Homefront: The Revolution is a game with a tortured history. It began at THQ before hopping to Crytek after that company went under, and then to Deep Silver when Crytek had problems, and came out between Battleborn and Overwatch. And to some degree, it’s rough, but it can be surprisingly fun.
Homefront: The Revolution (PS4, Xbox One, Steam)
Artistic Achievement
On an artistic level, it’s difficult to argue the game has much in the way of virtue. It’s rather heavy on the grey with the occasional splash of blue for color, and most of the environments are bombed-out rubble. The story is more or less a Tom Clancy parody, and it’s more than a little racist. The entire setup of the plot involves Asians being really good at electronics and also devious. Also our “heroes” are psychotic and way too fond of the slur “Norks,” which managed to come off as off-puttingly racist even though it’s made up entirely for the game, and also reminds you of the Smurfs knockoff Snorks.
It’s also bizarrely inconsistent in its overall setting. North Korea, in this continuity, lost the Korean war, joined South Korea, and became an electronics powerhouse that was eventually taken over by a global megacorporation. Yet they still deploy nerve gas, act like an authoritarian dictatorship, and are generally North Korea as Hollywood likes to portray it. Either they’re evil Samsung or evil Communists, guys. Pick one.
As for the audio, voice acting is decent, if bland, and the music is essentially tense elevator music. Suffice to say this game doesn’t make a good impression at first.
Innovation
That said, though, it’s a pretty fun riff on the Far Cry formula. If you’re a fan of that franchise, this will feel incredibly familiar as you sneak through encampments, picking off a stronger force one by one. There are also some fun innovations, like weapons you can swap out in the field from pistol to RPG or assault rifle to mine launcher. And to its credit, the game is dedicated to its premise. You are not Rambo, and if you get spotted or cornered, you are outnumbered, outequipped, and being chased by both massive airships and nasty drones. It’s a paranoid little experience and surprisingly refreshing, and the game keeps that feeling of tension and being a bug with a nasty sting that can still be easily squashed for a surprisingly long time.
Execution
Where this game works, to the degree that it works, is in just playing it and ignoring everything else. The level design is unexpectedly inspired and even gorgeously bleak, packed with hidden routes, little side alleys to hide in, little hidden bonuses to find, and other fun stuff. The Lombard area in particular is a haunting, bombed-out hellscape drowned in a haze of nerve gas. It’s a game that rewards exploring and caution in equal measure, and that’s further varied up by the “zone” structure; red zones you’ll be shot on sight, while yellow zones require you to blend with the crowd while dodging ID drones and checkpoints while fomenting revolution.
It’s also a game surprisingly in love with verticality. You need to constantly look up to search the skies for enemies, to find new routes through the rubble and new vantage points on your enemy, to find hidden paths and powerups. It gets a lot out of its packed, cramped urban environments and sneaking through a post-apocalyptic Philly with a crossbow and a grudge is an absolute blast.
Unfortunately, it’s unpolished. When you step out of the game to shop for guns, pick up little side quests, or otherwise step away from the gameplay, it stutters. The controls are a bit non-intuitive; you can’t whip out a gun just by hitting your iron sights, for example. Prompts can be hit or miss; you need to be just the right distance from something to interact with it. The shooting and sneaking is a lot of fun, but the game just gets in your way too often for its own good.
Probably the biggest sin is that at several points, the game locks you into a path that makes no sense. It’s a stealth game at heart, but several setpieces require you to run in, guns blazing, even though your enemies are bullet sponges and you’re practically made of glass. Beyond a certain point, playing the game’s side missions, called Strike Points, doesn’t offer any value beyond testing your skills, as you’ll quickly collect more upgrade points than the game has upgrades. And later on, you’ll be locked into completing main missions, but the game won’t prevent you from finishing side missions; it just won’t count them as completed.
Staying Power
You’ve got enough to do here for a solid 20 hours, so you won’t be bored, especially if you’re missing Far Cry.
Bullsh*t Factor
The lack of competitive multiplayer is a sore spot for some, especially as the multiplayer mode is an uninspired shootfest with waves of enemies swarming you. There is DLC, but, eh, you can ignore it. Probably the most annoying aspect is that they’ve hidden multiple levels of Timesplitters throughout the game, and you can’t just play these from the menu when you find them.
Final Thoughts
Gamers can be forgiven for thinking this game was going to be a disaster, and honestly, it’s clearly the victim of a messy history that includes several studio buyouts. There’s a good game here, if you can look past the flaws, and hopefully Dambuster gets another crack at the brass ring. Still, all but the most dedicated gamers will probably be frustrated with the lack of polish, and that makes it too difficult to recommend at $60.