Today I look at Homefront. I picked up this game 50% off as part of a THQ liquidation sale. As we all know THQ has since stablized and is no longer giving away games for cheap. But with no games really coming out this year we can expect to see a new THQ sale coming sooner rather than later.
The Brief: Homefront
Nothing from Homefront is all that revolutionary but when a game is within weeks of predicting the death of one of the most powerful men in the world, you ought to pay attention.
Mercenaries was the first game to predict the death of Kim Jung Ill of North Korea. North American media really did a number on Kim Jung Ill making him look like some sort of cartoon character. His son on the other hand was shown as being a cruel and vindictive man who if had ever taken power would likely go to war.
In Mercenaries you were fighting at Pyongyang to try and remove the aggressive North Korean generals. The end of the game you kill off all of their leadership and save the day.
Homefront on the other hand is a little more odd than Mercenaries. Homefront was based on reality… which makes it all the more scary. Homefront was released in 2011 as things were getting wrapped up in the Middle East. The game sets the standards for a major war with North Korea. Kim Jung Ill dies and his son Kim Jung Ung takes over. A few years later massive wars in the Middle East cause the oil supply of America to begin to dwindle. American oil supplies are so diminished that they move their forces out of Asia.
In the game North Korea takes over the entire Korean continent and Japan. How likely is this? North Korea has the fourth largest army in the world. Only America, China and India have larger armies. Japan has less than 100,000 men in their army. Without oil the American army does not work. Both of these claims make this hypothetical world valid and credible.
Synopsis
It is the year 2050 and Korea has taken over the continental United States. All is lost… except now the resistance has recruited you, a helicopter pilot, to strike back at the enemy.
This is a basic linear shooter game. You can carry two weapons at a time and in some missions you will get a third. The entirety of the campaign you will be following a gunghoe soldier named “Connor.” Your job is to clear out the enemies in an area and when they’re dead you move on.
Sometimes you will have special ways of killing people. For example you may have to target enemies with a camera so that a remote control gun will hit certain targets. Sometimes you will be in a helicopter pushing guys back. Sometimes you will be in a turret shooting at enemies. Sometimes you will have to snipe only some enemies or snipe enemies in a certain order.
The game is largely carried by its sense of story line. At the end of every mission you are given a piece of the puzzle from the “Freedom Radio” in which they describe what actions you took and put it into a larger framework.
Guns in the game include side arms (pistols), assault rifles, shotguns, submachine guns, RPGs, machine guns, and knives. The game is not one where you get a consistently high ammo supply so you constantly have to trade out weapons for an enemy’s so that you will be able to continue forward.
Strengths
- No Gun Lag
- Interesting Characters
- Intense Action
Weaknesses
- Short Game
- Story Lacking
- Too Linear
Concluding Thoughts
Unfortunately this is not a game I will be recommending now or in the future. The strengths are definitely outweighed by the weaknesses. The play value of the game alone should signal that this is a poor buy. But when you go into the various sound bugs, lack of moving lips and the game looking like it was made 5 years ago you will be shied off by the game pretty fast. Rest in Peace Kaos Studios.
