Freedom Finger describes itself as a “bat$#!% crazy space shooter”, and wow is it not kidding. You pilot a disembodied hand named Gamma Ray, who fires bullets with pure American zeal from its middle finger. At the command of the deranged Colonel Cigar, you’re first sent into outer space to attack a Chinese general, but things quickly careen out of control when the Russian military gets involved, and spirals wildly out of control from there.
The first few stages take place in boring space environments, but it kicks into gear in the third world, when you fly through castles and fight an assortment of Windows operating system error messages. One ironic stage has you fighting rainbows, peace symbols, and doves that fire olive branches. Another level has a computer rendered full motion video of a 1990s mall as you fight little army figures and other strange enemies. One level takes place in a children’s room as a larger arm carries around your hand ship. There’s whole stage that takes place in the Nevada desert where you drive a minivan while dodging gambling chips, while the soundtrack sings a depressing lament. Bosses include chickens, gigantic alligators, and the Colonel represented as an enormous brain, complete with cigar. Each level ends with a status screen letting you know the percentage of asses that you kicked. There are forty levels, each at least a few minutes long, which is insanely long for a shoot-em-up. The downside to this is that it’s an inconsistent experience, with many levels being far more interesting than others. But the game realizes this and lets you pick any level with in the Arcade mode.
The actual mechanics are pretty straightforward. In addition to your finger shot, you can also punch enemy ships, which may send them careening into other bad guys. Additionally, you can grab certain larger vessels, stealing their weapons until you get hit. However, your movement slows down whenever you nab an enemy like this, so ultimately you’ll spend most of the game with the default weapon. You have a generous life meter, and later stages have a habit of tossing so much at you that it’s hard to dodge everything, so it does feel a bit like a euroshmup.
Freedom Finger was created by Jim Dirschberger, creator of the cartoon Sanjay & Craig, with artwork by Travis Millard. The absurd story feels like an Adult Swim cartoon while heavily satirizing American bravado. Famous actors Nolan North (Uncharted) and John DiMaggio (Futurama) provide the voices, with the massive soundtrack coming from indie artists like Aesop Rock, Drab Majesty, and Male Gaze, with plenty of grungy rock and rap vocal songs. The crass humor and chaotic design probably won’t be for everyone, but its general insanity makes it a worthwhile additional to the shoot-em-up pantheon.
