Home is where the online isn't
Homefront is a game that looked so promising. In some ways it is, but in more way than one, it isn't. You see, it's a good game and would be accepted as one, if the stakes were low. Shame they were high then, because it's not quite what you thought it would be.
You start off the single-player campaign in a small room. The radios on, all is peaceful, until theres a knock on the door. As you go to answer it, it is kicked open and you are pinned against the wall, chucked down the stairs and onto a bus. So far so fun. When it looks like it couldn't get any worse a speeding truck slams into your bus and then there was one. That was you of course. You wake up to see a man named Connor. This set-piece was a great way to start the game and really got me excited. In fact, there are a lot of exciting moments throughout the whole campaign. My favourite of all, jumping into a pit of dead bodies and hiding.
Now time for the cons. The gameplay is nothing new and feels quite stiff and slow and takes some getting used to compared to your loose Call Of Duty. There is really not much variety. Shoot enemy after enemy. There are a lot of guns and a strong vehicle called Goliath, but no game-changers. To wrap up the single-player, the storyline is good, but shooting lacks variety when in gameplay.
Now onto the multi-player. Be prepared. Theres a lot to complain about. The servers were absolutely horrific! People couldn't get into matches. Freezing was a big issue but I experienced something quite different. I would search for a game and it would take a couple of minutes to load (longer than it should), then it would put me in a game of my own where I am the host and no-one else would join. It took Kaos Studios over two weeks to fix all this and I heard that some people even got fired! Anyway, once I did finally get into it, it was everything I'd seen before. Shoot enemy, shoot enemy, shoot enemy. Nothing new here. The maps were dull and after a couple of matches the poor connection and slow gunplay was starting to bore me. I gave up. I waited over two weeks to access online and when I did, it bored me. Looks like you should stick to your Call Of Duty or Battlefield. There is meant to be more DLC for Homefront. As if i'm going to but that.
Disappointing for a game that could have done so well. If you don't have XBOX Live or PlayStation Network, I'd wait for the price to drop a bit. The single-player is enjoyable and exciting in places and the only reason to play through again is to collect all newspapers for an achievement if your that desperate.
An average shooter + Enjoyable storyline + Poor multi-player = Homefront
The Good:
- Plenty of exciting set-pieces.
The Bad:
- Online is nothing new.
The Ugly:
- Featuring children crying in front of their dead mother is disgusting in a 15+ rated game.
