Following THQ’s bankruptcy in late 2012-early 2013 many of their franchise were bought up by their competitors and one such franchise, Homefront, was picked up by Deep Silver who proceeded to develop and release Homefront: The Revolution.

Homefront: The Revolution is a disappointing game that is bogged down by several technical issues and a story that while it does have moments of magic is an overall flat experience. While it is disappointing, credit has to be given to Deep Silver for trying something different with the game. While the first Homefront game was a straight up shooter, Homefront: The Revolution is a more open world experience with a greater focus on an armed resistance.

Homefront: The Revolution takes place in occupied Philadelphia and revolves around a resistance cell attempting to take back the city from the North Korean forces known as the KPA. The stories initial drive is based around trying to save Benjamin Walker, who is the leader and voice of the resistance, but while they are trying to save him, the leaders, Jack Parrish and Dana Moore look to stir up trouble and get the people to rise up against the KPA. To help people rise up you are tasked with interfering with the KPA’s operations.

The overall story of the game is interesting, with the game bringing up the morality of resistance leaders actions by creating an armed militia and not caring about the civilians who get in the way. This morality is shown with Sam Burnett, a doctor who helps the Resistance, but grows angry with their tactics. Unfortunately, while the story brings up questions of morality, you the player aren’t allowed to think about it, as you have to follow the leaders’ commands without the slightest bit of hesitation.

Now as I said, Homefront: The Revolution has an open world feel to it. This open world experience is generated by the fact that when you enter a new zone you are tasked with convincing those within it to rise up against the North Korean occupiers. To get people to rise up you need to take capture strike points and help civilians in trouble. In theory, it is interesting, but the strike points are more like a chore than anything fun. My main issues with the strike points are, one, they aren’t optional, and two, some strike points are put in some annoyingly difficult places to access it made me want to put down the controller and want to stop playing the game.

Now while the strike points aren’t interesting. The weapon customization is incredibly interesting. The weapon customization is built around getting the most out of the six weapons you have as you are given the ability to change one of your guns into another gun on the fly. For example, if you are taking heavy fire, and you only have an assault rifle, you can use weapon customization to turn the assault rifle into a light machine gun. The idea is simple, yet effective.

Outside of weapons, you do have equipment that includes, incendiary devices, explosives, hacking devices and distractions, and just like the weapons they can be customised to turn into proximity, remote or RC car controlled gadgets.

With all this talk of weapons, how does the gunplay handle? Well, it can be hit and miss. When you encounter heavy frame rate drops etc. (more on that in a minute) shooting becomes frustrating, but besides that and some bullet spongy enemies, the gunplay is decent.

Now before I talk about the game’s numerous issues, I should mention the game has an online co-op mode called Resistance mode. This mode has up to four players either attack or defend one of six objectives. It isn’t anything to write home about, but if you are looking for something to do while you wait for the single-player expansion content, you could do worse.

Now it is time for the issues. The main issue with Homefront: The Revolution is that it runs terribly especially when there are a lot of particle effects on screen. The game also suffers from some horrendous load times as menu transitions can freeze the game for about a second or long enough to thing the game has stopped working, the game also stutters when you complete an objective, and this seems to love happening when you are the middle of a firefight.

Now, let’s talk about the graphics and audio. The CryEngine makes the game look beautiful, but unfortunately, the beauty adds to the issues as textures load at a noticeably slow pace. In regards to sound, the audio occasionally drops for about a second or two before returning.

Conclusion

Homefront: The Revolution is a game with a lot of potential, but numerous technical issues and a mediocre story have produced a mess.

Score: 4/10

For more information on Homefront: The Revolution, visit https://www.homefront-game.com.