There aren’t a lot of games out there I’d call “brilliant”. In general I don’t even like talking to people who overuse words like “amazing”, “fantastic”, or “mind-blowing”. I think words like that are best used only when they’re describing something really deserving of them. So when I say that Freedom Finger is a “brilliant” game, it’s because I actually think so. There’s no one element I think makes it that way, but I think it’s brilliant as a sum of its parts. If you’re a fan of games like My Friend Pedro, Hotline Miami, Katana Zero, Cuphead, and to a lesser degree either of the South Park games, then in my opinion this game is a must-buy and a steal at $15. It’s a very different type of game being that it’s a horizontally scrolling shooter, but the satire and spirit of the other games I just mentioned is totally there.

You play as Gamma Ray, a faceless and voiceless character who’s mission is to rescue hostages and your foul-mouthed boss Major Cigar’s daughter from the Chinese communists. At least that’s how it starts. The storyline is totally satirical, does not pull punches and makes a lot of political jokes and swears A LOT, and if you are easily offended by tongue-in-cheek politically incorrect humor, then this game isn’t for you. It reminds me a lot of Team America but they poke fun at so many other things, and the site gags in this are great. The fact that the ship, called the “eagle’s claw”, is a hand giving the middle finger is just the tip of the iceberg and you’ll see all sorts of references in this to making fun of crafting in every video game (which I think is well deserved), irreverent quotes by political figures, even the dialogue when you die. It’s really clever writing that had me laughing a lot and almost everywhere you look or listen, there’s a joke being shown or told. The icing on this cake of destruction is that Nolan North and John DiMaggio lent their voices to a couple of the characters.

The graphics are great as well, with an older animation style that reminded me a lot of older cartoons like Schoolhouse Rock or even The Beatle’s Yellow Submarine animation. It probably won’t surprise that the actual characters, at least to me, look like they were taken out of F is For Family also. It’s colorful, it’s trippy, and it’s fun to watch. The worlds you’ll visit start with your typical space-themed levels early on, but then you’ll travel through a worm, you’ll go on some bizarre acid trip and end up in a parody of a classic Nintendo game, a toy room, an asteroid field with lasers firing from the sky, and lots more. The level design is creative and while some of the enemies get recycled, it didn’t bother me because everything else had such a fresh look that nothing got boring.

So in a way it’s a music game, but in another way you’re really just a visitor in a world that’s literally marching to the beat of its own drum and you’re just hoping to make it out alive.

One of the other things don’t get boring is the soundtrack. While I admittedly didn’t recognize any of the artists on the list, each level is a different song, with the enemies, environments, and bosses each attacking to the music. You’d think that would make their patterns predictable, but I found that I still needed watch and learn what they were doing because you’re not just paying attention to how or when they attack, but also to their flying patterns or just watching what all the other enemies are doing as well. The music is combined with attacks in really imaginative ways, so that synthesizers are giving character to a laser blast, or a dirty guitar chord progression combined with drums unleashes unleashes a ton of enemies onscreen to match the chaos you’re listening to. The last few levels in particular combine true bullet hell gameplay with scream-o metal, and it is just as awesome as it sounds.

So in a way it’s a music game, but in another way you’re really just a visitor in a world that’s literally marching to the beat of its own drum and you’re just hoping to make it out alive. A twist that I also really liked, is that when the song is over, so is the level. Conversely, when fighting bosses, you’ll have to beat them before the song is finished, which means that on boss fights you have to retry a lot, you’ll get to know that song really well and more or less “feel” how long you have left before beating them.

The gameplay is a mixture of shooting, and some light melee action. So basically you’ve got your normal shot, but then you’ve got 2 other buttons: one to use your fist ship to punch, and another to grab. The punching has to be used intelligently because if you just start hitting everything you can, it’ll leave you open to colliding with other enemies or hazards, and health does not come easily in most levels, if at all. (also as a side note, the health pickup is a picture of a middle finger, which just made me happy to see.) Grabbing, on the other hand, is helpful in basically any situation. You grab an enemy and if it can shoot, then most likely you’ll be able to turn that around and use it on incoming enemies. Take a hit with it in your hand, and it’ll shield you from damage as it’s destroyed. There’s lots of different types of enemies in the game that you can use, and some of their shots are more useful than others. You may not even like to use them, in which case you can grab and enemy or piece of debris and just throw it and it’ll heavily damage whatever it hits.

So combine this with some fun story twists you’ll likely see coming, with a totally customizable difficulty level and an arcade mode that lets you jump into any level you like regardless of your story campaign progress, and you’ve got what I consider to be one of the most unique, fun, and memorable games I’ve played in recent memory. I played this over a few days to let it marinate with me and I really don’t have any complaints about it. This is one of those games you can tell the developers and voice actors had fun working on, and again, at $15 it’s totally worth the price.