[Homefront] Good atmosphere (now with playthru impressions)

[Kasey Chang]

My laptop is down for repairs, so I'm getting by with my HP desktop, which only has a lowly integrated Radeon 4200 (IGP) it sucks in running every decent 3D game I thrown at it thus far, such as Just Cause 2, Saints Row 2, Sleeping Dogs Demo, and now, Homefront. And yes, I've lowered the res to about as low as it will go. (800x600, or 640x480 if I can get it that low.)

So far, I can only watch the intro and do the initial "orientation" in Homefront. The intro setup is great, Red Dawn brought to life and all that. Middletown USA turned into occupied Warsaw and such. That bus ride was absolutely chilling. Unfortunately I can't continue as I can't figure out how to get out of the **** bus (no flag, no instruction, no prompt, no nothing). The NPC is flickering between two different detail of the models, and controls are super-laggy, even though I had resolution and such set to lowest possible. Argh! This is a 2010 game!

I think I'll have to go play something simple... Like Space Rangers.

[Lordnine]

There should be a person who comes to rescue you after the bus crashes. If I recall you have to crouch to get through a window or something like that. Honestly though, I felt like the bus ride was the best part of the game. After that it became very generic with some pretty bad voice acting in places.

[Kasey Chang]

Yeah, except I did crouch, and I got STUCK next to the dead driver.

[Kasey Chang]

With the new computer, just FINISHED Homefront, SP, on easy. It's... atmospheric, and reminds me a lot of that old EA shooter Freedom Fighters.

The plot points are right out of both history and movies, and quite poignant. My main problem is with the way you're held on a leash, much like new new MOH and MOH:W. You don't really feel like you're participating in a movie, but more like lead through a movie set with you going through the motions.

The writer, John Millius touch shows through at times, so this game is meant to be EXPERIENCED, instead of played, IMHO. The plot is VERY reminiscent of the movie. Start with the hero in live, show the environment (the bus ride), then kaboom1 There's no turning back. The stakes are steadily raised... do this, do that, Culminating in the biggest battle of the whole game, where you get regular army units assisting you.

It is the year 2027, so gun tech should not have changed much, and that's all right. However, I find it very annoying that seems all the Norks (North Korean troops) are armed with AMERICAN guns. Seems every one I took down is using M-4, SCAR, M-16, M249, even the occasional Super-V, Diablo SMG (super-short version of M-4/M-16), and so on. And what the heck is a M-4 sniper? Don't you mean M-14 or SR-25? Oh the other hand, that's... convenient?

You're at least given a lot to do, but a bit too... convenient? It's like you end up with this super soldier that will start from pistol, to assault rifle, to LMG, to sniper rifle, to gunship driver, to turret gunning...

[Kasey Chang]

Some playthru spoilers

Spoiler:

This game used every movie trick to evoke an emotional response, and some of which are extremely disturbing, such as executions, mass graves, "black-bagging" (breaking down your door, and slap a black bag over your head and drag you out),

That bus ride you went on had you witnessing lots of ****, inculding execution of parents in front of a child, escaped prisoner shot in front of you (blood splatters on the window in front of you too), etc. etc. Basically, you're living in hell, misery all around. You can look around, or just listen.

Then the bush got bushwacked and you need to escape with your companions.

In the 2nd chapter you arrive at the Resistance safehouse, under camo netting and even a little playground for the kids, BBQs, and such. It's like a little slice of America.

You're asked to do a scouting mission, and after a lot of ambush (where you fight your way out of a labor camp after a collaborator sold you out), you came across a mass grave (where one of your companions goes wacko and starts shooting all the Norks even though he should have just snuck away).

You then go after a tanker depot, where you need to fight your way through, then attack a tracking beacon on the fuel trucks so you can nab them later. This was one of the big attacks... except the white phosphorus rounds end up killing both friendlies and enemies.

You came back to the safehouse, only to see that the Norks had gotten there ahead of you. Seems this is the cliche plot point: the home base gone, hero left with nowhere to go.

You then attack "the wall", which is some sort of wall build down to the bed rock the Norks built as a defense position to consolidate their gains around the city. Once that was breached, you're out looking for the chopper.

