Freedom Force (1988 video game)

Freedom Force is a video game developed and published by Sunsoft for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988. The player takes the role of a sharpshooter in a counter-terrorist organization. This is one of the few games to require the NES Zapper light gun accessory. The game was released in arcades on the Nintendo VS. System as VS. Freedom Force that year.

In January 1988, it was announced as a 1-megabit cartridge at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show.

Gameplay
Players assume the role of an anti-terrorist gunman who must kill terrorists without shooting any of their hostages. Different levels include an airport that has been taken over by the terrorists and a city street. The game has some blood, but it lacks gore; a small red splotch appears on the chest of the hit targets.

The screen scrolls from left to right, with terrorists or hostages popping out of windows and doors. Unlike other shooters, the powerups (being either energy, ammo or weapons) are obtained by shooting the lower-right box when an item appears there.

After every two stages, a bonus game can be played for bonus points. This bonus game is a word game similar to Hangman, in which the player shoots letters to uncover the word. During this game, the player can have 5 misses. If the player gets 5 wrong letters or the timer runs out, the bonus game ends without any earned bonus points. If the word is completely revealed, the player gets a time bonus.

Reception
At Winter CES in 1988, Computer Entertainer said "This one is definitely not for the squeamish, but it should be very popular with those who enjoy the more violent games." In July 1988, it reported that Freedom Force was Sunsoft's "best game yet. And they've made the best use yet of the Zapper light gun by building a game around a theme that's as topical as the evening news: the taking of hostages by terrorists".