Homefront Review

During March, a new first-person shooter was released to rival that of Call of Duty and Battlefield Bad Company. It was a game that had mixed reviews from the word go but many people coughed up the cash to go and purchase it. I was one of them. I had done some research before purchasing the game and decided to ignore all of the reviews and went to buy it.

Once I loaded up the main menu, I could see that it was going to be a game like know other. For a start, all of the characters looked battle-hardened and not a typical soldier that you would see in any Call of Duty game.  The music sounded great and rather too cheery for a shooter. As a result, I didn’t know what to expect.

When you load up single-player, you are immersed in a very different America from what most people know today. Rubbish, the stuff that what we would throw away today littered streets and houses. The scene calmed by the sound of the radio, and then the game really begins. A dramatic cut-scene where you get to know the plot. You are later driven around the streets of America and meet your fellow companions with will accompany you through all of the missions. You can see from this cut-scene what lies ahead of any person playing this game, due to the graphic nature of many of the dioramas. At the end of the cut-scene, you start to play for real, determining your friends, the Americans, and your foes, Koreans.

When you first get to control Robert Jacobs (the character you are depicting), you will feel that the controls seem very ‘clunky’ and not as smooth or easy to aim as Call of Duty. But it is easy to get used to. Many of the weapons in the game will be familiar to many people such as the M4 and the Scar-L.

The graphics are quite good with many great details and effects emphasized, however they are not as detailed as Call of Duty and I feel that the Unreal Engine 3.0 should really be changed to the Frostbite 1.5 engine shown in Battlefield Bad Company 2 making buildings destructible. This would ensure that the game would not compete with the Call of Duty series and making it a more complete and unique package.

When it comes to multiplayer, the game is nothing short of brilliant. The multiplayer for Homefront can support up to 32 players at one time. The two main types of game types are Team Deathmatch and Ground Control. A Team Deathmatch consists of two teams of 12 players to reach a score limit, whilst Ground Control has three flags where two teams of 16 fight to control them. The first to fill the bar wins. Once the bar has been filled, the losing team will fall back to three other flags.

Battle Commander and Skirmish are other game types that are available. In Battle Commander, each team is given a commander and the mission is to eliminate him/her. Hunters are assigned to kill the commander. Skirmish has two teams of 8 which can play either Ground Control and Team Deathmatch.

XP, like most games are the main way of leveling up in game. However, unlike any other game, Battle Points (BP) is available for all players to earn which can be spent in game on items such as vehicles or extra weaponry.

47 achievements which add up to 1000G for the XBOX 360 and 48 trophies are available for the PS3 are available.

Overall, the game has a gripping single-player and an action-packed multiplayer. Now bring on the DLC.