Homefront

Just picked this game up Tuesday. In case you aren't familiar with the story, its based in yr 2025. The US has fallen apart and is now occupied by N Korea.

The campaign is very short unfortunately as I completed it in about 5 hrs. Would've been nice to develop the story further...just leaves you expecting more. Most of the campaign takes place in the destroyed suburbs of the occupied areas. The scenery and locations are good, and it's challenging at certain points. It may be challenging though because some of the planned events aren't scripted well, and you end up retrying levels to get the timing right. If you are only interested in the campaign, then it's a one day rental.

The real value of Homefront is the multiplayer experience. It's been described as the love child of COD and BFBC, and that's a pretty accurate description. It has simple controls, weapon options, kill streaks, and abilities like COD. The larger maps, vehicles, and movement are familiar from BFBC. It's a class based game, and you earn xp to rank up. You also earn battle points (BP) to use for kill streak rewards. Buy an armored vest, RPG, RC drones, or something large like a humvee, tank, or helicopter. You buy these in the match based on the BP you have earned and your teams need. This is a game you can pick up and play easily, but there's plenty to unlock and perfect. There's not alot of camping, mostly been run and gun gameplay. Hit detection is solid, and controls are pretty responsive.

The game has Skirmish mode for up to 16 players, TDM up to 24 players, and Capture and Hold for up to 32 players. There's also a Battle Commander version for TDM and Capture mode. Battle Commander basically adds another level to these modes by rewarding successful players with special kill streak rewards, but it also puts a 'bounty' on your head. Think GTA with you being the main character, and the other team is the cops. Each kill you get adds a star, and the other teams players will get assigned to take you out. All while playing within the basic game modes. The lobby is pretty basic, nothing special. There's a simple party, invite system that you would be familiar with from other games. THQ has dedicated servers, and has added capacity since the game launched. Lag has not been an issue, and I've had no freezing or lockups.

One thing I'm not sure about is the 'Battle Code' that THQ implemented. You need this code to rank up online past level 5. It comes with the game if you purchase it new, but if you rent it or buy a used copy you would need to purchase a Battle Code for $10. Not sure how that will work out for them...

The biggest complaint I've heard about this game is the graphics. They are barely next gen, and remind me of Oblivion. It probably simplified the dev process for them to keep it simple, but with the short campaign it kinda makes you wonder what they were doing since the time this game was announced. Regardless, it's value is in the MP and they pulled off the love child quite well.

Here's a short montage from my first day out:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/n_dPuEu1noY?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0&amp;hd=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/n_dPuEu1noY?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0&amp;hd=1</a>