Homefront

Homefront – Review

Published By: THQ, Developed By: Kaos Studios, Genre: First-Person Shooter, Release Date: March 15, 2011, Rating: M, Systems: PC, Playtstation 3, Xbox 360.

Presentation: Homefront paints a dark a dreary painting of  a crippled America under the occupation of the Greater Korean Republic. Homefront as a game and presentation is a classic rough around the edges first-person shooter. By no means is it a bad shooter as I will point out many of the game’s strengths during the review. Its just that it has that “lets copy and paste some great aspects from Call of Duty and Battlefield on our game” presentation which works for and against Homefront. Homefront’s best attribute should of been its single player story campaign. It should have been longer than 5 hours and had a richer narrative and characters. I mean this is Red Dawn basically. If you grew up during the “80′s” you know about Red Dawn. Homefront’s story was written by the same author John Millius so in hindsight I was expecting a much more captivating single player campaign then what I received.

I played Homefront through STEAM on my PC (obviously). For the most part minus the last sequence on the Golden Gate Bridge the game ran smooth for the most part. Explosions did slow down my frame rate. My PC is based around DX9, 4870 graphics card, quad core and 6 gigs of RAM. Specs: 1280 x 960 resolutions, overall quality was custom. Anti Aliasing 2x. Everything was set to High such as texture detail and shadow quality. The game did stutter during the campaign and slowed down some during big action sequences. During multiplayer when trying to connect to matches the game froze quite a bit. For the most part Homefront’s presentation is good thanks to the unique and unorthodox setting it takes place in.

Story: Although the story might appear to be out there it does paint a decent picture for Homefront. In the not so distant future due to America’s crippling economy and the emergence of The Greater Korean Republic. America’s defenses were wiped out by a satalite that the Greater Korean Republic used. Immediately America was overtaken and now under KPA occupation. The game picks up in Montros Colorado. The year is 2027 and you’re Jacobs an ex-pilot who the resistance breaks out of KPA clutches in the nick of time. The Resistance is comprised of a few members who serve as AI partners throughout Homefront’s campaign. You first hook up with Rianna and Connor Morgan. You soon meet Boone (the CO) and Hopper who is a Korean American and just might be the most interesting character in the game (he’s from Oakland).

Boone would be killed by KPA forces early into the campaign which leads the rest of the team on a mission to hijack a couple of fuel tankers through Utah, Nevada and finally San Francisco where the final battle plays out. The Resistance’s goal is to meet up with U.S. Military Forces and give they’re vehicles the fuel. The story of Homefront had potential written all over it and the beginning to mid-game was captivating. The setting of America really appeared as much. You fight in White Castles and a Tiger Direct.com Discount Computer store. You see a Hooters in one chapter. There are many Full throttle Energy Drink dispensers knocked over that you can take cover behind. The mass graves scene in a baseball field really let you know the brutality of the enemy and the importance of the Resistance. Like I aluded to before, I saw a lot of potential within Homefront’s world but didn’t see it consistently throughout the campaign.

Visuals: Not that good by PC standards. However Homefront does look ok even with its washed out look. One aspect I found weird regarding Homefront’s graphics were the silver glowy glazed faces of NPCs most notably Connor and Hopper. They looked like ghosts. The gun models and settings are probably the most impressive consistant visuals this game offers. One section has Jacobs piloting a  small attack chopper to provide air support for a caravan. The explosions in that section were nice. The Golden Gate Bridge section featured Jets flying over and  tank battles. Near the end a enemy Goliath boss fight takes place on the bridge. Static and washed out with decent art imagination can describe Homefront’s look.

Sound: The orchestra score was good. It gave you that total fight for freedom vibe which is what this game is all about. The writing and voice acting should have been better especially considering the game’s setting and circumstances. Connor would say the same line in-game over and over. It got annoying. The guns had a unique sound design. Some guns had a semi-sci-fi sound emanating from them.

Gameplay: Homefront has that move up to stop spawning enemies linear gameplay much like in Call of Duty’s single player. To my surprise was how good the actual shooting and gameplay is. Homefront doesn’t try to do anything unique. If anything it seems to copy other elite first-person shooters which is fine. The Goliath is a rolling mobile vehicle of destruction. During certain sections in Homefront’s campaign you can use a targeter to take out tanks, attack choppers and enemies which Goliath will do accordingly. This might sound weird but Goliath almost appeared as a character to me. They had to sacrifice it midway through the game to knock down a wall that led to Utah.