You then go deal with the "survivalists" who is so heavily armed, the Norks leave them alone... As predicted, things did not go smoothly, and you end up shooting the entire camp, along with the Norks that attack. You also get to do a sniper sequence. Eventually you make your way to the chopper and take off, to chase after 3 fuel

Then you go after the convoy, by shooting the escorts, then get close to each chopper so your comrades can get off and hijack it Fast and Furious style. Then you need to escort the convoy through (take out SAM sites and outposts), help your guy through a city, cross a bridge (shoot lots of bad guys) and make your way into california.

And eventually, you end up at the rallying forces (regular US army) about to fight their way through Golden Gate Bridge where the remaining 160th SOAR and their "little birds" will ferry everybody to Marin to start the main attack. As predicted, it's heavily defended, and Nork jets and gunships and just about everything are there. This is the grand finale, where one guy did the ultimate sacrifice thing to the big explosive ending.

Supposedly there will be a sequel, coming in 2013 or 2014, using CryEngine 3.

[Daehawk]

Ive just now gotten to this game. Having fun so far. Im with the resistance and at some school to do something. Is it me or do you feel short or squatted all the time?? Im not ..Im standing up but I feel as if Im short lol.

[Daehawk]

The setting and the people in this game dont make it easy to play. The setting is beyond unbelievable lol. But the people are all fucking stupid. The Koreans are killing them left and right, they keep them imprisoned in camps, the steal them in the middle of the night and execute them....yet our own Americans blame US for their troubles,,,,,a guy bitches to our American born asian member he should get the fuck out of their homes, and the rest betray us saying they got a better offer from the Koreans. How a better offer than saving their lives and freeing them is better than that I dont know. Buncha downright idiotic people in this game. I just want to kill everyone. None of them are worth saving.

Also some guy goes "I have a 16 year old daughter that cant grow up in this" and our leader says "You should have taught her how to use a gun a long time ago" And he was like "She's just a girl she doesn't need to use a gun " or some such...and then he's the one who betrayed us.

[Kasey Chang]

Well, it's a "nightmare" scenario, much like the Red Dawn remake.

[Daehawk]

Im starting to lose count of deaths where I get stuck on some world object I shouldn't be stuck on. It happens a lot when Im having to move and shoot. Ill get stuck and not realize it then when Im about to die Ill look down and see something I shouldn't be stuck on then die.

[raydude]

That, too, is part of the nightmare scenario.

[Smoove_B]

I just finished this yesterday and I don't feel it was as bad as I'd heard. To be clear, it's not a great game by any means. But I finished it - which is more than I can say for Rage and the Shadow Warrior remake. Other than some difficulty in getting it to run (not sure what the problem was in Win10), I played without incident. There was one CTD, but no problems getting stuck, or whatever. Again, it was like playing through a SyFy movie, but I found the theme and setting different enough that it was enjoyable for a few hours. I don't know if I'll ever get around to getting to play the sequel, but it has definitely moved up on my list of potentially interesting games to pick up. I know this game was a freebie months ago, so I figured I'd post impressions if anyone was looking for a short (< 5 hours) FPSer.

[Daehawk]

I really liked the first one. Finished and purchased the 2nd one..Revolution or whatever. Tried to play it..really tried. But it seems very unoptimized and my system just chopped and crawled around. I can play most everything high to max but this one on medium and down was killing my speed. I sat it aside hoping to get back to it one day. Im not sure if going from my 770 to this 950 will help or not with that game.

[Kasey Chang]

The sequel is supposed to be an "open-world" asymmetric warfare shooter that relies on ambush, snipe, and hide. It also has two sort of battlefields... a "yellow zones" where it's closer to GTA3/4/5 where you're under constant threat of cameras, soldier patrols, and nobody will be helping you, and so on, and in the "red zones" where you can operate more in the open, but you may be under serious attack under drones and dronetanks, but you may also fight alongside AI allies, in more of "capture the flag" ops. I've actually finished it, and it's interesting, but it's not that easy to get into, as the two types of zones require VERY different tactics.