Homefront the Revolution PS4 Review: "An unpolished diamond"

Homefront the Revolution PS4 Review

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Patch Version: 1.11 --

The first Homefront back in 2011 was a gritty and grim story showing the KPA occupation as oppressive and cruel. It was dangerously reminiscent of certain real life events from humanity's past; the mass burial grave scene for example that tasked you with hiding amongst the white-phosphorus-burnt bodies to evade the KPA choppers for example had people all a buzz.  The campaign had a few moments like this; moments that were thought provoking. The problem was, just as you were getting into the game it was over; the campaign only lasting around 3 to 4 hours. Value for money on release from a single player aspect it was not. So when I heard a sequel was on the cards AND it was going to be open world, I was excited.

Five long years later, Homefront the Revolution was released.  I'll admit, amid all the rumblings and troubles that the game had gone through during its development I was concerned, but in the end I disregarded it all and bought the title on release based on the snippets of gameplay footage that I had seen, which looked really good to be fair, pitting you as a guerrilla fighter against a superior force.

So having popped in the disk and patiently waited for that install bar to fill, I hit new game and started watching the opening cutscene.

Interestingly it turned out that it wasn't a sequel at all.  In fact Homefront the Revolution is a totally different alternative timeline where America had become dependent on another country's tech entirely (Korea: a company within it called APEX being the frontrunner in anything and everything cutting edge) and due to an expensive war the States was fighting in the middle east, had fallen into debt and defaulted on it, bringing about a spiralling depression, but not before becoming totally reliant on APEX technology, which ultimately left them open to attack when Korea came a knocking under the guise that was aid.

My first thought: Okay, it's not the most farfetched story that I've heard before, and does establish itself as a different story to its predecessor, but my second thought was: Americans are not going to like this alternative timeline one little bit!  Mainly because America is a proud nation raised to believe that they are the greatest and most powerful country in the world, and to a point they are, so a game suggesting that they aren't?  That's a hill few will be bothered to climb, and unless this story is nothing short of amazing it's going to get ripped to pieces before the horse even leaves the stall.

After the first cutscene ends, you are then presented with a Korean News broadcast. Problem is, compared to the live action opening scene it is terribly unrealistic.  The female anchor looks like a plastic doll!  Eventually the camera pulls out revealing your character (Ethan Brady) watching the news on a television set.

This cutscene is better in every regard, and before you know what the hell is happening, shit has hit the fan, bullets are flying, people are being shot in the head and you're being brutally interrogated!  Now I was getting into this.

The game starts here, or so I thought, tasking you with helping Walker who is the voice of the resistance, but this snippet of gameplay is a prelude to yet more preliminary cutscenes. Anyways, during this section you are given your first piece of equipment: a mobile phone that comes equipped with state of the art apps like a camera, mission log, map, scanner, text message storage and a journal.  You are then sent out to a nearby resistance stash to collect some more gear you'll need whilst Walker lays bleeding on some couch.

However, it's rare that I sit down with a game and within 45 minutes stop playing it; let me explain. I'm not adverse to overly long cutscenes at the start of games, but damn... it's almost 20 minutes before I actually receive a gun. Americans, the game's target audience, will be chomping at the bit!

But alas that wasn't the thing that ended it for me, but let me be clear, it wasn't down to bad graphics, because the game actually looks rather good.  It wasn’t the cutscenes, because other than the plastic doll scene, all the others I had watched were decent; I even recognised a few of the voice actors from The Division.  So what was it?  Well, for one, the game suffered from very low frame rate at times, especially in combat, but, every time the game saved it stalled.  And not just for a swift moment, I'm talking several seconds. And it saves so bloody often!

That was it for me, I wanted to like and enjoy this game, and it pained me probably more because I could see the potential it harboured, but until these issues were fixed, more of my time they were not going to get.

Now, in Homefront the Revolution's defence they released patch after patch far faster than any developer I'd ever seen after the game released. And eventually, several months later we have patch 1.11 and reports of the game being fixed piqued my interest.

So let's start this review again. Let's give this game a second chance.

Second Chance Review:

To my surprise the stalls have all but gone and the framerate is holding steady. Impressive considering the game does not look like it has taken much of a graphical hit to compensate.

