The fact that large corporations prefer not to invest in individual projects, but to immediately create franchises, is neither news nor a secret. But sometimes producers seem to go too far, starting to revive series and brands that no one was particularly interested in the first time. For what?
Original Homefront was a gray and faceless one-day shooter, parasitic on all the then fashionable ideas. The game didn’t offer anything truly original (except perhaps the setting). After the collapse THQ the trademark has passed into new hands, another studio is now working on the sequel, but this does not seem to have changed the essence: the demo presented on Igromir The Revolution – this is sad mediocrity again.
Pseudo-historical information
In 2025, the treacherous Koreans attacked the noble and freedom-loving USA. They attacked quickly and decisively, enslaving half the country and establishing their own rules there. But the shattered States were unable to resist anything and have been waging war on their territory for four years now. And the occupied inhabitants are getting used to living under the yoke of uninvited guests.
The storyline of the original game was discarded as unnecessary: the events were moved to 2029. There is no point in going into more specific nuances of “who recaptured whom during this time”: nothing has changed fundamentally. The player will have to get used to the role of a resistance fighter leading an underground struggle for a just cause.
“Story-oriented cinematic shooter” remained in 2011 – now the developers have taken on an open world with adaptive gameplay. "Far Cry in the city", "Dying Light without parkour” – the authors themselves make such comparisons. Of course, making a theatrical curtsy, they say, these are all just guidelines, but in fact, they have plenty of original and interesting ideas.
True, not too much is known about them yet. The most interesting thing today is the structure of the game world. The city is divided into zones: green, yellow and red. As you might guess, this means the level of security – while the Reds are allowed to shoot to kill, then the Greens are not allowed to shoot in the streets. The yellow zones look the most interesting, because this is a real ghetto with a huge number of armed soldiers harassing civilians.
Guerrilla warfare and other Friday night entertainment
Armed with this information, I went to the stand Homefront on the very first day of Igromir, until the queue presses in the back. I managed to devote about thirty minutes to the passage, and this is more than enough to understand all the basic mechanics.
You were allowed to play the http://casinomagicwin.uk/ demo from E3. This is a fairly faceless mission in the red zone, which boils down to several shootouts in different parts of the city. First of all, with several partner characters you need to attack a futuristic military convoy.
On the ledge where we set up an ambush, the authors carefully placed several barrels of fuel: if you pull the lever, they will fall on the heads of the invaders. You can do something else: plant C4 on the road, set off an explosion behind the convoy and distract attention, or throw Molotov cocktails at everyone from the window.
The firefight can be carried out at any distance convenient for you and at any rhythm. Weapons consist of modules, as in Crysis, — you change the sight, barrel, fire mode, type of shells and their modifications. Turning a machine gun into a grenade launcher is a matter of three seconds.
The only thing you can’t do is go out front and shoot everyone. They kill quickly in the game: the character is equal to the opponents and is often overwhelmed by the number. Therefore, we have to use guerrilla methods – constantly move, throw grenades, set traps and try to control the course of the battle. It sounds good, but the shooting mechanics are very mediocre: this is a slow console shooter, which is still not very comfortable to control with a gamepad.
After the first bunch of enemies were shot, I was asked to go to the next marker on the other side of the map: it was time to capture the “towers”. I got on my motorcycle and started exploring the city – and it turned out to be a little more interesting than I expected.
Firstly, it’s nice that during story missions the world around you doesn’t freeze. Random events occur in it (I came across several shootouts), Asians still patrol the streets, snipers sit on the roofs, drones fly around. Getting into a fight with everyone is painful, so you try to be either fast or inconspicuous. “Partisan” logic really works: if the path is blocked by enemies, then it is better to quietly look for a workaround.
Particularly painful is a ship flying over the city, which illuminates the streets with spotlight rays. If you fall into his zone of attention, opponents will begin to endlessly rain down on your head until you manage to hide. This is where the ability to climb absolutely anywhere comes to the rescue – there are absolutely no restrictions in the city. This works especially funny with a motorcycle: if you find a suitable ladder (and you probably will), you can roll your iron friend onto any roof.
Racing through the streets from pursuit, I got to the “tower” that needed to be captured – that is, to the shield that needed to be hacked. And then to the generator that needs to be started, and to the fuel canister that needs to be brought. In general, a boring and completely uninteresting set of tasks, formed only so that you have to wander around the city more, collecting adventures.
As a result, the main idea of red zones The Revolution is that the player practically cannot withstand direct confrontation, but is forced to constantly get involved in fights. To win you need to be creative and use as many gadgets as you can. Typical sandbox.
Promising does not mean fulfilling
This was fully confirmed by one of the developers with whom I was able to talk: he launched the same demo level and began to have fun with a much greater understanding of the gameplay nuances. Now it was a rainy night outside (there is a change in time of day and weather conditions, but it gives a purely cosmetic effect).
It turned out that there really is a lot of creative freedom. You can throw a smoke grenade directly at a drone, it will get stuck and smoke wherever it flies (the author swore that this was a bug that they decided to make a “feature”). You can attach explosives to a motorcycle, and then send it into an enemy convoy. You can take a radio-controlled car and again send it to blow something up. Although not a single opportunity from the whole variety causes a “wow” effect. Representative Dambuster Studios I tried really hard, but I was never able to surprise with any truly original trick.
But he showed a lot of new things. It turned out that the city is so detailed and open for exploration that hiding places can be found in literally every building. True, judging by the evasive answers, nothing but an extra portion of cartridges will be found there. But if you find a painted icon on the wall and read it with your mobile phone like a QR code, the location will remain marked on the map.
Speaking of mobile phones. This is one of the main items in the world Homefront – a map, a system hacker, a gadget control panel, a camera, and, most importantly, a distinctive sign among revolutionaries. Cell phones are banned in the dystopian future, so anyone who sees you with a device will immediately understand how you spend your free time.
In the red zones this, of course, does not play a role, but in the yellow and green zones it has the most direct effect. Depending on how successfully your revolutionary activities progress, the mood of civilians will also change – they may behave more aggressively towards the occupiers or, conversely, point their finger at you as a troublemaker and a traitor. For everything to go well, you need to do the same as in all games of recent years: complete side quests, tasks of the same type in sectors, and stuff like that. You also need to make sure that your war does not lead to casualties among the population.
Accordingly, if you decide to send an SMS in the middle of a crowded square, then those around you have several options for behavior: run away screaming; take you to a dark alley and hand over some supplies for the sake of a common cause; ask for help or offer it.
The authors promise to follow the principles Half-Life, when the main character is impersonal, and a drama with bright characters and epic events constantly unfolds around him. The revolutionaries will have their own headquarters and a whole team of diverse characters, with each of whom they will need to build relationships. More modest than in Mass Effect, but similar in essence: get skeletons from your partner’s closet and fulfill a few personal requests.
Problem Homefront: The Revolution not a lack of ambition or budget, not some critical mistakes. Her problem is a complete lack of imagination. Like the previous part of the series, the game tries to be fashionable and youthful, but there is still nothing for the eye to grab onto.
I wouldn’t give up or say that things are going really badly. Everything works as the authors intend. The environment and mechanics are made decently and pleasantly, but too gray and unpretentious. But, after all, we’ve already seen twice how obvious "winners" turned out to be great games (Mad Max or Shadow of Mordor), therefore The Revolution you can give a small credit of trust.