Homefront is a first person shooter published by THQ and developed by Kaos studio. The game is set in the future where the United States has crumbled due to severe oil shortages and a failing economy. In it's place a new superpower known as the Greater Korean Republic has formed. Homefront's story was writen by John Milius who wrote Red Dawn and co-wrote Apocalypse Now.
In the year 2013 Kim Jong-Il's son Kim Jong-un has become the new leader of North Korea and has reunited North and South Korea to form the Greater Korean Republic (GKR). As the United States is forced to recall its military forces from the Middle East and military bases in Asia to deal with domestic Issues the GKR annexes Japan and several Asian countries as well as make an alliance with many Middle Eastern Countries and it grows very powerful and replaces the United States as the world's leading nation. In the year 2025 under the guise of replacing the failing GPS system run by the United States the GKR launches a satellite which unleashing a powerfull EMP attack against the entire US mainland. After the EMP attack the GKR invades the United States it quickly takes over island nations like Hawaii, takes Alaska, and the western and midwestern regions of the United States. Thus begins a cruel and brutal occupation by the GKR.
The story follows former Marine helicopter pilot Robert Jacops in the year 2027 in Montrose, Colorado. As he was being transported to a re education camp by the Korean MP's (Military Police) he is rescued by Connor and Rianna who are both part of an American Resistance group. Robert Jacops then joins the Resistance and follows Connor and Rianna along with a man named Boone and a Korean American named Hopper on their mission to liberate San Fransico from the GKR and innitiate an all out rebellion. The game delivers a strong cinematic experiance with memorable locations and a very powerful atmosphere. In the first level you can already feel the cruelty exhibited by the Korean MP's which gives you a desire to fight back and free the United States from the GKR's grasp. Despite a rather solid campaign, the game is short, only about 5 hours long and the characters are rather forgettable.
The gunplay in the game is reminicent of Kaos Studios' previous game "Frontlines: Fuel of War" and the Battlefield games. It should feel familiar to those who have played FPS games before but game controls are quite stiff. Many of the weapons featured are modern weapons used today such as the Scar, M4, M16, Super SMG (Vector), but also has some new weapons like the Diablos SMG which is a smaller varient of the M4. Although these weapons fire differently as you might experiance in other games as the M16 is single burst and the Scar has 3 round burst fire. Despite similarities to other FPS games the multiplayer is very unique with its system of credit earning and spending.
In the multiplayer of Homefront getting kills and completing objectives rewards the player with credits which may be immediately redeemed for new equipment such as a flak jacket, a UAV radar scan, an RPG launcher, etc.. You can also spend credits to buy vehicles which you will get upon the next spawn. The game is a tactical shooter like Frontlines: Fuel of War and Battlefield and features very large maps with a class based system such as a sniper and an assault class. You game also gives you the option to spawn in the passenger seat of another's vehicle. The game features 3 game modes and each has a varient. There is a Team Deathmatch which is a 12vs12 player mode where one side much reach a set amount of kills to win. My favorite is Ground Control where one team must control the objective points as long as possible to score points and is 16vs16. There is Skirmish was is only 8v8 and cycles between Team Deathmatch and Ground Control on some of the smaller maps. Each has a varient mode called Battle Commander in which obtaining a killstreak rewards you with additional credits but also informs the enemy of your location. As your kill streak goes up you become a high priority target and your killer earns a very large bounty of credits. It is a very unique and interesting gametype. The game features 8 maps although one of those is Xbox 360 exclusive and all save 2 are quite large. The multiplayer although may seem generic at first glace but is very unique although seems to be targeting a very specific audience. It is a tactical shooter, if you are a lone wolf and/or only care for kills you will not enjoy the game.
All in all Homefront is a great game with a fun and refreshing multiplayer but suffers form a short campaign experiance and has a lack of game content in the multiplayer. I highly recommend it if you are a fan of tactical FPS shooters but you should probably stay away from it if you prefer shooters like Call of Duty or Halo which are kill based. It's Team Deathmatch mode is quite weak. In my time with the game I've had a lot of fun and most people care about their Win/Loss ratio and very few care about their Kill/Death ratio as Objectives offer much more credits than kills.
8/10
Subject: Homefront review 
Sun Jun 12, 2011 5:50 pm