So where was I?  Ah yes, 20 mins or so in you get a gun having been introduced to the higher ranks of the Philly Resistance.  But it's no ordinary gun. The resistance have some technical wizard on their side that has made a bunch of weapons that can be modified on the fly.  The first modification sees your M9 convert before your very eyes into a fully automatic SMG; an Uzi type weapon.  This modification system is quite unique to other games and allows you to change up your combat style on the fly.  It's a really smart feature if I'm honest, and works very well in combat allowing you to switch your tactics and approach.

You are also given the ability to create and use molotovs at this point, these being part of what the game calls your GTK, (Guerrilla Toolkit) which houses three additional items that are not unlocked yet:  Hack devices.  Grenades and distraction devices.  Each type having four different delivery methods.  You can quickly access these devices from the same wheel menu as your weapons.  

So with my M9/SMG, molotov and a combat knife, oh, and phone, don't forget the phone, I set off to do the first real mission, which sees me helping one of the main characters, Dana Moore, ambush a 'Nork' (their word not mine) patrol in one of the game’s Red Zones. It's night. It's gritty. The rain is hammering down amid thunderous lightning that flashes overhead, and as the KPA patrol gets closer and closer I'm actually feeling tense.

Boom!

Before you know it explosions are going off, everyone is firing, people are dying then some giant blimp starts to approach and Dana is yelling at everyone to split up and regroup at their designated points. This was shaping up great!

I was amazed to be honest at how good the game looks, I've seen better of course, don't get me wrong, but still....  It also has a rather sophisticated day/night cycle, along with a weather effects system that sees things gradually getting wet and puddles forming before drying up as the sun comes out.  A bit of polish; colour me surprised.

After regrouping I'm tasked with capturing a strike point; the first being a Transceiver.  These are very much like the towers in Farcry, Assassin's Creed and Shadow of Mordor, which, when captured reveal more of the map in said area. Not a unique notion, but it serves its purpose in these types of games.

First though I'm directed to a motorbike that handles rather well surprisingly for a first person shooter once you get the hang of it, which means not turning the camera while driving it since the game allows you to turn your head whilst in motion.  The world even caters for the bike; the resistance having kindly put marked blue ramps everywhere for you to get around. (Insert little chuckle)  However, as fun as driving the bike around is, it completely allows you to whizz passed KPA and their patrols.  You can get shot off but it's rare.  There's no penalty for doing this either, you're free to do it with barely any risk.  It would have been a far better mechanic had there been some risk regarding using it.

Having captured the strike point by hacking into their APEX systems using your phone; this hack requiring you to align both analog sticks just right, the game then cuts to a small cinematic showing the game time speeding up and changing your current time of day.  This is a nice touch, and explains the fact that after the game fades back in, resistance are everywhere and have decorated the place with blue posters and the like; cause the first thing you do when fighting off an enemy is redecorate, right? (Another chuckle) This aside, it does aid and sell the premise that you are claiming back your America one strike point at a time, and you know what?  It does look good.

You then get a communication from Dana congratulating you on taking the Transceiver and to head to some guy called Ned.  From here however you are free to do whatever.  So I explore.  This is open world after all!

The world itself is really well designed.  It reminded me of Dying Light if I'm honest in the sense that you are free to scale and climb pretty much anything within reason.

As you move about though and optional strikepoint missions pop up left right and centre, you have to watch out for random KPA patrols, snipers, drones buzzing about and the dreaded blimps that if you step a toe into their spot light will bring all hell down on you.  And let me tell you, on the hardest setting the game is brutal.  At close range the KPA will kill you almost instantly! (But also probably the game’s best setting if you actually want a challenge) So unless you get the drop on them, using cover and firing from distance is strongly advised.

Problem is your starting guns are close quarters. So avoiding the KPA or getting the drop on them is the way to play this game at the start it seems, but finding that perfect ambush spot and waiting for that right moment to strike can be fun.  This game is not a run and gun that's for sure.  If you try to play it like it is you will die!

However, after capturing a few strike points, each one simple, but unique in regard to what you have to do, you should have attained enough strike points and dollars to buy some better-ranged weapons; these being purchased from weapon lockers, which become available at every strike point you capture.

Sadly the game has no skill tree for your character, what you can do though is buy new gear that improves certain aspects of your abilities.  Body armour; larger magazines for your weapons, etc...  You can also purchase better attachments for your weapons and more conversions for your guns.  All of this viewable from the same weapon lockers I mentioned.  You can also choose your weapon loadout from this menu.

