Freedom Force

Freedom Force is a 2002 tactical role-playing game from Irrational Games, the studio later known for BioShock. It is drawn in the style of American comics of the early 1960s. A substance from space, Energy X, has given powers to ordinary people in Patriot City, and you assemble a team of heroes to fight the villains it has created.

Combat runs in real time, and you pause at any moment to give orders to each hero. The developers named Baldur's Gate as the inspiration for the pause. Heroes throw cars, knock each other through buildings and fly, and the city can be damaged around them.

It is one of the most charming games ever made: its writing parodies and loves the comics it copies, and its heroes are designed with real wit. Its pausable real time makes chaotic superhero fights readable and tactical.

Its campaign is linear and its camera can be awkward. Its sequel, Freedom Force vs the Third Reich, is often considered better.

Freedom Force shares Commandos' real-time control of a small team of specialists, each with abilities the others lack, and adds a pause. It is here because it is one of the clearest early examples of squad tactics in real time with pause outside role-playing games.