Before being handed Freedom Wars Remastered for review, I had never heard of the game. When delving deeper into the history of Freedom Wars, developed by Dimps Corporation and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc. and subsequently the same developer and publisher for Freedom Wars Remastered, I was asking the question, “Is it worth a remaster?”

Freedom Wars was first released in 2014 exclusively on the PlayStation Vita, which gave me the first nod towards a good reason for the remaster. Spending more time looking at comparative footage of the visuals and sounds of Freedom Wars to that of Freedom Wars Remastered came with another confirmative nod. After that, I found no other reason to warrant the remaster.

So, with the research out of the way it was time to serve my sentence and earn my freedom for the crime of just being born. That’s right, Freedom Wars Remastered is set in a dystopian future in Japan, where just existing is a crime. With Earth’s resources depleted, your existence adds strain to a fragile system, so to encourage leeches like yourself from sucking life further from the planet, you are given a one-million-year sentence that you can ever serve in your cell or work off by completing deadly missions for the greater good of your Panopticon.

Freedom Wars Remastered is a third-person action game, and the Panopticon acts as your base of operations, a hub where you can interact with characters you meet through the story, and upgrade and equip yourself and your Accessory. The story is interesting, but it comes as a slow burn. This is because of how upgrading and equipping works. Being a criminal, or as they refer to you, a Sinner, you have limited access to everything.

The Accessory is your 24/7 warden and extends your sentence for any infraction against the Panopticon. Take too many steps, more years added to your sentence. Fall asleep lying down, more years added to your sentence. Take too long to respond in a conversation, more years are added to your sentence. The only way to prevent this is to take on missions, lower your sentence, and purchase entitlements. Consequently, this earning style of gameplay is what slows the story.

When you are not at the Panopticon you will be out in the world completing sets of tasks, collecting resources, and rescuing citizens, all for the greater good. Don’t get too excited, though, because all of these mission locations are confined within an arena, and these arenas get repeated ad nauseum. The battle mechanics are convoluted, but spending enough time with them you’ll find a comfortable groove. Once there, combat is flashy, and with the different variety of both ranged and melee weapons, you and your Accessory can create some good synergies. 

Online PvP and Co-Op are available to further your competitiveness against fellow Sinners or invite them along for your smash-and-grab tactics against rival Panopticons.

As mentioned earlier, the visuals got a nod of approval for being worthy of having a remaster. Textures are more pronounced, and lines have been sharpened to remove the fuzzy appearance and give a clean crisp look. Explosions and gunfire effects have a more realistic appearance, and lighting refracts off surfaces enhancing the environments. The only flaw was the awful English lip-syncs; characters would commence talking and their mouths would stop moving well before they completed their sentence.

Much like the visuals, audio received the same nod of approval. Weapons sound more realistic, sounds and voices react according to the environment, and the music is cleaner. Individually these are a lot more pronounced than the original release, but the mixing could benefit from a review. When voices, sound effects, and music were all presented at once, the competing sounds unfortunately washed something out.

Freedom Wars Remastered is worthy of the remaster tag, and worth your time if you are prepared for an interesting but slow story pinned behind a combat grind. If you played Freedom Wars on the PlayStation Vita, you would not find anything new apart from the updated graphics and audio. If that is enough to sell you on this, you will not be disappointed.

Written by: Ashley Barnett-Cosgrove