Speaking of which, Homefront the Revolution allows you to carry two weapons, each weapon being convertible into three different gun types even when in combat using the conversion system I talked about earlier, (and yes, I did say: even when in combat). This conversation system in effect allowing you to have six weapons all in all.  (A third slot becoming available if I'm reading the load out menu correctly, and if true, allows nine weapon types in total.)

The weapon handling takes some getting used to though.  Burst firing is your friend.  Try and COD your way through this and all you'll hit is air, so much so that Darth Vader himself will fly down and try and recruit you into his clone army. Eventually you can upgrade your weapons to give better handling and add attachments that make it far better, but until you do, as I said, control your rate of fire soldier!

One thing I will highlight is the melee takedowns in the game are frankly really good; if not a tad confusing considering your main character is not some Navy Seal, unless he is, and if so the story failed to highlight this fact, but anyways.... These takedowns can be performed in and out of combat for a start and animation wise they are really freaking gruesome.  I've counted 6 different animations so far that see you doing things like slitting the KPA throats, to thrusting the knife up through their chin into their head, to knocking them to the ground and stabbing them several times in the chest!  There's even one that sees you plunging your knife into their eye socket!  Problem is, there is no rhyme or reason to them in the sense that you have any control over which ones occur when.

Let me explain, they seem to fall into two types, ones that trigger from behind, and ones that trigger from the front. A fact that is readable. Problem is, the duration of the animations themselves.  Some are really quick.  Others too long, and not being able to know when which will occur, doesn't allow you to plan a quick take down when trying to stealthily take down more than one enemy in swift succession.  I can see what they were trying to do, but as a unpredictable gaming mechanic in a guerrilla type shooter it can be frustrating.  If they had made each takedown last roughly the same amount of time and kept them short and sweet this problem could have been easily averted.

Having done a few strike points, ambushed KPA patrol after patrol, and brutally stabbed to death enough KPA soldiers to put me on the FBI top ten most wanted wall, I decide to carry on with the main story mission and find this Ned character.

Note: I did try a few side missions, which can be picked up from job boards placed inside certain safe houses and strike points, but they are totally last minute bolt on content rushed in with no thought.  Basically they are kill X amount of X type with X weapon, or take photos of X amount of X type.  You get money for completing them, but the world is filled with so much scavenge-able loot that you can sell, it renders the jobs pointless, unless you are after the achievements. Perhaps they get better, but having done all the ones in the first zone, it was clear what then were; time sink filler content with no effort or depth.

Having found this Ned character, he soon tasks you with locating a patrol of his that's gone missing, but before you do that you are given a new unlock for your GTK: Grenades.

It seems that once you unlock a new base GTK item you can then buy the different delivery types from the weapons lockers I mentioned earlier. These all adding to your arsenal that is your Guerrilla Toolkit.  The RC variant probably the most fun, which allows you to attach your grenade to a remote control car, drive it around like you're in a micro machine race, and then detonate it on your oblivious target, who, and may I say impressively will react and try to shoot it if they see it first.  (Where your character gets the plethora of RC cars from I'll never know considering the ingredients to build the different GTK items consist of Chemicals, Igniters, Batteries and Propellant.)

Regardless, off I go to find this patrol.  And find them I do, after which I'm instructed to head to the next zone, dubbed the Yellow Zone, which is where Walker has been spotted; this being the main premise and goal of the story.  Not only are you fighting a guerrilla war with the KPA whilst trying to rile the populace into a rebellion, you are also trying to track down and rescue Walker who is integral to sparking this revolt.

Having entered the Yellow Zone, it quickly becomes apparent that it's different to the Red Zone in a few ways and not just ecstatically. For one, it's populated with very diverse and different Civilians, who walk about being harassed by the KPA, who in turn will only react to you if they see you doing something you shouldn't.  The KPA will also react to you if you get close enough to be spotted; a fact Ned warns you about before sending you on your next mission.

Combat in the Yellow Zone in essence is exactly the same as the Red Zone, but with one difference, if you can get out of sight you can evade the KPA by quickly climbing into dustbins that are located all over the place.  Sadly though the KPA never search said hideaways.  Ever!  So there's no real tension once you get in one. Making matters worse is you quite laughingly are peering out of a rather wide gap that you cannot control.  It would have felt so much better being able to control this aspect and risk being spotted.  Another missed opportunity.

