It’s the year 2027 and North Korea is trying – and pretty much succeeding – at taking over the world. Having already unified South Korea, North Korea, and Japan, Kim Jong-Il’s son Kim Jong-Un is now in the process of invading the United States, which lies weak and vulnerable after a huge economic collapse. Citizens are being rounded up, families killed, and labor camps populated by starving workers. The US military has been defeated and scattered, and those resisting the Korean occupation are none other than regular everyday citizens turned guerillas by the reality of this grim situation.
America is in some deep shit.
Now this all sounds like a great setup for a FPS title, and it was even written by Apocalypse Now’s John Milius. Unfortunately, the whole thing takes a backseat to the actual gameplay. I would have loved to see more cut scenes like the one at the beginning of the game, sort of like how Call of Duty: World at War did it. Instead, the only backstory you’ll get is from replaying that initial cut scene a few times over while listening closely, and by picking up newspapers throughout the game that tell of different events leading up to the downfall of the United States and the eventual Korean occupation. To be fair, the game does have a few sequences that really showcase to the player the weakened state that the US has fallen into. One of the more memorable ones is at the beginning of the game, when the player character is being driven through the streets of Colarado in a school bus after being taken prisoner. You hear a Mom and Dad in a whimpering, sorrowful voice trying to tell their son to “close his eyes” and “not to think about it, followed by two gunshots and the escalating screams of a young boy. The two soldiers then walk off two the sides of the sidewalk, leaving the boy alone who runs over, screaming, to his now dead parents. It’s a chilling scene, and there are others like it that make you wish the game could have done more with the story instead of using it as a mere setting.
You play Robert Jacobs, a former pilot for the US Military. At the beginning of the game, you’re taken away by some North Korean troops to be transported to a re-education camp in Alaska. After spending a few minutes in a school bus, two members of the Resistance, an undercover band of citizens turned guerillas rescue you and take you back to “Oasis” – their temporary refugee site in the suburbs. You then become a volunteer in their ultimate plan to hijack three fuel trucks, which is a lot more action-oriented and complicated than it sounds.
Homefront’s gameplay is very identical to most other military shooters these days, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. You’ll be running through suburban areas with two or more squad mates, gunning down KPA Soldiers and completing various side objectives. The levels are pretty varied, as are the encounters which makes for an overall solid experience, even if the campaign is only 5 hours long. You’ll be able to carry any two weapons at any time, and Jacobs is able to take as many bullets as he wants to the body as long as they’re not in succession. Yep, Homefront features regenerating health. One obvious problem Homefront carries is with the arsenal of weapons at your disposal. There’s not a huge selection of guns here by any means, but I would say there’s enough. The problem though, is that when compared side-to-side, it becomes pretty apparent that Homefront’s weapons are pretty unbalanced. For example, the M4 in Homefront is a deadly-accurate automatic rifle that is ideal for any sort of encounter. The thing is literally pin-point accurate and has little to no recoil. Every other gun though seems to be the complete opposite – the SCAR LMG has far too much kick to be practical in any long-range firefight, and the SMGs are only ideal at close range. Because of this, the M4 became the only gun I used during the campaign, with the exception of the Sniper Rifle and the M16, which is semi-automatic. It’s like the devs took guns from other FPS games and put them in Homefront, without tweaking them at all, resulting in an unbalanced and disjointed arsenal.
Apart from that one hiccup, Homefront’s gameplay holds up well when compared to other shooters. It’s no where as polished, but firefights are frantic and fun, especially because you’ll almost always have squad mates with you that don’t hesitate to kill enemy AI. In other words, you’ll never feel like you’re a one-man army doing all the work while your AI buddies pretend to help. Speaking of AI buddies, you’ll probably either tolerate Homefront’s Connor and Rianna – your Resistance buddies and rescuers – or outright hate them. Connor likes to recycle his own catch phrases an unhealthy amount of times while mowing down enemies, things like “Is that all you got Kim, bring it!” and a few others like “Fuck You!” and “Get the fuck down!” At one point in the game, you’re inside of a burning building when Connor notices some burning Korean soliders – to which he utters his worst offender yet – “I thought I smelled Korean BBQ!” That’s not to say Homefront’s dialogue is all bad, in fact some of the interactions your teammates have with others are rather fascinating and contribute to Homefront’s vision for the sheer chaos the United States lies in. Do be prepared to listen to Connor’s one-liners over and over while in combat, however.
Another problem Homefront suffers is its atmosphere, which regularly suffers because of oddly placed invisible walls. Often during the campaign you’ll be following Connor and Rianna to a door or entry to the next part of the level. Let’s say you’re feeling particularly enthusiastic about this mission and decide to run ahead, only to be greeted by a fence, just high enough to be crawled through. Well, don’t try going through if your mates are anywhere near you, because the game decides to place an invisible wall that refutes entry to only you until the crawling animation for both squadmates is complete. It’s small things like these that don’t necessarily ruin Homefront’s Campaign experience, but rather separate it from other, longer shooters out there, and that’s a damn shame. Also disappointing is Homefront’s ending, which feels less like a true ending and more like a cut-off.
THE VERDICT.
So, is Homefront worth your time purely for the single-player portion? Yes and no. Homefront is a game you’ll have to go into with your expectations down low. It’s probably not as polished as other shooters you’ve played, and the whole shebang will take you a mere five hours. However, if you’re eager to try out something new that has serious potential and a rather interesting setup, Homefront shouldn’t be a game you miss out on. I loved having squad mates with me pretty much the entire time, and how the whole thing took place in a burning, collapsing, America. There’s some obvious flaws from the get-go, but Homefront’s campaign is good enough to get a small recommendation from myself. I look forward to see what THQ is doing with the sequel.
THE GOOD
- Suburban setting
- Large, fun and frantic battles
- Cinematic moments
- Squad mates with you pretty much always
- Solid frame rate through most of the campaign
THE BAD
- An arsenal that feels unbalanced and disjointed
- Rather average enemy AI (they’re pretty blind when it comes to noticing grenades by their feet)
- Campaign is short and ends on what is barely an “ending”
- Connor’s constant recycling one-liners
THE UGLY
- Invisible walls in odd places
- Some low-res textures and oddly empty and unfinished spaces (inside of stores)
Played through campaign twice, once on normal and once on Guerilla because I’m a trophy whore.
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