The story in We Want YOU is minimal, as it should be. You are a soldier sent on a long and difficult mission into enemy territory, and your squad is quickly wiped out by the enemy welcoming party. You must make your way through the randomly generated world, dealing with crazier situations and tougher enemies in a bid to make it back home alive. Keep in mind that none of this is explained whatsoever. It's all done in-game, which is where We Want YOU shines. It's a game that builds your story, minimal as it is, around a very generic, albeit entertaining, framework.

The graphics and sound in We Want YOU all have a simple aesthetic to them. In the graphics, the characters and items are all done in relatively uncomplicated pixel art, while the environments are a bit more lush. The music uses songs that sound very similar to that from the era of Sim City. MIDI music, in other words. It make seem goofy, but it fits the game in a strange, nostalgia inducing sort of way. The sound effects are all pretty normal, although the volume is much higher than the rest of the game.

At the start of the game, you are outfitted with a pistol (which one-shots any enemies you hit), some armor, and a parachute. That is it. You drop in with a bunch of other soldiers, but they all die extremely quickly unless you shadow one and protect him from enemies. After landing, you find yourself upon platforms of floating landmass that are arranged into random shapes. Each platform has anywhere from no enemies to several, and your goal is to make it all the way down (with down signifying movement through both time and space) to reach the friendly camp. The ending, if it can be called that, is a bit of a twist according to the developer, but we haven't gotten that far because We Want YOU is quite hard.

We're not exaggerating either. We Want YOU seems pretty easy at first, given the armor and one-shot kill pistol, but it gradually wears on you. This is a game of attrition, and every shot you weather now is a hit you can't take later. There are power-ups later to restore your armor and health, but as the enemies get tougher, their damage output increases as well, making your movements and attacks far more dangerous than they were before. After all, two rockets can kill you from full health and armor.

We Want YOU varies things up with some alternate weapons and various other pick-ups. There are things such as a mini-gun, a shotgun, a flamethrower, and even a Nazooka (a napalm-shooting bazooka). Some of these are acquired through tents, while others are from destroyed crates. You can also heal yourself with a first aid tent, where you scream out in pain from shooting up, and can replace your armor with armor located in random places around the map. Armor in particular is essential to your long-term survival in We Want YOU, so must be accepted at every possible opportunity. You can carry one regular weapon, such as a shotgun, and one special weapon.

The parody of war in We Want YOU comes from the headlines and the insanity of war. As you progress through the game, it generates random headlines for you, from ones that list your kill count to others that parody the infamous "Mission Accomplished" picture. After each year, it also produces a headline that shows you some basic stats about your character. Along with the headlines is the way that the environment changes as the game progresses. Originally fairly normal terrain that follows the seasons, things start getting more and more bizarre as you progress further and further through the game. Fantastic colors, naked POWs, and random dead bodies are all just a smattering of the insanity awaiting you. The high-tech future is especially strange.

There is one major issue with We Want YOU. The first is the lack of animation. There's no walking, firing, or other sort of animations to liven up the experience. Characters are all very stiff, and the only real animation to be had is from guns shooting or jetpacks flying. It's sad, because adding some simple animations could definitely make the game way better than it already is. It's a stellar freeware game already, so imagine how good it would be with some fluid environmental animations.

We Want YOU is a simple, but infinitely replayable, satire of war. It is fun all the way through, and even encourages experimentation, such as not killing any enemies or trying out different weapons you like. In a way, it's much like a rogue-like, although not quite as hard. It really makes you think about the game as a whole and what you should do to try and get farther next time, and does a great job with both ways of thinking. We Want YOU should be played by anyone looking for a great freeware action game - scratch that, by anyone at all - and fans of games like Spelunky will not be disappointed.

For another look at freeware games, take a peek at Joystiq's Free Game Club weekly feature!