Your first mission in the Yellow Zone is to capture the zone’s transceiver, but unlike the Red Zone, you can choose to do that or other strike points first.  There is also on the spot type activities that crop up as you move about, which range from saving civilians from being harassed to killing special KPA targets.  Participating in them will earn you resistance points towards the zones hearts and minds.  (I'll talk about that later.)

However, the glaringly bad problem in the Yellow zone is that it's perfect for stealth gameplay; the elephant in the room being that the game has nothing in the sense of stealth mechanics, other than being able to peek over cover and hide in bins and perform the same takedowns that you can in the Red Zone, that’s it.  No peeking around corners, no body management, no aerial takedowns, no being able to blend into a crowd, no setting booby traps, no hiding in the shadows...etc...etc.  Nothing! In a nutshell it's basically the same gameplay as the Red Zones, only in one the KPA will shoot on sight regardless.

This was a massive disappointment to me. There is no study the enemy patrols patterns, get in, get out type of aspects to anything, and even if you do manage to capture a strikepoint without being spotted, the game doesn't acknowledge this feat any differently.  No bonus reward of any kind. Another missed opportunity that would have set it apart from other games if the two zones encouraged two different styles of play.

One thing to note though is that combat in the Yellow Zone is far harder than it is in the Red Zones.  KPA seem to come quicker and in more force.  So again, picking your moments is key, just like it is in the Red Zone.

One thing that is different and interesting about the Yellow Zone is that as you capture more and more of it and do things that increase the zones hearts and minds, (this the feature that tracks what you can do to increases the zones hostility towards the KPA, ultimately leading to an uprising) not only does the zone ecstatically change around you, but the civilians start to visually and audibly change as well, not only that, but can been seen doing more acts that see them showing their intolerance to the KPA.

The KPA forces also change, you see more drones than Soldiers for one and their actions towards civilians become more aggressive.  All this really sells the fact you are slowly taking back your America and stirring up unrest.  I liked this.  Clearly a feature that was envisioned early.  If you bring up the map and open the hearts and minds menu you an see not only your progress but what you can do to increase your percentage.  However, the game fails to show you how much each act of defiance will grant you, so its trial and error to learn what gives the most.  Namely strike points.

The A.I. for the most part is okay, nothing special and at times can be seen glitching into things, but not anymore or any less than I've seen in other games.  One thing that did impress me was that civilians will panic and run off when combat starts, and then slowly repopulate the world when it calms down; something that most games don't normally do and always bothers me.  Civilians will also react to you, sometimes very harshly when you bump into them more than once.  They can also be killed in combat crossfire between you and the KPA, but be warned, too many and you'll fail whatever mission you are on.

KPA are likewise okay.  They flank and charge at you and seem to use cover, albeit sometimes moving from cover for no apparent reason.  In regards to the archetypes that I've encountered so far, there’s the standard machine gun sort, ones with shot guns, heavies that carry large heavy machine guns and snipers.  Drones consist of seekers that buzz about and scan for trouble, and wolverines that are little tank-like machines.  I've not seen any more types yet, but given I'm only in the second zone, the game is bound to have more deadlier and different enemy archetypes as you progress.  (One aspect that is fun though is hacking drones and KPA vehicles and watching them firing on their own troops; doesn't last for long but it's a fun distraction.)

Initial Verdict

I'm torn right now.  On one side of the fence I'm enjoying the unforgiving combat side of hit and run tactics in the Red Zone.  Especially at night where the game in said zone feels far more desolate, ominous and stacked against you, more so when you hear that dreaded hum of the blimps getting closer and closer as their giant spotlight scans for trouble and you dart for cover before it turns red and all hell breaks loose!

However, the yellow zone gameplay is lacking in anything stealth right now; so much so it's screaming out for it!  There are so many missed opportunities with features and mechanics that would have made my experience so far that much better.  I'm hoping the further I progress more features of the game will rear their head that right now I'm just not aware of.

Level design wise it's better than a lot of games in its genre; it reminds me of Dying Light in many regards and that is certainly a good thing.

The graphics and weather system matched with the day and night cycle is well done.  The game not lacking in that department at all, though occasionally you can see aspects of the world streaming in.

