Homefront kind of lets itself down because of a few things, but more than makes up for it in the fun department.
Cons: Graphics aren't very pretty but can be forgiven, campaign is too short and game is too easy, even on the hardest difficulty (which is the fourth one)
While Homefront may not exactly be a top contender for GOTY of 2011 in the general public eye, it is certainly one that perhaps a large amount of gamers may add to their lists of "underappreciated games of 2011" or perhaps even more, "my top 5 games of the year".
Let's start with the single player campaign mode.
The campaign is decent and the story is interesting. It is all about a war in the near future against Koreans. All of the levels are great and get even better (and longer towards the last few), in my opinion. While it may not be anything outstanding at all, the campaign in Homefront is fun enough and the story is engaging enough to make you want to play more.
There are many great sections in the campaign. For example, riding in an helicopter using a grenade launcher, sniping from a church tower and targeting vehicles and a group of large amounts of enemies for the Goliath (an armored vehicle) to destroy and kill. My personal favourite of these being the sniper section, as I always loved the laid back and satisfying feeling of being fast and precise with a sniper rifle in my video games.
I have seen reviews stating that your teammates (there are 4 of them) are nothing more than a presence, but I actually kind of connected and cared about them, which is usually impossible for me to do unless the game is Gears of War or some of the characters in the Call of Duty series (Captain Price or Viktor Reznov, anybody?), to name but a few. They all have their own unique characters and I actually remembered their names from the start (which never usually happens to me in video games unless it's a protagonist or an antagonist). If you told me to name your squadmates' names in Rainbow Six for example, I would not be able to tell you. Actually, if you told me to even name ANY of the main characters (including yourself) in Rainbow Six, I wouldn't be able to name any of them... I simply can not remember.
The only things that let the game down a little bit in the campaign department is the fact that it is a little too short (remember Frontlines: Fuel of War?). They are going to be bringing two DLC packs which both add on to the ending of this game and pave the way for a sequel... but to be honest with you, I actually found that a little inacceptable, especially if they are to be released in the next two months or so. But nonetheless, I'm excited for them.
There is also an annoying thing about the campaign mode. If you start a brand new game, you will appear to think that there is no difficulty mode, but there actually is. You have to go in to the options menu. I am just lucky I naturally look in options on every one of my new games before I play, or else I would not have played through the hardest difficulty on my first playthrough (which really isn't that hard). There are a few pretty difficulty sections, but that's it. It feels like Call of Duty on Hardened most of the time, except your health bar (when the screen is showing danger) completely heals you in 2 seconds flat, even from a verge of death. This takes a lot longer and is perfect on the online portion of the game, however.
Another part of the campaign is based around pick-ups. There are 61 newspaper articles to pick up, which, to me, brings back frustrating memories from Gears of War 2. So if you have the achievements for that on Gears of War 2, you know what to expect here.
All in all though, I found the campaign to be very enjoyable (as much as any Call of Duty or Battlefield, to be honest with you). Although it is nowhere near as hard as Call of Duty on Veteran. But I suppose teeth grating, controller throwing difficulties are not always the expected hardest difficulty of a game... I am thankful it is pretty easy in that aspect.
Now, on to the multiplayer.
Where to start... okay.
The day I first got this game (I got it about a week later, so last week) I could not even get in a lobby with Xbox Live players. The multiplayer was completely broken and so I was stuck with the campaign only. I did not want to rush through the campaign but I kind of had no choice and if a game is released with broken multiplayer, I personally find it to be very unacceptable.
But all is well now (as far as my eyes can see), and it is a very fun experience. I am having just as much fun as I have been having with Black Ops or Battlefield: Bad Company 2 online... actually, this game does some things better than Bad Company 2, personally.
My mind is causing me to forget, but there is a gametype similar to that of Battlefield's trademark, Team Deathmatch and Battle Commander modes, which I will mention a little bit later on.
Team Deathmatch is your usual experience. Imagine Bad Company 2 but with less Snipers (as far as my experience has gone with the game). I love the air drones which can mark targets for your teammates to kill, which earns you Battle Points, which I will also talk about later. A required gamemode, and a fine addition, as always.
The Battlefield-type gamemode is my favourite. There are 3 capture points in which you must take over and secure until you win the round. When one round is over, the capture points move to another location of the map and it is the team in which wins 2 rounds first is the victor.
Battle Commander is basically just Team Deathmatch and/or (your choice, when it comes to the Playlists) the Battlefield styled one. But in this gamemode, there is a battle commander (non-human) who marks targets and earns you a lot more Battle Points than usual if you undertake the task with success. You have to look out for them on the radar/mini-map. It will go for the enemies who have the largest killstreaks and/or are of the most threat in the area, such as tanks or helicopters flying overhead.
Now on to Battle Points. Battle Points are earned during a match and they are earned by getting kills, securing the points in the Battlefield-type mode (I wish I remembered the name of it, sorry about that) and any other worthy actions in the battlefield around you. These Battle Points then earn you the ability to use a tanks, helicopters etc. and also apparantly airstrikes, although I have yet to find this one myself (it is one of those games like Call of Duty where there are too many perks, gadgets etc. to completely understand in one go). The Battle Points go back down to 500 for each new game though, but it is a good thing. It basically means you have to do the best performance every game (which your team will love), and this will gain you said abilities, which are so much fun to use, especially the helicopter with the rockets (or other abilities such as UAV drone or flak jacket, which lasts for just one life, until you buy another, but they are cheap). Although, I have had a few unpleasant experiences with saving up for an helicopter, as I have done so only to be shot down mere moments later.
Sometimes it is just as much fun to be the explosive guy, who carries a rocket launcher and basically shoots down every drone, helicopter or just shoots every tank/vehicle in sight. That is, of course, if you are able to do so, as can prove difficult, especially against an helicopter that is raining down rockets on your position, or a tank which is firing on you, and only you (these are the panic moments of the game).
There are so many more gadgets and little things in the multiplayer which also make it a fun experience. The only downside to the multiplayer, is well, there are no destructable environments. At all. They are kind of needed in this type of game, in my opinion.
The only way that I can think people may have been disappointed in this game is the fact that they had too much high hopes along the lines of Black Ops or Bad Company 2. Go in thinking of an average game, and you will perhaps love it. It also must be noted that the graphics aren't anything outstanding at all. Actually, they sometimes look a little rubbish, but thatcan be forgotten. After all is said and done, I am only rating it a 7.5, and that is because sometimes the cons outweigh the pros. Not only that, but as I said before, this game is nothing outstanding by any means, but it is so much fun (especially online) that you can tend to forget that. But when you go online and have the time of your life blasting and bombing away, all of the cons are immediately forgotten.
I'd recommend you buy this game, but rent first if you must try. But be warned, reaching level 5 (after which you would need to purchase a Battle Code which is 800 points but only if the game is used), did not take me very long, personally at all. Perhaps even half an hour or less.
A fun game, which may sadly be forgotten about come this time next year. If one person came up to me and asked me why they should purchase the game in 5 words, I would say "the multiplayer is a blast".