Homefront. A game that should have stayed home.

     Have you ever been excited for a game? Then as soon as you actually sit down and play the game you realize something you weren't expecting. It's not something good. No, in fact it's bad. This game that you've been waiting to play isn't what you thought. The game isn't as good as you were hoping and it's taken you on a round trip to suckville. Such a game is what my rant is about this time. I want to give my opinion on the latest game from THQ called Homefront.

     Now let me start off by saying that I don't think everything in Homefront is bad. The story is actually quite good. It takes place in 2027. During this time North and South Korea have joined together to form a unified nation. Through several events Korea ends up invading the U.S.A. and everyone is either killed or basically prisoners of war. You join up with a resistance group of Americans who want to take back their country. The direction the story takes is very raw and real. It's because of this that you actually feel like these events could happen, thus making the story hit closer to home. Buildings, homes, and yes even your beloved White Castle are damaged severely. Sadly, the story of Homefront is about the only saving grace this game has. The graphics are not terrible, but compared to other shooters on the market they are not up to par. Everything just seems to look grainy and some textures look slightly muddy.

     The single player campaign is seven chapters long. What I should say is the game is seven chapters short. You can finish the entire campaign in five hours tops. That's not even the worst part. There were several glitches throughout the campaign as well. I can't tell you how many times I would see a random enemy suddenly pop onto the screen. I even caught an enemy just standing there and not do anything at all. Then there's your teammates' A.I. You spend pretty much every level having to follow your resistance leader. So many times I would be following him and when I got right by him he would just sit there. Then as if the game finally caught up to itself he would finally decide where to move next. Sometimes I would get hit from the side by an enemy and my teammates would be looking right at the enemy....and not fire back! There are certain achievements/trophies to unlock and 61 hidden newspapers to find. However, one play through of the campaign was more than enough for me.

     Now let me get into the multiplayer. This is one area that doesn't suck as much as the campaign. The game uses something called battle points. You earn these by killing enemy players, capturing posts, and other certain objectives. Once you earn enough battle points you can use rocket launchers, drones, missile attacks, helicopters, and even tanks. This all works pretty well. The maps are pretty large so there are plenty of places to move around. This also leads to plenty of places snipers will be hunting you down from! As cool as using tanks and many other weapons and perks seemed, I just couldn't get into the multiplayer. One reason was that even after the game had been out for four days the freaking servers were still down. The developers said it was due to the high volume of players. Last time I checked, when a shooter is being promoted and advertised as much as Homefront was, you can expect a lot of people to play it! I ended up playing mainly skirmish mode instead of team deathmatch. The other reason I just couldn't get into the multiplayer was it just felt dull. With games like COD Black Ops, Halo Reach, and Killzone 3, Homefront just felt like it lacked that overall awesome factor.

    I'm sure some people out there who love Homefront are ready to flame me for this rant. Just remember that it's my opinion and nothing more. I don't think this game is complete garbage. Believe me, I've played games way worse than this. I think what hurt this game the most for me was that I was looking forward to it. The developer videos made the multiplayer seem like it was going to bring something really different to the table. With a lack luster, glitchy, and short campaign, and multiplayer that was just okay, the entire game just felt weak and unpolished. If you have this game and enjoy it that's great. Keep playing it. If you were on the fence about it I would say rent it. I just think there are better shooters already out, and many other ones right around the corner that are better deserving of my time.

Final Verdict: 6/10

Written by: Alter Ego 83