Homefront: The Revolution - Xbox One Review
Posted on: 2016-05-26
Our rating:
The story is a unique one: it?s the not too distant future and North Korea have sold technology to the United States for a decent price, however this wasn?t out of kindness because it gave them a backdoor to their defences.
Homefront: The Revolution was a game I kept an eye on for a few years because I was the only one who enjoyed the first game that came out on the Xbox 360 and PS3 back in 2011. This game was stuck in development hell for about 5 years and the game has finally released. However the game is rather disappointing which is a shame because it has a strong opening sequence, but once you get into the game it starts to become boring and repetitive coupled with bugs and poor frame rate.
The story is a unique one: it’s the not too distant future and North Korea have sold technology to the United States for a decent price, however this wasn’t out of kindness because it gave them a backdoor to their defences. The North Koreans shut down the US militaries weapons and defences and launch a full scale invasion, they then occupy the entire country turning each state into an Orwellian dystopia where the citizens are constantly watched. This a unique premise and the opening of this game got me excited because the atmosphere is superb with the feeling of hopelessness and suffering, you really feel sorry for these people who are under the oppression of the Korean dictatorship. This game is really dark as it is very violent with scenes of torture and brutality from the Korean military.
The gameplay is functional but uninspired because it never varies and the story missions feel like boring and repetitive side quest, they feel unimportant. I never feel that I’m leaving my mark on this world and considering that this is an open world game that’s a big problem. Missions seem to be either blowing up convoys with explosives of your choice or you’re freeing citizens as they’re being terrorised by the Korean army. I feel like I’m going down a check list which reminds of Ubisoft open world games because it reminds you are playing a video game rather than immersing you in the world.
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There are positive aspects of the gameplay; I like the customisation of your weapon loadouts because one weapon can be changed into another with different kits. I like this because one gun can have multiple functions for example if you have a pistol you can buy a kit that turns it into a sub machine gun. This adds variation to gun fights because you can change the tide of a firefight as you use a kit to make your shotgun shot fireballs, it also looks really cool when you change your weapon with great animations as you see your character field strip the weapon as he removes the barrel and magazines etc.
Homefront: The Revolution’s presentation is beautiful they really have done well crafting a dark and depressing atmosphere, the game really shines at night as you see the rain drops hitting the puddles coupled with the warm glow of bonfires as they light the darkness. Facial animation is top notch during in engine scenes however the animations can look a bit stilted during gameplay with unnatural movements. Overall they have nailed the presentation with the themes they were going for.
There are a lot of technical issues in terms of performances and audio bugs. The game has a terrible frame rate it jumps all over the place especially when things get busy on screen where the frame rate will drop to the low teens. The game locks up every time it auto saves and you better get accustomed to this because it auto saves a lot and it never stops being aggravating. Audio bugs are present with music looping continuously which becomes ear grating hearing the same musical score over and over again. Dialogue will suddenly stop while the supporting cast are still talking which breaks the immersion a bit because you don’t know what to do because the game decides to cut the dialogue off during a crucial moment.
Homefront: The Revolution is really disappointing because it had potential with its setting, but the boring and repetitive gameplay coupled with the technical issues I couldn’t bring myself to finish it which is a shame because there was a glimmer of hope with this game.
3/5
Reviewed by Sam Coles - The Bristolian Gamer - For 365Bristol.com - the biggest events and entertainment website in the city.
Article by:
Sam has lived in Bristol all his life. A keen cyclist he speeds around the city but video games are his bread and butter. Whether the old Nes and Snes games or the XBox One and Playstation releases he loves them all. Sam runs his own gaming blog called Bristolian Gamer where he had been reviewing indie games, doing retro reviews and venting his anger at the industry when it does wrong since 2010. Sam joined the 365Bristol team in December 2014.
