If they do it right, there should be multiple ways to interpret each faction. The Hive, for example, is the closest society to a transcended one in Alpha Centauri, albeit with massive human rights violations.
That and it was very intentional. There were no "White hats" in the original because the concept was that the leap to this level of technology wasn't made without a cost and often to hold these philosophies these factions would do anything.
So even races that were rather agreeable at surface value, were almost like monsters if you delved deep enough.
I still don't expect "America" to be anything more then the Angel faction of freedom... As if this game is Red Alert 5 or something.
Oy vey, and I thought my cynicism was bad. Even in Alpha Centauri, the American members of the crew were Corazon Santiago (assuming Puerto Rico didn't go its own way) and Miriam Godwinson. Not exactly the most unabashed paeans to America, though the former was highly libertarian (in a gun nut sense) and the latter highly moral. I'm not surprised you're cynical about it, but I'm surprised you're still taking it to this degree given what we know; we already know that ARC isn't the "Angel faction of freedom," given how Samatar thoroughly rips into them in private discourse, and he's far closer to the "glory of democracy" feel than Fielding. They're far closer to the "corporate owned death machine" than perfect country if you look at the darker side of their faction, for all that the positive outlook is very much "
capitalist American dream."
Now, if you want "Angel faction of freedom," Franco-Iberia's where you should look. Cultured, erudite, focused on green technologies, and apparently rooted in social democracy. Then again, they're also referred to as Romans by their detractors in reference to the Roman Empire, so...
EDIT:
I suppose I should clarify my own cynicism regarding the game. I actually expect the America analogue to be unabashedly evil, a near-caricature of unabashed corporate greed and malfeasance, as is more typical nowadays outside of action flicks/shooter games. I expect Russia to be a militant, totalitarian Soviet-era throwback. I'm already slightly gratified that the PAC isn't yet another Hive, but I expect yet another glorious paean to the wonders of a green future and the rise of a token minority country that's "just this side of Heaven" level of good in Franco-Iberia and the People's African Union (which, admittedly, would be a bit of a subversion given the sort of nation that usually styles itself as a People's Union). In other words, I expect a lot of actual nuance to be lost beyond the occasional blip in the description that essentially says, "THIS IS A NUANCE!" in flaming letters.