Freedom Force is a cheesy yet affectionate homage to silver age superheroes within the wrappings of a pausable real-time strategy RPG. It actually plays somewhat similarly to the Baldur's Gate games, though with more modular design - most objects in the game world are interactive in some fashion or another. Buildings can be damaged and destroyed (which costs you prestige) while objects like cars, dumpsters and traffic poles can be weaponized against enemies. You get a wide variety of heroes introduced through motion comic cutscenes, complete with over-the-top voiceover, outlandish plot twists aplenty and, of course, Jack Kirby inspired visual design in its characters and popping colors. Your protagonists are all heroes empowered by the mysterious "Energy X" and include colorful characters like The Minuteman, Mentor, El Diablo, Man-Bot and Alchemiss, most of whom are pastiches of popular comic characters. Each character is built on a generic RPG system, with five core stats and various traits that determine their basic abilities (resistance to certain attacks, powers of flight, et cetera). Similarly, each has powers that can be upgraded by spending experience points, which in turn can unlock more powers. Everything from deflecting projectiles to generating energy beams to stunning enemies with psychic blasts to knocking them back great distances. In addition to the premade characters, you can even create your own custom characters to aid you in future battles once you hit a particular point in the story. If you're a fan of superheroes and silver age comics, Freedom Force is definitely a treat; especially since you can get it for a pittance on GOG these days. (It's also on Steam but that version is reportedly broken so I don't recommend buying it there.)
