Somewhere within Homefront: The Revolution--beneath
the choppy framerate, the hackneyed narrative, and the half-explored
mechanics that are hastily introduced then forgotten just as
quickly--exists a solid, cinematic shooter. All the ingredients are
there. It casts players as American resistance fighters--outmanned and
outgunned, but resourceful and resilient--which naturally paves the way
for both novel gameplay and daring political themes. Unfortunately,
Homefront doesn't quite deliver on either one.
Its
attempts to explore those political themes feel clumsy and superficial.
Its mechanics embrace the scrappy nature of guerilla combat, but
technical shortcomings generally force you into rudimentary
run-and-gunning. The lengthy story campaign packs plenty of impressive
moments that make good on the promising premise, but the game's myriad
flaws turn what could have been a thrilling yet thoughtful shooter into a
derivative, mediocre also-ran with serviceable shooting and plenty of
unrealized potential.
If
there's one thing Homefront absolutely nails, however, its variety. The
game's near-future version of an occupied Philadelphia is broken into
eight districts, each of which is large, open, and dotted with dozens of
ambient tasks like outposts to capture and supply caches to uncover.
While these activities remain largely the same throughout the game, the
districts themselves vary both visually and in the play style they
demand. The first area I experienced was basically an open war zone
filled with bombed out buildings and on-going firefights. But later on, I
found myself in a tranquil, tree-lined district where unholstering a
weapon at the wrong time could mean instant death at the hands of
watchful, well-armed security officers.
Homefront also
never cuts corners when it comes to world building. When I was sent to
hijack a super weapon, I got to see it in action and revel in the volley
of explosions. When the occupying army ordered blimps to gas the entire
city, I saw blimps overhead as green fog filled the streets. And
anytime my crew of resistance leaders needed to organize a new plan,
there was a full (albeit unskippable) cutscene displaying the debate.
Homefront never leans on empty exposition; it actively shows you the
world and events surrounding the gameplay, and that, combined with the
varied districts, imbues the campaign with an unexpected richness.
Unfortunately,
the story stringing it all together fails on several counts. Most
notably, there's no relatable hero, no substantial plot development, and
no discernable villain beyond the faceless, undeveloped occupying army.
You never see or hear protagonist Ethan Brady, and none of his actions
imply any kind of personality. He's purely an empty vessel, and while
that's fine, there's not enough other story substance to fill the void.
There are three characters that stick with Ethan all the way through,
but you only interact with them between missions as they lament the
latest setback. While I did develop some connection to my comrades, most
of their dialogue was trite action movie banter.
Homefront never leans on empty exposition; it actively shows you the world and events surrounding the gameplay, which imbues the campaign with an unexpected richness.
The minimal plot is
similarly generic. There's no real arc to the narrative; rather, each
new story beat is just another excuse to send you on an errand in the
name of gaining some ground for the resistance. This feeling of running
in circles stems, at least in part, from the absence of an obvious
villain. Not every story needs a Darth Vader, but even the game's most
important adversary--the fictional Korean People's Army--remains an
entirely abstract entity throughout. You never once hear a KPA officer
speak. You're never given any insight into their mindset. All you know
about the KPA is you're fighting them, and frankly, it's hard to feel
motivated to destroy an enemy you know nothing about--especially when
the characters you're intended to empathize with constantly spout a
thinly veiled racial slur.
Homefront's mechanics don't
do the campaign justice either. As a resistance fighter faced with
impossible odds, it makes sense you'd rely on stealth and subterfuge,
and while the game attempts to accommodate that approach, it also
constantly undermines itself. The biggest issue is simply the
inconsistency of detection. More than once, I was spotted while fully
concealed behind a wall. Other times, I would open fire on one guard
only to round a corner and find another guy blissfully unaware of the
gunshots that rang out just moments before. Because you can never be
sure if your attempts at stealth will actually work, it's generally not
even worth trying.
But
even if you're seriously committed to sneaking, Homefront may not be
able to satisfy your inner Solid Snake. Though you're given some helpful
tools like diversion-creating firecrackers, certain essential stealth
mechanics--like the ability to hide bodies--are missing. Other tools,
while helpful in theory, end up being kind of pointless. You can tag
enemies using your smartphone's camera, for example, but enemies (and
their vision cones) are almost always visible on your mini-map, so why
bother? The most effective stealth technique I discovered: awkwardly
sprinting away from anyone who's awareness meter was starting to fill.
That
just leaves combat, which is unremarkable but still enjoyable. The core
shooting mechanics prove satisfying, with reasonably responsive aiming,
punchy sound effects, and gruesome enemy death animations. Thankfully,
enemies are not bullet sponges, so a few well-placed shots will reward
you with an easy kill. You'll also have to contend with armored vehicles
and attack drones, but these end up being a welcome sight, not only
because they naturally escalate the tension of any conflict but also
because they're immensely satisfying to take down with a makeshift bomb
or hijack with a hacking device.
More than once, I was spotted while fully concealed behind a wall. Other times, I would open fire on one guard only to round a corner and find another guy blissfully unaware of the gunshots.
The
crafting and currency systems--which allow you to create those bombs
and hacking tools--are relatively simplistic, but they do allow you to
unlock some memorable weapons later on, including a tactical crossbow
and jerry rigged mine launcher. You can also modify all your weapons on
the fly, adding attachments or swapping major components to convert,
say, your pistol to an SMG. In practice, it's not hugely different from
simply selecting gear from a radial menu, but it at least fits
Homefront's themes.
Weirdly, you can also find mechanics
that seem almost abandoned or incomplete. For example, the game never
mentions it, but I discovered you can approach allies and recruit them
to follow you into battle. Doing so doesn't fundamentally alter the
gameplay, but...it's there. This particular mechanic, though strangely
superfluous, might have added more to the experience if Homefront's
enemy and ally AI were stronger. Currently, their behavior is
unpredictable at best. Some enemies would smartly head for cover during
firefights while others would mindlessly run towards me despite the pile
of dead bodies practically blocking the doorway.
Unfortunately,
spotty AI isn't Homefront's only technical problem--far from it. You
can find rough edges basically everywhere you look, and on all three
platforms (Xbox One, PC, and PS4). The screen freezes momentarily each
and every time the game autosaves. The framerate is inconsistent,
frequently dipping slightly and occasionally stuttering egregiously. The
audio sometimes stumbled as well, blasting tense music during
non-combat moments or cutting out when a character is speaking. I also
encountered several random difficulty spikes and respawn locations that
placed me perilously close to the fray.
These issues
also extend to the game's co-op component, which is separate from its
story campaign. Visually, it can't compare to the decent-looking solo
mode, but worse still, it offers an anemic amount of content: six 10- to
15-minute missions. You can select any of three difficulty levels, but
the objectives and map layouts don't change, meaning the only reason to
replay the missions is to challenge yourself. There is a loot crate
system that allows you to randomly unlock gear from the campaign, but
you'll have beaten all six missions long before you get lucky enough to
acquire the equipment you want.
Ultimately, co-op adds little to
the overall package, which is a shame since Homefront definitely needs
some help. Its substantial story campaign is impressively rich and its
shooting can be tense and fun, but half-baked stealth, an unfulfilling
story, and a vast menagerie of technical inadequacies drag the overall
experience into disappointing mediocrity.Share this
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