Home Is Where The War Is

With a story straight from the pages of the writer of Apocalypse Now and Red Dawn, Homefront wastes no time in introducing you into the chaotic world in which it is is based. Cleverly using news footage from recent events and adding a bit of artistic licence, the background story doesn't come across as unbelievable as you may first think.
Starting the campaign you are thrust into the terrible world around you, observing scenes of violence and cruelty that wouldn't look out of place in the Polish ghettos of World War 2.
Events unfold rather rapidly from here on in and you soon find yourself in the thick of the action.
I wont give you a rundown of the campaign step by step, so as not to spoil anything.
The world in which you find yourself is an abandoned wasteland of what once was a bustling suburb. It looks great but for some reason always seems out of reach of the player. The gameplay itself is very linear, you aren't offered the chance to explore the world around you, which really is a shame. Through each mission there is really only one way you can go, and thats the exact same path of your small band of freedom fighters. Which leads me to my only major gripe with the game.
Your team of fighters are with you every step of the way, literally. You cannot progress in front of them (invisible barriers stop that from happening), stay too far away from them and you wont hear what they are saying. They take the best cover spots and you have to wait for all three of them to go through doors, up ladders etc before you can. To sum it up, they are annoying, mainly because although they are your team, you feel totally detached from them. You dont know anything about them, and only get very small glimpses of there personality. Apart from you being told what to do, you dont get a chance to interact with them. This is a real shame, it would have offered a great bit of insight into the world in which you fight.
I couldnt help but feel detached all the way through the game, I often found myself thinking it was going too quickly, there doesnt seem enough depth to the charachters or story itself. I found that very dissapointing. A game such as this is crying out for some cut-scenes, if just to add a bit of weight to the story.
Despite all of this, I still found myself enjoying it, the set pieces you see in game look fantastic and give you a small glimpse of whats going on in this world. and the gameplay itself is fast paced and varied. The fact that ammo is a scarce commodity changes the way you would normally play an FPS, I found myself carefully picking my shots and constantly looking out for a new weapon, this made a refreshing change and was enjoyable rather than tedious.

Yes, the campaign is short, they all seem to be nowadays. But Homefront really could have done with some 'filler' moments. Be it cut scenes, or simple task missions like a shooting range etc. It just seems to build up and end too quickly.
The difficulty is not that bad. The weapons seem balanced enough to take enemies down if you hit them in the right spot regardless of what you use. You have enough time if hit to get to cover (as long as your quick) and the enemy AI can offer you a challenge without completely demoralising you. There are a couple of tricky bits throughout the campaign where I got stuck, but nothing where I wanted to throw my controller across the room.
Visually the game looks quite good. Its not the best by any means but it can hold its own amongst todays market, some polish on the character models wouldn't go amiss but its not like your looking at pixelated faces. As i said before the set pieces look great and there are points in the game that give you the 'that looks cool' moment.
The detail throughout the world is pretty good but background and 'non-interactive' elements are clearly that. Which does at times have a detrimental effect to the whole look of it.

On the whole though, Homefront is a good solid game. It has its flaws yes, but it is definately worth playing. The premise of trying to bring real emotion and thought into the FPS market is an interesting one and well worth experiencing.

The multiplayer side of this game has clearly had a lot of thought put into.

The graphics haven't got the polish of other multiplayer FPS titles, but this isnt detrimental.

With large maps to battle across and an array of weaponry at your disposal, the game is fast paced and most importantly, fun.

The 'Battle Points' system is a new and creative aspect which defines the Homefront multiplayer.

This enable you to earn points for every kill or team action you make and 'buy' weapons or vehicles as and when you need, or want them :D. The things you can buy range from rocket launchers and drones, to airstrikes and helicopters.

This system allows even lesser skilled players to gain the more rewarding 'killstreaks' and keeps the battlefield even and constantly changing.

As with most FPS multiplayer's there is a rank system, XP is awarded allowing you to rank up and unlock more weapons and perks. Although dont worry, levelling up is easy enough.

The game has all the usual suspects that are found in todays FPS genre but the larger maps and Battle Point system make the multiplayer stand out.

Unfortunately since release it has been plagued by bugs making actually play the multiplayer difficult. Kaos Studios assure fans that they are working hard to fix the problems and I for one am looking forward to when they do.

Ive had a lot of fun on this game, but I have also had a lot of problems with the multiplayer.

Once the problems are fixed, Homefront will be a good solid game worth investing some time in.

Hopefully the game will still have a following by that point..........