Replayability: The single player campaign barely lasts 5 hours which is ridiculous. Luckily for me, or should I say Homefront  this game has a full-blown multiplayer to explore. Homefront features typical menus for multiplayer like Quick Match, Armory, Challenges and Practice Map. There are more but those are the important menus in my opinion. Classes are all fully realized with gadgets, perks and unique weapons. They include: Assault, SMG, Heavy, Sniper, Tactical and Explosive. Depending on which lobby you will have to unlock Tactical and Explosive. Battle Points or (BP) are Homefront’s in-game credit system that lets you unlock items and vehicles in matches. You can unlock stuff like spawn in vehicles etc. You can use Battle Points to unlock your gadgets in-game. Its a very simple system to use and understand.

The matches on PC were 32 players total. Maps I played on which were all ripped from the single-player campaighn: Farm, Cul De Sac, Angel Island, Crossroads, Green Zone and Bridge. Matchtypes included: Team Deathmatches, Battle Commander, Ground Control and Battle Commander (TDM). Battle Commander is similar to Conquest on Battlefield. The multiplayer is fun and will keep you entertained for a while. The gadgets, vehicles and unlocks do sorta remind me of Battlefield games. The quick twitch gunplay reminds me of Call of Duty which is a good thing. The problem is that everything doesn’t mesh well like Battlefield or Call of Duty. But hey, that is the price  you pay when your trying to be something your not.

Final Verdict: Homefront is your classic mixed-bag good at some things bad at others shooter. it does borrow some great ideas from other successful games within the genre. I just can’t get over the single player campaign. It was chalked full of potential unrealized.

7/10 

Homefront – Multiplayer Impressions

Homefront is a first-person shooter and like most first-person shooters it has a competitive multiplayer component to go along its single player campaign. If i had to give a brief synopsis of Homefront’s multiplayer it would be its not a bad multiplayer at all, its just not over average either. I personally love vehicles in modern military shooters that Homefront incorporates. My gripe is that it just feels like i played this multiplayer before. Homefront was developed by Kaos Studios and published by THQ. For this particular Gamer Blog article i am playing Homefront on my PC via Steam.

The Multiplayer section of Homefront has the following menus: Quick Match, Join Match, Create Match, Armory, Challenges, Leaderboards, Recorded Games and Practice Map. The Challenges section shows which challenges you can complete in-game for rewards. Each challenge usually has a specific gun associated with a set amount of kills you must achieve. For example LMG: 5 kills. There are also vehicles challenges were you have to get a specific amount of kills with a vehicle. Challenges can also be completed by getting wins across certain gamemodes. I never saw what prize you get for completing these. I do know you will level up naturally by completing them. I also played a few Practice Map games. These were beneficial where you can practice driving vehicles and learning a map’s layout and structure.

When you play games in the Recorded Games section of Homefront you can participate in recorded matches. I played one game that was recorded but haven’t watched the match yet. I honestly haven’t even looked up how to watch my matches after playing a Recorded Games match. Like most modern military first-person shooters when you first see the lobby there is a loadout screen accompanied with it. Homefront’s screen has a Infantry Loadout section where you can pick and choose who you want to play with. There are four unlocked classes right off the bat you can play with and two locked reserved for higher level players.

The starting classes are Assault, SMG, Heavy and Sniper. You can pretty much figure out the base weapons and skills for those classes. The locked classes are Tactical (lvl 6) and Explosive (Lvl 35). There are also vehicle load-outs which i think is really cool. Homefront really incorporates their vehicles into there multiplayer. You can even spawn in vehicles when you play some matches. I spawned in a Abrams tank a few times. I started out playing with the noob class aka Assault. The Infantry Load-out menu lets you customize and choose what you wanna use depending on what you unlocked. You can change primary and secondary weapons. You can change weapons attachments and weapon camouflage.

You have two purchase slots where you can add special ”abilities” like Tactical Reload, Thick Skin, Ice Cold etc. Homefront has a plethora of multiplayer maps that can fit vehicle gameplay on. For the most part the maps were decent and featured various USA small town settings. Maps: Farm, Cul de Sac, Angel Island, Crossroads, Green Zone, Big Box, Spillway, Borderlands, Lowlands, Low Lands, Water Way, Overpass and Bridge. Matches can support up to 32 players. The PC version had many lobbies and matches going on everytime i played Homefront’s multiplayer. Matches varied along with rules and unlocks. I can say for sure many gamers on the PC still play Homefront.

