Homefront Angry Review
Angry Joe discusses the implausible North Korean Invasion in THQ’s newest military FPS Homefront. If this crazy new dictator, Kim Jong Jo started the third world war would it be any fun to play? Find out!
Homefront
Players: 1 Player
Publisher: THQ
Genres: First-person Shooter
Publisher: THQ
Genres: First-person Shooter
Release Date: March 15, 2011
Developer: Kaos Studios
MSRP: $59.99
Developer: Kaos Studios
MSRP: $59.99
The year is 2027. Her infrastructure shattered and military in disarray, America has fallen to a savage occupation by the nuclear armed Greater Korean Republic. Abandoned by her former allies, the United States is a bleak landscape of walled towns and abandoned suburbs. This is a police state where high school stadiums have become detention centers, and shopping malls shelter armored attack vehicles. Join the Resistance, stand united and fight for freedom against an overwhelming military force In Homefront’s gripping, cinematic single player campaign, and experience epic, ground breaking multiplayer action all set in a terrifyingly plausible near-future world.
Homefront Angry Review
Posted By AngryJoe about 2 years, 1 month ago
Homefront Angry Review,
This man is bound to start World War III!
Angry Joe discusses the implausible North Korean invasion in THQ’s newest military FPS Homefront. If this crazy new dictator, Kim Jong Jo, started the third world war would it be any fun to play? Find out!
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Guru Reviews: Homefront
Koreans in my America? It's more likely than you think!
Sage Reviews: Homefront
The only memorable thing about Homefront is how forgettable it is.
Homefront Review
It's like Red Dawn, only more Korean, and less good.
Homefront Angry Review
Angry Joe discusses the implausible North Korean Invasion in THQ's newest military FPS Homefront. If this crazy new dictator, Kim Jong Jo started the third world war would it be any fun to play? Find out! 
Trailerpalooza!- Batman: Arkham City, Okamiden, Homefront, F.3.A.R., Dungeon Siege III
You’re probably already sold on Batman, but what about some of these other great titles?
GDC: Homefront - Home is Where the Hype is
THQ is giving their latest FPS game Homefront a big marketing push with no shame. Is it all hype? Read our demo (and marketing) impression to find out.
Homefront Sees Multiple Pre-order Bonuses, Massive Partnership with OnLive
Homefront, as a game, has an interesting concept to it. America has been invaded by
Homefront PC Specs Released
The upcoming shooter stakes its territory and lets the PC crowd know if we have the hardware to defend home and hearth.
New Homefront Trailer
A new trailer from THQ’s upcoming FPS Homefront has just dropped, with particular detail being painted on the ins and outs of being occupied by a military state.
Homefront Angry Review
Angry Joe discusses the implausible North Korean Invasion in THQ’s newest military FPS Homefront. If this crazy new dictator, Kim Jong Jo started the third world war would it be any fun to play? Find out!
Trailerpalooza!- Batman: Arkham City, Okamiden, Homefront, F.3.A.R., Dungeon Siege III
You’re probably already sold on Batman, but what about some of these other great titles?
GDC: Homefront - Home is Where the Hype is
THQ is giving their latest FPS game Homefront a big marketing push with no shame. Is it all hype? Read our demo (and marketing) impression to find out.
Homefront Sees Multiple Pre-order Bonuses, Massive Partnership with OnLive
Homefront, as a game, has an interesting concept to it. America has been invaded by
Homefront PC Specs Released
The upcoming shooter stakes its territory and lets the PC crowd know if we have the hardware to defend home and hearth.
New Homefront Trailer
A new trailer from THQ’s upcoming FPS Homefront has just dropped, with particular detail being painted on the ins and outs of being occupied by a military state.
Homefront Review
Posted By Geoff T. about 2 years, 1 month ago
Homefront Review
Homefront Angry Review, 
In the weeks leading up to its release, I was genuinely excited for Homefront. Since experiencing the stellar “nuke scene” in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, I’ve been itching to play a modern war game that doesn’t require I shut my brain off 90% of the time. Homefront was seemingly poised to finally scratch that itch with a heady, politically-charged plot about a United States invaded by a foreign power. As you can imagine, though, once reviews started trickling in… well, to say my enthusiasm began to wane would be an understatement. Still, I held out hope that maybe, just maybe, it would turn out to be an example of idiots just not getting it.
