betting that's how they'll make amends for their failure to deliver the promised FP1 Torque and Spade DLC(s), but with Freedom Planet 2 now out the door, I'm personally crossing my fingers that it won't take roughly a decade for us to see those standalone Torque & Spade games materialize.

Overall, the game-play is pretty solid for a Sonic-like, barring any quirks of the physics engine.

Jumping to the story, I've personally fallen in love with it due to a few of the characters being particularly memorable, like the brash but brave heroine Lilac and the ruthless menace of Lord Brevon. However, I'll admit that Torque kinda feels like a walking plot device, and I'd like to point out that Milla doesn't have any personal stakes in the story and seems like a semi-useless tag-along... Disregarding the times she helped out during the Jade Creek and Fortune Night boss fights, anyway.

However, a few plot holes are scattered throughout the story, somewhat marring what was otherwise a surprisingly decent Saturday Morning cartoon-esque story with dashes of political intrigue.

The soundtrack is still as kickass and memorable as it ever was, and the voice acting definitely helps in establishing the "Saturday Morning Cartoon" vibes the game's story as a whole has. Xander Barriga's performance as Brevon still hits hard to this day, and I'm personally surprised that Xander has only gotten one other role as far as I know. The cheesiness of the VA can be seen as part of the mid-to-late 90's spirit, and I'd personally give all the VAs an A for effort at the least.

Ultimately, in spite of this game's sequel having been out for a few months at the time of this updated review's writing, I'd say Freedom Planet still respectably holds up as a game inspired by classic 90's platformers.