On the surface, Homefront has one of the most ambitious and interesting premises for a wartime first-person shooter in a while. Set in a fictitious 2027, a Korea unified by Kim Jong-un (now known as the Great Korean Republic) has spent fifteen years building East Asian alliances and the biggest military force in the world, as economic crises and war tear apart the rest of the developed world. In the midst of civil unrest, the Korean People’s Army invades the USA. Following a band of freedom fighters making their way to the invasion point in San Francisco, Homefront tells a micro story of rebellious survival within the macro scenario of a country suffering the wrath of a ruthless dictator.
And it’s a reasonably well-told and well-directed story (average and clichéd dialogue aside). The characters are likeable enough, but what Homefront does really well, is powerfully depict the horrors of invasion and war, while contrasting it against small, quaint comforts. From the oppression of the invaded, to the jingoistic retaliation, there is no ‘**** yeah!’ glamorisation of war (though the protagonist has an awesome guardian angel). What Homefront doesn’t do well is utilise its remarkably well-written and researched back story. Despite being accompanied by a prequel novel and being written by acclaimed author, John Milius, the game never really takes advantage of the amazing scope on offer. Which is a shame given how uncannily plausible the story portrayal is.
Ground troops might be in trouble.
As a game following a rag-tag set of freedom fighters, the Homefront campaign is a good ride. It mightn’t have the polish or panache, it mightn’t have utilised the scope as well as it could, but the campaign is actually very well paced, well-directed and has a few moments that will make it memorable. Homefront doesn’t really dare to try anything too drastic, as it follows a fairly stringent script and there aren’t any real deviations from the FPS formula (e.g. carrying two weapons at once). That being said, there are a couple of features that help the game stand out across the seven missions.
The weapon set is fairly standard, but the quality of guns makes up for it with great automatics, devastating shotguns, piercing snipers and earth-shaking explosives. None are new, just really well implemented. The addition of ‘Goliath’, a remote-controlled regular-sized war vehicle, is great for variety, and will come in handy for some tough situations. While things start off fairly low-key and sedate, there is a really good progression curve that takes you through a number of highs and lows, culminating in an intense battle across a major American landmark.
Overall, what Homefront does really well is provide the player with a suitably varied experienced; transitioning between these variations happens quickly and smoothly enough to make sure that you’re never out of the action, but still managing to avoid ‘going through the motions’. You’ll switch between quiet stakeouts, sniping missions and lengthy skirmishes all through a nicely varied set of locations. Another plus for Homefront is that it has one of the best tuned set of shooting controls, especially for a console shooter… though the movement controls can come off more clumsy than they ought to.
Those large shining death towers could be a problem.
Homefront does a good job of displaying the horrors of war, interspersed with the small comforts; this is achieved through good cinematic direction as well as the ‘Voice of Freedom’ broadcasts. However, the depth of the back story is betrayed by being glossed over too much, especially through the poor use of the collectible newspapers. These are fantastically written but can’t even be viewed after being picked up. Other aspects that don’t favour Homefront include an overly simplistic design at times. As such, there is a lack of polish exposed, most prominently highlighted by erratic AI. When it all works, you genuinely feel like you’re on a battlefield for your life, but these moments can be ruined by errant stupidity – such as your team mates shooting a crate, rather than the enemy behind it, or friends and enemies running directly past each other.
Regardless of the campaign quality, something bound to invoke the ire of gamers is the length of the single player. Clocking in at around five hours, many are likely to dismiss the game on the face of this. This is a little unfair, as it’s not the length that’s the real downer, but the ‘ending’. Rather than delivering a ‘complete’ experience, it pretentiously ends as if it were the first episode in a mini-series. Sure, the cost of development probably demands some franchise entrenchment, but it’s not a good look when a game tries something like this before it’s truly established. Disappointingly, the game doesn’t grab hold of the opportunity to rekindle one of the most iconic and memorable moments of gaming history…
Thankfully, a rather solid multiplayer component supplements the short campaign, as has been discussed in these two multiplayer previews. Refer to these for more detail, but suffice to say, any prior technical performance issues have been essentially allayed, while any new ones coming up are being swiftly dealt with. Overall, the modes and twists to the multiplayer formula, such as the ‘Wanted levels’ and dynamic battlefields do enough to keep any competitive player interested and provide a good alternative to the norms. The biggest issue though is that the multiplayer is being overrun by snipers. Some uninspiring maps and lack of balance fail to discourage this behaviour. It would be a shame if this issue chased off prospective players.
So just WHO is the enemy?
In an age where titles such as Killzone 3 and Crysis 2 spoil a player’s visual sense, a lot of the mail will tell you that Homefront isn’t a looker. Sure, it struggles to compete with the top tier, what with low details and the lack of cutting edge, many seem to conveniently forget that Homefront is remarkably smooth to play and that issues such as wonky animations, are a fault of the AI. The art style is hit and miss – hit with the near future representations of anything technological and miss with aspects such as the Korean Army uniforms, which are disappointingly in-distinctive. The soundtrack, on the other hand, hits the mark remarkably well. Often intense and brooding, the mood is well realised and reflected. The voice work handles the plain dialogue well enough, with the ‘Voice of Freedom’ standing out.
If Homefront was to pave the way for a new set of shooters that looks to ambitiously and cinematically explore themes such as alternate yet uncannily plausible futures while providing fast-paced, sharp controlling and endearing gameplay, all would be forgiven. The pretentious cliffhanger, the lack of polish and experience, the innovative but deficient multiplayer and weak use of excellent back story would be seen as the stepping stones to creating top-lined shooter experiences. As it stands, Homefront still is an enjoyable game that manages to distinguish itself from the crowd, but a lack of ‘completeness’ means it will likely get lost in the impending glut of high-quality shooters.
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