Homefront

OK, last week someone commented on my Portal 2 review, concerning my wishing of a Happy ANZAC day. Just wanted to say that I didn't mean any offence by it, I was just wishing everyone a happy long weekend. On the ANZAC note, I have all the respect in the world for soldiers currently serving, and veterans of wars past. Lest We Forget.

Now, onto the review. When Homefront was revealed, I wasn't particularly excited. "Ooh, a gritty near future shooter where your character doesn't speak. Yippee". Later in it's development cycle, I found out it had Red Dawn author, John Milius and that it has a fully fleshed out (if somewhat implausible) alternate history. Colour me intrigued. Did that intrigue turn to sheer disappointment?

STORY
The story takes place during the year 2027 in America; Colarado to be specific. America has suffered an economic downfall, and a newly unified Korea (yea, crazy, stick with me) has occupied it's borders during the ensuing problems. This is the severely cut down set up. The actual history here is quite interesting, if a little far fetched.
Moving right along...
The game puts you in the shoes of Robert Jacobs, a former Marine pilot and eventual American Resistance Fighter. The main plot revolves around you and your allies in the attempt to give America back to Americans.

While the alternate history of a unified Korea does sound a little bit far fetched, its all rationalized in such a way that it almost seems plausible. And Even if it wasn't, it's still interesting. After all, American soldiers are almost always the stronger force in today's shooters. It's nice to see a game put you in the shoes of the little guy, in a world thats out to get you.

PRESENTATION
While I've never found superb graphics to be a largely important factor in games, being exposed to messy and unpolished visuals can take me out of a game. And thats what Homefront did. The settings weren't particularly varied, and all seemed quite mess; which I guess made sense since alot of the battle grounds are abandoned homes and back yards. But the people just look kinda awful. I've seen better looking characters in Half Life 2, and that was made years ago!

The sound effects and music are all quite adequate, but nothing as epic sounding as other modern shooters have given us. The voice acting isn't bad, on the other hand. Certain characters (Connor Morgan, I'm looking at you) just make me want to stab them repeatedly, mainly due to their annoying or try hard voice acting.

As a whole, the game doesn't look particularly impressive, but it gets the job done. Certain stages really did feel like wartorn, abandoned U.S streets. It's just that Modern Warfare 2 did them better. (Lifts flame shield)


GAMEPLAY
The control scheme is a lot like any COD's layout, and you'll essentially be doing the same sort of actions as any recent shooter. Shooting and taking cover work fairly well, but alot of the time, I found myself shooting my cover, more than my enemies. It was a weird, because I could clearly see what I was aiming for through my gun's sights. And again on the cross hair while aiming from the hip. I don't mind your visuals being messy and chaotic Homefront, but when it impacts gameplay you've made a mistake.

I like that a game involving americans with guns has finally put the player on the smaller, underdog side. As much as I like being a part of the full american military in CoD or Battlefield, having to conserve ammo and be sneaky as a guerrilla fighter is just as fun, if not moreso. The problem is theres a few games that have done sections that do Guerrilla fighting better than this entire game.

Speaking of the entire game, it took me 3 hours. Three fucking hours!! Some of the aforementioned guerilla sections from other games take almost a third of that time. What the fuck?? It seems I have an almost never ending list of gripes with this game, but I'll wrap this up now.
The NPC companions are A) Not helpful, B) Slow as fuck when moving to the next checkpoint or gate that THEY need to open and C) are not terribly smart. I'm not even talking about just bad AI anymore. Connor Morgan is kind of an idiot. Why hide from a helicopter behind trucks when theres a pit full of bodies to jump in? White phospherus? A fantastic idea for when our guys are right next to the enemy!!!... GOD I HATE HIM!

REPLAYABILITY
Yea, theres collectables and such. And I guess if you're into trophies and achievements, thats reason enough to play through the story again. For others, there is multiplayer, however during my time with the game, I didn't get to use it. Blame SONY. However, I hear its the highlight of the game, with interesting maps and an innovative in game currency system.

OVERVIEW
Homefront has an interesting premise, a somewhat believable setting and some truly spine chilling "What the fuck" moments. One bit I actually had to pause the game to think if I had just seen what I thought I had.
However, the game falls down in the gameplay and presentation departments. With a little bit of polish, Homefront's abandoned U.S streets could have looked so much more than just "messy". It could have been a real shock. And the gameplay needs some work.
Also, I would never recommend buying a game with a hardly substantial single player game. The multiplayer may well be awesome, but a game almost always has to stand up on its single player merits.

Is Homefront worth a play? Perhaps, but it isn't worth a purchase. Maybe rent it, but thats all I can truly suggest without taking a massive bribe from the developers.


Not sure what to do next week, suggestions? Oh and it was nice to get a comment last week! =D
See you next time!