Side missions are trivial and not worth your time, but the main missions make sense and are advancing the story, which, though may be a tad too farfetched for some, to others with a little open mindedness might see this alternative timeline possible had Korea risen to technical power before anyone else.

The game's takedown system is far more gruesome than I've seen in recent games, and the on the fly gun modification system allows you to modify your approach to any given moment as it unfolds in real time.  You don’t have much in the sense of equipment, but the choices of how you deploy them to burn, explode, distract or hack the enemy does allow for different game play scenarios.

One of Homefront the Revolution's best systems is its uprising mechanic that sees you performing acts to rally the people into rebel that changes the environment around, thus reinforcing the fact that your actions are not for nought.

Right now I'd be lying if I said I'm not having fun, but a part of me is also a little disappointed. Question is: will the rest of the game abate that disappointment and improve on what so far has not been terrible, but then again, not been ground breaking or innovatively good either.

Initial Score after 2hrs of play

Full Playthrough Score after 9hrs of play

Pros

• The design of the varying environments is impressive, and gives you true freedom to move through the world however you like.
• Takedowns are brutal and gruesome
• The game's day/night and dynamic weather system adds to sell the mood and tone of the game.
• The game's on the fly weapon modification system is unique and works well
• The uprising system, which sees the zones A.I. and the environment itself change, helps sell the fact you're making a difference in the world as you complete missions.

Cons

• Gun play can take some getting used to.
• Side missions are nothing but one dimensional time sinks
• The story for some will be a stretch
• Features and mechanics cannot compete with more established open world games.
• Enemy archetypes are limited
• There's a lot of notable bugs; albeit nothing major or gaming breaking.

Overall Verdict:

Homefront the Revolution is not an amazing game, and it will probably be remembered for all the wrong reasons, but it's not a terribly bad game either.  In fact there are far worse games out there clamouring for you money.  It's more of an unpolished diamond, that with some work could have been something special.

It didn't help itself any being released with technical issues that would doom it, only to later fix them, but reveal a game that is such a mixed bag of missed opportunities and features that fall short when compared to other games in the same genre.

Story aside, which was always going to be a hard sell to its target audience, the gameplay and features are just the foundation of what an open world game should consist of.  It's like they looked at other similar games and just did the bare minimum in the hope that it would be enough, which in itself is odd, because you can see the love the developers had for it.  They dragged it through thick and thin to see it released, only to see it be dashed upon the rocks before it even had a chance at a maiden voyage.

Graphically and environment wise it borders on the beautiful at times, and the premise of the two zones would have been totally unique had the gameplay held up to the concept that one zone was hit and run, whilst the other encouraged stealth.

Yet as a stealth game it totally lacks all the key features stealth games consist of or should consist of, and though the hit and run side of things works well, once you max your character out, a fact you can do rather early on, the KPA become little of a threat anymore unless you try and take on more than 10 at once.

And in lies the problem, Homefront the Revolution is at its best when you are the underdog; it isn't meant to be played like a run and gun, yet it morphs into one, a fact made worse because all the enemy archetypes you encounter in the game's first two zones are it, you never encounter ones that are tougher or force you to use different tactics, a fact that shocked me! It's not that the game isn't fun as a run a gun, because it is, but it's not what it promised it would be, nor what I purchased it for.

Content wise it has enough to keep you busy and took almost nine hrs to complete the main story line.  The optional strike points that pop up as you move about are a decent distraction, and the uprising system that sees the Yellow Zone changing the more you rally the people is well done.  However, once you've played through the game's first Red and Yellow Zones, all the others are carbon copies, (look and environment wise they are completely different which is good) but I bought this game to feel like a guerrilla fighter, not a COD super soldier. Someone clearly did not understand what being a guerrilla fighter meant and how to sustain that feeling from start to finish. 

There's fun to be had though, I'd be lying if I said otherwise, but if you play this game on anything other than its hardest setting you are ruining the experience, because in truth there's really not much of an incentive to start another new game after completing it.

Was Homefront the Revolution worth a full triple AAA price tag on release?  No.

Is Homefront the Revolution worth picking up now the price has dropped? Well, if you were a fan of the first one, and enjoy games like Farcry and fancy something like it, but in a more urban setting, just less polished, and don't expect the world you'll probably enjoy it.  It does have its satisfying moments, it's just a shame that those moments are like diamonds in the rough; few and unrefined.

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Homefront the Revolution:  PS4 Gameplay

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