A Review of Freedom Finger: The Politics of an Unassuming Shoot ‘Em Up
By Mick Reed
[Spoiler warnings incoming]
Freedom Finger is described by its developer Wide Right Interactive as a Bat-sh*t crazy space shooter. You play as Gamma Ray, the pilot of a combat-enabled experimental space-ship created for the US Military, and known as the Eagle Claw. The Eagle Claw peculiar instrument. It is shaped like a closed human fist with the middle figure extended and is capable of shooting lasers out of its protruding digit as well as grappling enemy ships to either commandeer their weapons systems, using them like a handgun, or hurling them like a projectile. One of the more interesting aspects of Freedom Finger is its story, a satire which takes a broad swipe at US foreign policy and militarism and lands with surprisingly accuracy, despite its absurd setting and presentation.
Your mission in Freedom Finger is to rescue a team of American scientists who have been taken hostage by a foreign power on the moon. The secret operation is overseen by General Cigar, a foul-mouthed, alcoholic voiced by Nolan North, and "Mission Control," a soft-spoken and professional military contractor. Throughout the main campaign, you blast your way through more than 40 levels, populated by hand drawn graphics in a classic, side scrolling, shoot ‘em up (shmup) style, battling the Chinese and Russian military, as well as all manner of incredible and bizarre extra-terrestrial life forms. A war that is waged to a killer soundtrack that features music from a variety of contemporary rock and electronic artists, including, Portland’s melodic sludge rockers Red Fang, porcelain gothic paragons Drab Majesty, psychedelic poppy-poppers White Fence, trippy bass-bosses Com Truise, and many more, with original tracks contributed by Minneapolis's own verbose rhyme rapscallion Aesop Rock.
There is a lot about Freedom Finger that is unorthodox for the genre of side-scrolling shmups, from its hand-drawn graphics to its emphasis on satire, but there is one way that it is incredibly similar to its genre peers: It's hard as hell. While there are some concessions made for accessibility and to flatten the difficulty curve for novice player, its gameplay is fairly punishing and will likely frustrate even experienced players. Gamers who seek out shmups tend to enjoy a steep learning curve though and it’s why so many games in this style can be so incredibly unforgiving. To proceed players have to dissolve into the flow of play almost, to disappear into the moment, not unlike meditation. The act of relaxing into the gameplay and relying on reflex and dexterity to navigate the environment has a zen-like quality to it. If done properly it can also be incredibly cathartic. Your flexibility becomes your greatest weapon, and your survival depends on your ability to slip into the flow of play. You either bend like a reed or get snapped like a twig. While an activity that requires a certain amount of dissociation would be considered apolitical by most, it is actually the extremely constraining quality of the game that reveals the underlying power structures at work and vindicate its satire.
In most games, especially shmups, you have a limited field of vision, and your only objective is to eliminate obstacles to your progress at the barrel of your gun. It is incredibly easy to limit the amount of information presented and to guide the player's decision-making process in this way. Especially when the screen moves on its own it becomes incredibly easy to conscript the player into the role of the "good soldier," whose only purpose is to fill approaching enemies full of blue plasma. The normal flow of play who doesn't give the player room to question orders, or provide leeway to effectively shape the course of unfolding events. In order to progress, you have not only be flexible in your approach to gameplay but plastic in accepting the justifications for your actions. Your relationship to power is an instrument of its will. You not only have to lose yourself in the heat of battle but sacrifice yourself as a moral actor in order to progress.
At one point, late in the game, General Cigar reveals to you that he has lied about the purpose of your mission. He explains that the US has been losing its trade war with the China and that he has been using you escalate tensions with the Chinese military to promote a full-scale global conflict, a conflict which he believes the US is both morally and logistically prepared to win. His hatred of the Chinese is a mixture of xenophobia and grandiose delusions befitting an Info Wars broadcast, and are on par with General Jack D. Ripper's ideological commitments which lead him to initiate nuclear Armageddon in Dr. Strangelove. You are given the option to refuse your final mission, but it's not clear that taking this route actually prevents World War III, especially with everything else that has transpired up to that point. If you refuse, you are given a literal suicide directive by Mission Control. As an instrument of power, you have no moral agency or hope to implement better outcomes.
Your lack of actual choice and obvious manipulation throughout the campaign illustrate the ways in which power works through an individual and robs them of their liberty, but the dynamics of power are also illustrated in the tensions that develop between General Cigar and Mission Control during the cut-scenes. General Cigar views his co-operations director as weak and ineffectual, despite his obvious competencies and skills, while Mission Control views General Cigar as a boorish nuisance that he constantly has to clean up after, despite the General’s decisiveness and direct approach to problem solving. At one point, they turn on each other, but not for the reasons that you'd expect. Eventually, Mission Control decides to investigate Cigar, uncovers that he has gone rogue and that your mission is a sham. Although, what instigates Mission Controls' mistrust of Cigar and prompts the investigation is not the fact the latter ordered you to fire on civilians or commit any number of atrocities, but because of the fact that he drinks and swears too much and is generally rude and prone to behavior unbecoming of a military officer. In other words, it is not Cigar's demonstrably evil actions that offend Mission Control, as all of these crimes he is also complicate in, but the fact that Cigar conducts himself in an uncouth manner that results in Mission Control turning on him. Just as in the real world, professionals in all manner of business work to justify and make palatable to the public the rapacious activities of the powerful, so too this dynamic is reproduced between the characters who give you your missions in a scenario where your only objective is efficient slaughter. Further, it is not the cruelty or savagery or an action that offends power but how it the actions are carried out that risks its legitimacy. There is a theater of legitimacy that is always at play in any exercise of authority over others. If the exercise of power is too uncouth, it prompts a response by others who are invested in the application power to bring the rouge element into line. This is the case even where the conduct of the vulgar actor are otherwise well within the bounds of their allotted authority. The goal of power to maintain a perception of legitimacy, not to prevent the deployment of power’s considerable resources towards nefarious ends.
Despite its silly appearance and emphasis on humor, Freedom Finger demonstrates that it is more than up to the task of presenting satirical commentary relevant to our present era. As nationalism and anger at immigrants and aliens serge, it is worth examining the dynamics between those who make decisions for us, as well as power's own critique of itself. Through this process we can hopefully see past the theater of legitimacy which power presents and discern the web of strings that are pulling us inexorably towards an outcome that benefits the powerful at the expense of our autonomy (and, also, often our lives). If we cannot learn to see these forces at work and attempt to break free of our bonds, then we have no choice but to be the tools that power exerts its will through. If we want to be free of tyranny, we have to take the project of freedom into our own hands and not simply accept those options which are handed to us from on high. Put another way, in order to be free, the hands will need to learn to become their own masters.
Mick R. (Treasurer of the Board of Directors) (he/him) Mick is a lawyer and writer living in Chicago. He has reviewed case materials, participated in hearings, and drafted orders for the U.S. Merit System Protection Board and the Circuit Court of Cook County. Before attending law school he handled community outreach and created a series of legal help guides for the State Bar of Montana. He holds a BA in Philosophy from St. Norbert College and a J.D. from John Marshall Law School, where he was President of the Video Game Law Society and Editor of the newspaper. He is currently pursuing a Masters of Law in International Intellectual Property at Chicago-Kent. Email