Man, I hate it when I’m wrong.
| PROS | Solid multiplayer design, huge maps, lots of strategic variety, great vehicle segments, beautiful lighting effects and trees. |
| CONS | Terrible narrative, overly linear and scripted, “emotional” moments feel forced, cheap deaths, dated character models and environments. |
| WTF?! | OPEN THE GOD-DAMN DOOR ALREADY! |
Homefront is not so much one game as it is two different games with tangential similarities. On the one hand, you have the multiplayer, which tosses you into massive, 32 player matches set on sprawling, multilayered battlefields. Battles in this mode are fast-paced, frenetic, and give players on both sides a multitude of strategic and tactical options. On the other, you have the single-player, which tosses you into a linear succession of thinly-disguised shooting galleries and hallways. Battles in this mode are slow, tedious, and more concerned with stringing you between the scripted events that the developers worked so hard on than actually letting you play. Aside from some mechanical similarities, the two games could not be more different.
In case you couldn’t tell from that last paragraph, the vast majority of the problems with the game lie in how the single-player campaign is handled. Homefront very clearly wants to be an intelligent, emotionally resonant commentary on the subject of war. Unfortunately, it seems that John Millus, the game’s writer, is not intelligent enough to come up with anything resembling a plausible scenario, nor is he capable of inducing even the slightest bit of emotional response in his audience (aside from maybe violent rage). On top of that, by the game’s end it’s clear that he has little to say of any worth on the subjects at hand.
Gosh, how idyllic. I wonder if anything horrible is going to happen here later.
For the uninitiated, the “disturbingly plausible” (according to the game’s creators) premise of Homefront is thus: the United States, after being crippled by an EMP burst, decades of massive debt and an avian flu epidemic, has been invaded by the Greater Korean Republic. The GKR an alliance of small East-Asian countries that came together after Kim Jong Il’s son, Kim Jong Un, managed to re-unify the Korean peninsula under his rule. Now, to the layman, this might indeed seem plausible, but to anyone with even a cursory knowledge of current politics, it’s complete nonsense. Never mind the fact that the USA would convert all its poor into fuel before even considering cutting its military budget, the idea that South Korea would ever peacefully submit to the North, especially under the rule of Kim Jong Il’s batshit-insane progeny, is utterly ridiculous.
Of course, the outlandishness of the premise could have been offset if the narrative based around it was any good. Unfortunately the writing in the game is almost entirely wretched, and not just in the sense that the dialogue is hammy and stupid (though believe me, it is). Millus does not seem to grasp the fact that, for a tragedy to affect its audience, it is first necessary to make the audience care about the world in which it is taking place. Instead, he lazily throws out a series of inherently “horrible” scenes, which range from seeing parents executed in front of their child to watching rednecks torture prisoners of war, and simply expects the player to care because they would if it happened in real life. It’s as though he looked at Modern Warfare 2‘s infamously tasteless “No Russian” mission and decided to write an entire game like that.
5/10
Guru Reviews: Homefront
Koreans in my America? It's more likely than you think! Sage Reviews: Homefront
The only memorable thing about Homefront is how forgettable it is. Homefront Review
It's like Red Dawn, only more Korean, and less good. Homefront Angry Review
Angry Joe discusses the implausible North Korean Invasion in THQ's newest military FPS Homefront. If this crazy new dictator, Kim Jong Jo started the third world war would it be any fun to play? Find out!-
March 28, 2011 at 03:03pm
I agree with you that the multiplayer is fantastic. Wanna know how fantastic I think it is? I actually have used the precious “magic” hours when I can actually get an internet connection for my PS3 to play it and take a break from Black Ops, something that I would never, ever do considering Black Ops has one of the best multiplayer modes ever created.
My main gripe with this review is that the single player here is regarded as abysmal. I couldn’t disagree more. Yes, the idea of North Korea invading the United States is plainly absurd considering its army is built specifically for combat on the Korean peninsula, a task which it is more than capable of handling; that and the fact that it has over 1,000 artillery pieces trained on Seoul is reason enough to actively pursue a war with them. However, this is a fictional story, a worst case “what if” scenario. This is about as plausible as Modern Warfare 2′s story. Despite that, I find the world within the game to be fascinating and the opening narration sucked me in immediately. Also, I actually wanted to find the hidden newspapers littered throughout the game to find out more about how it got to this point.
