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Preview: Homefront: The Revolution

Homefront: The Revolution captured my interest back at E3 2014. I was hooked on its open world environment and the feeling of Metro 2033 mixed with — ‘cause it’s now 2016 and I can make this comparison – the likes of Just Cause 3 and The Division’s Dark Zone.

With those expectations first and foremost in my mind, I almost cried during my first two minutes of my recent hands-on. After a short introductory sequence that was very similar to the recently-released APEX promotional video, I was treated to my first, real in-game render.

It looked like it was from 2010.

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In it, a Korean newscaster summarises the events that have lead up to where your protagonist starts up. Essentially, The Greater Korean Republic (GKR) has cemented itself as the centre of power in The United States of America, and flexes that authority from the USA’s former hub of liberty, Philadelphia. As puppet leaders try to quell the murmur of an uprising, dozens of GKR soldiers are seen, marching, on-screen.

The trouble was, that newscaster looked ridiculous. Plastic-like and with lip syncing that in no way matched the words coming from her mouth, she somehow managed to look absolutely beautiful when compared to those aforementioned soldiers. Each moved in synchronized, jerky lock step, looking more on-string than the Mayor did. I couldn’t shake the feeling that every asset used in the piece was clearly meant to be displayed in the background and never front and centre, yet there they were. The whole affair made me terrified of what was to come.

Some backstory is required before I continue. If you’re unaware, Homefront: The Revolution was announced by THQ ahead of its bankruptcy. In the publisher’s wake, the title was picked up by Deep Silver; Crytek UK took over development. That team transitioned the affair into an open world one and that’s what I saw at E3 2014. Shortly after that, Crytek UK went under themselves, passing the game onto its third development house, Dambuster Studios.

Talk about a troubled past, eh?

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I’ll admit – I was terrified all of those handovers meant the game I was so hopeful for was essentially dead on arrival. Thankfully, my protagonist’s field-of-view moved from the broadcast, displayed on a TV, to the actual world of Homefront: The Revolution. I literally breathed a sigh of relief; the difference was like night and day. The current-gen title, thankfully, looks current-gen.

Also? David Stenton, Producer at Dambuster Studios, told me he thinks that television sequence will be updated ahead of the game’s release. Thank goodness for that.

That feeling of dread brushed aside, I then learned that many of the game’s creative team have remained at work despite the move from Crytek UK. This means the immersive, open world Philadelphia alongside intertwined stealth and combat mechanics is still in play. It also means things have progressed quite a bit since I last saw the game, with robust crafting and weapon customisation systems always at the ready. Most importantly, it means I still eagerly await its full release.

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As the strong, silent protagonist (he’s basically Homefront’s answer to Halo’s Master Chief), you’re able to conduct operations through three different zones. I didn’t get to see the pristine Green Zone, but instead spent a bunch of time within Yellow and Red. It’s almost like the opposite of a set of traffic lights; green usually means go, but that zone’s the most protected and therefore hardest to access and operate within. Red is basically a free for all where anyone can do as they please.

I had the best time in the Yellow Zone, because I had to constantly had to use stealth. There, the GKR know you’re a revolutionary fighter and they’re gunning to take you in. It was joyous to move silently and with focus, acting like a civilised version of Just Cause 3’s Rico Rodriguez. Where he’d rocket the sh*t out of everything, I moved in the shadows, performing select takedowns on isolated GKR agents, cutting power from propaganda-filled radio broadcasts and performing strikes on key operational facilities.

Those actions form the heart – pun intended – of the game’s Hearts and Mind mechanic. In any given area, you’re tasked to sabotage the GKR’s operations to give power back to the Americans oppressed within it. Liberating an area means you gain resources and a small semblance of freedom. Locales drastically change, as you can see in the screenshots above and below. From there, you rinse and repeat; it’s a simple, rewarding gameplay loop that can result in many different outcomes. I spent most of my preview running away from GKR soldiers after foolishly getting too cocky and trying one takedown too many.

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Weapon stores, alongside customisation, mean you can approach environments in drastically different ways. At first, I snuck around large armoured tanks and their occupants. Near the end, I used my new crossbow to take out a Big Brother-like sentry camera before switching to an LMG to lay waste to a truck’s gas tank, blowing it and everyone around it up on the process. Once things had quieted down, I made sure to go and scavenge resources from smouldering corpses. Said scavenging isn’t just important to craft new explosives and distractions, but to resupply ammunition, perhaps the scarcest resource to a freedom fighter.

My ninety minutes with Homefront: The Revolution left me feeling like I’d barely scratched the surface. I now understand how the Yellow Zone operates, but I’m left curious how Green and Red will really play out. I yearn to stumble upon more resistance caches and hopefully a journal entry which details how those in the area succeeded or failed. Most of all, I’m just psyched to play around in a fun little playground where opportunities abound.

I’ll get that chance from 20 May, when Homefront: The Revolution becomes available for Windows PC, PS4 and Xbox One.


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About the author

Steve Wright

Steve's the owner of this very site and an active games journalist nearing twenty (TWENTY!?!) years. He's a Canadian-Australian gay gaming geek, ice hockey player and fan. Husband to Matt and cat dad to Wally and Quinn.