Homefront: The Revolution Reviews
Time waits for no man (or game in this case) although perhaps Dambusters wished it had stopped off for a ciggie break or two in the road to release. Homefront 2 isn't the finished article you see. NPCs walk into walls. Animations are janky. Everything's got an incomplete vibe, like Dambusters downed tools at lunch and disappeared down the pub for a not-so-swift pint. It's not beyond hope though, extensive patching could salvage a decent game out of this. My fear is that the damage is already well and truly done.
The gameplay gets a serious overhaul as this resistance fighter series goes open world and takes some major cues from the Far Cry franchise.
Deep Silver didn't need any more bad games under its belt, but if there is nothing else that can be said, it can be stated definitively that this is not as bad as Ride to Hell: Retribution. Some would call this a victory, and it's a noble effort to not throw away work that was already underway, yet that's part of the core problem. Homefront: The Revolution wasn't finished and released because gamers needed something great to play; it was completed and sold because some manager out there refused to let the work go to waste.
Poor AI severely limits the immersion of the game, rather sadistic and somewhat irritating main characters don't make it any easier to play either.
Homefront: The Revolution has bigger problems than its myriad of technical issues. Sure, the constantly freezing of the game to save is jarring, and the game as a whole is largely unpolished, but even when everything works it just isn't captivating in any way. Pass this up.
Much like the internal woes that befell titles such as Duke Nukem Forever, it is unknown if Homefront: The Revolution would have benefitted from some stability behind the scenes. What is known is that the result is a title with some potential that was never fully realized for one reason or another. The idea of running guerrilla-style missions and liberating areas in an open Philadelphia may not be new, but it remains appealing. The missions, however, are rather monotonous, and the game drags on due to the lack of a solid story and characters backing it up. The multiplayer meets the same fate, since the co-op experience is dulled by a lack of level variety. Coupled with a number of bugs and other technical issues, it's difficult to enjoy The Revolution since the beginning of the year was unusually crowded with quality titles.
Is Homefront: The Revolution the worst thing I have ever played? No, in fact it was far from it. However, the fact still remains that the end product is a mediocre interpretation of what could have been, and by all accounts should have been, something far more enjoyable. Compound these failings with an uninspired, borderline laughable narrative and the end product is something that I cannot, in good faith, recommend to anyone. Consider this your warning shot. Retreat while you still can!
Overall, the general story can sometime be a hit or a miss, with some scenes really drawing me further into the world while others completely disengaged me. The characters are fine and some even have unique personalities but their development is never taken very far. The protagonist (Ethan) never speaks in the game, which is something that I'm generally not much of a fan of since it disengages me from the story in my personal experiences. There are often moments that seem very much like 1984's Red Dawn or 2012's film of the same name, both of which I'm a fan of and I feel that there was a lot of potential that wasn't fully realized in the finished game.
Homefront: The Revolution is ultimately plagued by far too many performance issues than should be considered acceptable. While the game shows promising flashes, it falls in the shadow of its predecessor by failing to create a memorable tale of an occupied America.
Above all, the problem with Homefront: The Revolution is that it, like so many others before it, presumes that whatever freedom is is obvious and transparent, and so can simply be acquired in a transaction like any other.
Homefront: The Revolution is a collection of good ideas ruined by a rushed release, lack of polish and hugely disappointing technical performance.
I could see myself enjoying 'Homefront: Revolution' briefly in a few years when I've managed to get through everything else in my backlog, itself a tall order. It has an adequate but not quite good campaign, easily skippable co-op, and some serious engine problems. It's your thoroughly average shooter, in a nutshell.
Despite some of its shortcomings, Homefront: The Revolution is a solid open-world FPS. It gets a lot right and if you're in the mood for liberating future America, it might just be your jam.
Following the original title, this is one of the most bitterly disappointing games in a long, long time. It has been practically ruined by the horrific development hell it went through and the end product is a great example as to what can happen. Every time it seems Homefront: The Revolution is about to start getting good, its mountain of ugly issues re-emerges, reminding of the frustrating mess it truly is.
Two times wasn't the charm this time. Homefront: The Revolution is different from its predecessor, but it makes almost the same mistakes. It will find its fans anyway, because the concept of a FPS set in an open urban environment is undoubtedly attractive. Personally, however, I would appreciate if the potential third entry in the series would try a different approach.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Homefront: The Revolution started with troubled development and has obviously suffered greatly with changing teams, developers, and ultimately publishers throughout it's lifetime, an issue encountered by a great many games over the past few years. In amongst a largely broken and unoptimised game I was still able to find some fun, albeit it shortlived.
The game world is well done but the story is poor. Repetitive missions and poor stability adds to the complaints list.
A creative, open-ended game rich in emergent gameplay that's sadly spoiled by technical problems.
"In a market where games such DOOM run at a mighty and smooth 60FPS, technical weakness isn't something gamers will accept or tolerate after parting with their hard earned cash. Sadly, a large percentage of paying customers will be turned off by Homefront: The Revolution's technical issues."
Homefront: The Revolution was one of the worst games I've played and the open world style of play did not function well for it.