Does in an Academic Environment freedom to create and search exist?
There are of course many facets to both your question and any answer anyone could come up with. But yes, in general it is true that academia is not product-driven but curiosity-driven, and so you have more leeway in the directions you choose. 

It is also true that academia is a place where by and large hard work and creativity is rewarded.



I do think it's worth also discussing two undercurrents I can read between the lines of your question. First, you seem to suggest that in industry/outside academia, creativity and hard work are not rewarded. I think that, as a rule, this is not correct. It may of course be that your current workplace does not encourage this, but in many large companies, being good at what you're doing and coming up with creative solutions is most definitely rewarded, both in terms of money as well as career steps. It is of course true that you are more constrained in the direction in which your creativity should be directed, simply because in a company you have a product that needs to get to the market. But if you're better at coming up with solutions to problems, people will eventually notice and it will be rewarded.

Second, you seem to suggest that you do not appreciate the aspect of peer evaluation in your current job. (You do say that it is, in particular, the face-to-face aspect, but I'll take the liberty to generalize.) I have three things to say about this: (i) Peer review works, it leads to better software/papers/etc. (ii) Academia is all about peer review: Every one of your publications will be peer reviewed, and you will have to learn to accept the judgment of others on your work. In many cases, this judgment will be anonymous, and it's not always gratifying to read reviews of your work. Moreover, your job evaluations (and potential for a new job or a promotion) are all predicated on getting positive peer evaluation feedback. You will have to get used to being judged in academia: We have a lot of freedom, but not to the point where you can do whatever you want without being judged. (iii) Empirically, the most successful people in any area are the ones who embrace peer feedback, take it to heart, and think critically about what they did wrong and how they could do better in the future. The ones who have difficulty accepting criticism are often the ones who stop growing and improving, and it will eventually show in your ability to do the next career step. As a consequence, I would recommend you find ways to make your code review sessions productive: If it's the personal style of the reviewer, then talk to them by saying that you are eager to get feedback, that you want to learn and get better, but that this-or-that about the interaction doesn't work for you.