So, having been bored with CoD, and the lack of imagination in FPS today [a topic for another time] I decided that I would try Homefront. It seemed like it fit into the "we can (and will) do what CoD can do! But better!" cookie cutter style of FPS games, but honestly... I'm going to say it:
Call Of Duty shits all over this game. And rightly so.
(Yes, even the horrible mess that is Black Ops.)
What's wrong with Homefront? Everything.
Singleplayer:
If you're unfamiliar with the plot of Homefront, I'll explain.
Essentially, Korea unites and goes on a bloody revenge-quest against America (presumably because of the Korean War, something Koreans still feel awfully sore about) their attack is successful, and a lot of America becomes occupied by the Korean forces. You are an ex-pilot picked up by the American resistance to help in the fight for the homeland.
This, in theory, is all well and good. A plot that could happen in our lifetime -- it's believeable, gripping, and thrilling. However, in practice it all falls on its arse and fails miserably like a child trying to drive.
While there are good things about this game, the bad far outweighs the good (and even the ugly..)
I'm a fair person. So naturally, I will go over the good points of this game.
Let's start with the first thing you see: the graphics. They're brilliant. It's like a less-attractive Crysis, it is, for a video game, pretty fucking nice to look at.
But I don't think graphics make a game, and such as it is with movies and television, music and audio can make or break a production. Here, it did neither. The audio is superb. The guns sound and feel powerful. When you endlessly barrage the Koreans with bullets from a M60LMG you feel like Arnie in Predator. If there's one thing perfect about this game; it's the guns.
You may be suprised to find that's all I have to say. Yep. That was it. That's all that's nice about this game.
And now for my favourite part! It's the bit where I rant and rave about how shitty the game is! Yay!
The singleplayer missions are boring after the first 3 or so. It's the same old "run here, shoot them, go there" affair that we've been seeing since the dawn of FPS games with a "story." You run around, you shoot Koreans, you blow up some tower/gun things, and then you rinse and repeat. There's some parts where you command a big tank/vehicle with a pair of binoculars, and while it was cool at first, I felt it wasn't needed.
Speaking of the tank, that leads me into my next point. There are parts in the missions where the only you're going to complete them is if you have played it before. For example, there's a scene where you must jump from a burning building, get to the ground, run to a truck and escape with your buddies before they drive off without you. The time you're given is minimal. Literally the only way you're going to make that truck is if you run the instant you hit the floor. So if you've never played it before, you'll have no idea that your buddies are running off while they watch you get shot to pieces by armed forces.
Just after this, while you're on the back of the speeding truck, you have to command the tank with binoculars from earlier, and use it to destroy enemy vehicles speeding towards you. A few minutes into this, a helicopter comes in and attacks. If you weren't already aiming for that chopper, waiting to get a lock, or if you knew it was coming, you were going to complete the mission. If it was your first time, you'll quickly realise that you have no time to find the chopper, aim, lock on, and fire if you didn't already know where it would be. Thus, meaning you fail the mission. And you go back to the burning building.
Multiplayer:
Before anyone says it: yes, I know, this game was made for the multiplayer, as are most FPS games. That doesn't excuse the boring and ultimately frustratingly bad singleplayer, and only makes me more furious when I realise just how bad their multiplayer is.
Yeah, I said it above, this game is a CoD clone at its very core. In the battle, you earn BP (Battle Points) when you kill people, and complete objectives. These points can buy you the Homefront version of Killstreaks, be it airstrikes, or a small toy car that has a useless gun on it.
The moment I heard about the killstreaks, the points, etc, I knew I wasn't going to like it. However, Crysis 2 has killstreaks [or rather, the equivalent of] and it was a fine game. The main difference between the two is balance. Yeah, that old thing. You know, the features that make sure you can't dominate all other players with a simple set-up, trick, or specific gun? Sorry, that's not in this game.
It goes along with the lie [yes, lie] of being "realistic," yet a sniper rifle is useless. I can see why you might want it toned down -- in order to stop quickscoping and all that "trick" jazz -- but ultimately, they made the sniper rifle useless. It requires 2 hits. Anywhere. I shot a guy in the face several times and only got hitmarkers, and before you even try to say its my connection, this is the only game - excluding Black Ops for obvious reasons -- that I have this problem on. It's not my connection, it's the gun.
The maps are tiny and disorganised, poorly designed and have had little to no thought put behind them. Of the maps I played, the enemy team had the advantage due to where they spawned. They had cover, sniper positions that looked over the other half of the map and more cover. We had what we had: a few houses.
While the guns still felt powerful, they were too powerful. A tiny burst to the chest and your opponent is down. You die so fast that the games fall to the same condition that Call Of Duty had suffered from for so many years (and wished to combat with its perks system): you die so fast that it's no longer a game of skill, but chance. You aren't matched against the ability of another player. Who ever saw the other guy first wins. That's it.
Since I just mentioned it above, I'll briefly cover the perks system in this game (yet another bloody CoD staple thrown in.) They're okay. They don't impact the game so much that it's unplayable, but they don't do too much either. I didn't even notice I had perks until I was onto my 3rd or 4th game.
There. That was brief, eh? Two last subjects I must cover before I can end this hate-speech.
The connectivity:
While I absolutely adore that they wanted to use dedicated servers (take a fucking hint, CoD!) they ultimately don't work. The first day I wanted to play Multiplayer, I couldn't. I sat for 40minutes waiting to find a game, but to no avail, all I got were error messages. The following day was an improvement, however, as I only had to wait 20 minutes to find a game. That shouldn't happen.
If Black Ops (notorious for connectivity issues) can make me connect to people with crappy internet connections, then why can't Homefront do the same? With fucking DEDICATED SERVERS.
The Battle Codes:
Something I've not seen people touch on is this battle code nonsense. I bought my copy preowned from GAME, so the price was knocked down just a little (only a few £ difference, but I like my bargains.) I opened the case and there was a code, which I assumed was for the DLC advertised on the back. Since I was buying preowned, I had no delusions: the code would definitely have been used. Lo and behold, it had. Little did I know the code had fuck all to do with the DLC.
The code in question, I assume, is meant to make sure everyone has a "unique" copy of the game. To reinforce this, if you haven't entered a code you have only two avenues:
1. You can keep playing, but you won't be allowed to go over Level 5, thus blocking you off from most of the unlocks.
2. You can buy the code.
Yep, you have to buy it. It costs 800Microsoft Points. Now, I don't know why, but a lot of things are that price. The problem is that you can only buy a bundle of 500MSP or 1,000MSP. The latter being the more expensive, but only option if you lack the other 300MSP. This means you're spending an additional £9 on the game. Which means, yep, you guessed it kids: buying preowned is more expensive than buying a new copy.
What the fuck were they thinking?!
In short, it's a boring, unimaginative game, which does nothing unique or new, it borrows pretty much everything it does from CoD, has terrible matchmaking, and is unbalanced beyond belief.
Don't buy this game.
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