I played Battle Commander mostly which is like Conquest in Battlefield. I also played the normal Capture the Flag and Team Deathmatch gamemodes. I am sure there are more gametypes in Homefront’s multiplayer but those are the few i spent all of my time playing. For the most part the multiplayer in fun. The gadgets really do make a difference and i really enjoy the vehicles in Homefront. It doesn’t take long to learn the ins and outs of its gameplay. Prone is useful in multiplayer i learned that early on. However i always get that feeling that i been here before. I can’t really comments on killstreaks since i didn’t any. All i know they are there and have benefits.

Homefront’s multiplayer can best be called average in my opinion. Its not bad but its not great either. I do believe it’s a serviceable multiplayer which has a split divide of gamers who love it and some who don’t like it. I sorta fall in the middle. Thanks for reading.

Homefront – Early Impressions

Homefront is a first-person shooter set in 2027 in the United States under KPA occupation. This particular Gamer Blog article will detail the my early experiences while playing the single player story campaign of Homefront. For reference i am playing the PC version via Steam. Homefront was developed by Digital Extremes and published by THQ. It released Mar 14, 2011 on the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

One of the first things i did was put my gaming rig to work. I built the thing just over two years ago around a 4870, Quad-Core and 6 gigs of RAM.  I was able to max every setting in Homefront’s graphical settings department except resolution. I am also playing through the game on a Xbox 360 gamepad. I figured i just bought the thing might as well use it. I know its borderline blasphemy to use a gamepad over the keyboard and mouse especially for a shooter on the PC but deal with it. So far the game runs good. One thing that is weird regarding the graphics in Homefront is this weird shimmering glowing metallic sheen on some NPCs clothes during nighttime gameplay missions.

Homefront’s story is the driving force of the campaign so far. It tells the story of North Korea’s rise to power and ultimately taking over USA. Homefront centers around the Resistance in Montrose Colorado under KPA occupation. The atmosphere and setting is good. It really feels like you’re in a occupied US town in America’s heartland. The story early on evokes emotion as you see KPA troops slaughter innocent civillians in the streets. You see parents being shot in front of their young child. In a labor camp mission sequence you see children running up to you begging for food. Its a unique setting indeed. Homefront also does a decent good on making you feel like you’re part of a resistance and your fighting for something big mainly being freedom.

Early into the campaign you join up with the resistance. You meet Boone (commanding officer), Rianna, Connor Morgan (hothead) and Hopper. You basically do missions with them in-game. Some players are changed or added in. An early highlight from the single player campaign is taking control of the resistance’s  remote controlled military vehicle called the Goliath. You use a remote targeter to highlight enemy vehicles and troops. The Goliath homes in on them quickly firing missiles and machinegun fire. Its a real killing machine that was easy and fun to control.

The resistance has a safe zone called the Oasis where people and kids live out of the KPA’s reach. Most of the early gameplay moments had me moving from cover to cover to throw grenades at KPA Sentry Towers. Sentry Towers use lights to track people in occupied neighborhoods. Oh yea, it shoots you dead if it catches you for a few seconds. The protagonist is a pilot of some sorts but i have yet to learn what the Resistance broke him out of KPA’s grasp for. Currently i am fighting my way out of a labor camp with Hopper and Morgan.

As far as the controls go using the Xbox 360 Gamepad its ok but not as good as the keyboard and mouse. Homefront has decent visuals and the recreated occupied near future Colorado town looks good. There are many real-life advertisements in gas stations, schools etc. The sound design is decent. The guns sound good. The music is fitting so far. The voice dialog and writing needs some work.

Hope the latter picks up sooner or later considering i’m writing about the story campaign. The atmosphere does evoke emotion and at times seems graphical. As far as guns go i been mostly using various assault rifles. On occasion i have a secondary pistol. You have grenades handy most of the time. The guns as far as feel and shooting are good but not great. The kickback isn’t that strong no matter what type of gun used a few hours in the story campaign.

Homefront’s story campaign so far is ok. I admit the setting is unique but gameplay isn’t equally unique early on. I am having fun however and the atmosphere is thick. The graphics are alittle above average. I am waiting to see some game changing gameplay. Controlling the Goliath was the only real change up so far. Thanks for reading.