"Homefront the Revolution" created by Dambuster studios is a relaunch of the 2011 video game "Homefront" it is however vastly different. Different of course doesn't always mean better, some of the game concepts work great, some lag behind.

Gameplay

Gameplay is the most important part of most games. This is a first person shooter, but there is more to that. The game provides two different types of playable zones. The red zone is where it is just your faction and the enemy, it is shoot on sight and there is no holding back by either side. Then comes in the yellow zone, which is much more stealthy and has civilians walking around and complaining about you bumping into to them every damn time. This is where you have to be more careful and cannot just blow everything around you, and the way you approach your objectives differs by a lot. There is also some weapon customization, not a lot of it, but it is there and it is useful. The game features strike points in every zone, which are basically enemy outposts that you can take over, some of them require certain objectives to be completed and some just make you interact with one object. roaming the zones whether on your motorcycle, which is the only drivable vehicle in the game, or just sneaking around taking over strike points and liberating americans from the KPA it is certainly enjoyable. However, the game does have some serious issues. The issue that bothered me the most was the intelligence of the enemy and allies. I would find enemies just forgetting where I was last time, or them just walking into walls indefinitely, or just not spotting me when I was just running past them. They definitely lack intelligence, and thus even playing on the hardest difficulty isn't that hard really. There are also some glitches with npc movements, like when they crouch half their bodies are absorbed through the ground, or some enemies that you need to kill appear in areas that are just impossible to access, and you would have to abandon your side activity. While there was content to do, from jobs that earn you money, to random events called flash points that are just all in all fun to do, have kept me entertained, these glitches and the big drops in frame rate, making the game not function at a proper speed were really killing the enjoyment. Also the resistance mode while fun for a little while really gets old fast. With no pvp mode it gets dull.

Story

The story of the game is good, the KPA, which is basically North Korea has become almost like the Apple of the world selling phones and other technology. However America couldn't pay resist and bought weapons from them as well and landed in a huge massive depth (sounds a little familiar). Then the KPA decided to collect and sort of occupied America claiming being there to provide aid, and so the occupation happened, because the devices that were sold to the americans had a backdoor installed for the KPA to access and exploit. The story had some twists there and here, however it lacked characters. It was nice getting to know some people more in depth, but there was such a small number of important people, and no real villain in the game, which really kind of made you wish that at least your character could talk, and that you would have different choices to make in the story itself. There were so many times where it felt like my character should be saying stuff, like you go to a meeting everybody is discussing the next plan and everybody is giving input, except for you. The game tries to make you feel important, but fails that when it does not give your character any personality, you are at one point one of the "Resistance" leaders, yet your character cannot even yell out something like "For Freedom" or something. I must say though the side story journals that just give you some input on people's lives were really interesting and gave me mixed feelings about the cause that I was fighting for, and the further you progress the more I felt that I was actually just a terrorist making things worse. For example you see KPA troops getting beat down in the streets by rioters, and locked into boxes, just some of it seemed cruel and gave me a bad feeling. But then you hear of terrible things being done to american citizens, and witness some of it and suddenly you start thinking you are on the good side, but the feeling keeps getting mixed. I wish there was more characters and somebody that I can identify as my enemy, also more information on the rest of the world would have been nice in the game, since you only learn a little about outside events.

Atmosphere

The atmosphere is where the game shines. I have rarely seen the environment done so well, everything felt like that is how it would be, from the war torn red zones, to the poverty stricken yellow zones. It seemed so well done, and each zone was different, not too different where it wouldn't make sense, everything is happening in one city after all. The riots in the city where very well executed, and it showed a city plunged into chaos, and when there are no riots, you can see how there is barely anything keeping order going. The music and sounds were okay, nothing really special about them or really anything wrong. I liked the symbolism being left by the resistance, and how the KPA showed their presence, the always looming airships, really added to the feeling that you are outgunned here. It was great the atmosphere is what kept me interested enough to finish the game.

Conclusion

Homefront the Revolution is an okay game, and while there will be expansions for the game, I am unsure of what the future holds for it. I had fun with the game, however there was always the lingering feeling that this could have been a much better revolution than it is. I do not want this franchise to die off, since the premise of the story is great, and the feeling of whether I was fighting for freedom or am I just a terrorist inspiring fear into peaceful citizens.