As for the emotional points, it worked on me because these things were occuring in mid-western neighborhoods and towns not too disimilar to the kind where I would spend the long, hot summer days with my grandparents and cousins. Seeing tanks and propaganda posters all over the place struck a nerve, as did seeing bodies being dumped into a baseball field and survivalist nutjobs betray their own country men ( growing up in the south I knew kids with survialist families and quite frankly, I wouldn’t put it past them if anything like this were to occur). As I’ve said before, I rarely have ever been in a shootout with a screaming baby next to me or have had to endure the sudden shock of seeing a resistance community wiped out and the leader crucified on a swing set (normally an object that would bring back nostalgia) for a raid I committed last night. Also, the Voice of Freedom is a great addition that really reves you up for a mission (especially the final one in San Fran). Maybe I liked it because I’m a shallow, ADD riddled jingoistic idiot who loves blowing up “Norks” in a power fantasy. Or maybe I liked it because of the fact that I’m the game’s intended demographic: a patriotic American that finds familiar settings in ruin and occupied by a relentless enemy to be disturbing and infuriating.
Maybe I should just put it this way: I’ve played games before ( like Haze and Turning Point: Fall of Liberty) where I played the single player campaign and had to lie to myself to be convinced that it was worth the time and money spent. I feel no such reservation here. I loved the single player, in spite of its short length. If there is DLC that contains more story missions, I will buy it. If there is a sequel, I will buy it. Different people have different tastes. Geoff happened to hate the single player. I happened to love it. Overall I would give this game an 8/10. .
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March 28, 2011 at 01:32pm
Yet another dull looking war based game that has a bad story. I always get turned off by games like this. If the multiplayer is good, why not make the game around it then? Have Colourful arenas (That means having a Palette of more than Black, Grey, Brown and Dark Green people) with a variety of modes that support it. And try not to take your self seriously if you can’t do serious right.
It’s a certain pass for me. Can we get a Online FPS that doesn’t try to take things seriously yet still maintains a well constructed Multiplayer (Along with Local Multiplayer as well.)?
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March 27, 2011 at 01:22pm
Personally, I remain somewhat unsold that a game which advertises itself on its STORY can still get recommendations when the story is proven to be generally weak. I don’t think it fair to give a game a free pass just for good or even great multi-player, especially when all we heard about Homefront for the longest time was the “scary and plausible” story.
I guess it’s a matter of principle, really….I don’t think it’s fair to give a game a “buy it now” recommendation based on something it wasn’t selling. When you go out to the store to buy yourself a garden rake and you come home with something that has a garden rake on the front of the box, but when you open the box, it’s actually a weed whacker. Well it might be the best weed whacker you’ve ever bought, and you might have a blast killing weeds by chopping them into bits, but in the end, it’s not what you went to the store to buy. Some people don’t mind that, but it bugs me when a game I purchase for Reason X does terribly in X but good in Y. Well, I didn’t get it for Y, I got it for X. It’s different than getting a game for X and having it be good at both X and Y, because at least then you’re getting what you were sold, but here….you’re not.
You do note that the “buy it now” recommendation was based on the game’s multi-player (which goes back to my note about wanting a garden rake and instead getting a weed whacker) and also on the THQ pass system (in that you’re restricted in renting). Doesn’t that encourage the player not to touch the title at all? I understand that the restrictions have been put into place to get people to buy the games rather than borrowing (it’s a direct crack against companies like GameStop and, in my mind, the game industry’s attempt to get even MORE of the pie), but….isn’t that kind of a bad thing, if the idea of renting is to get the full experience of the game without making a commitment until you’re sure you want it?
I suppose your points are fair enough, and I appreciate your review for being so very thorough. The game might have great multi-player and sure, it might be worth buying just for that. I just don’t like that it tried to sell itself as a “unique story” when it seems clear that the game’s story was likely built as more of an afterthought, with the multi-player being the focal point of their design.
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March 26, 2011 at 04:40pm
This review confirms the validity of my apprehension.
On a separate note: Does anybody else remember the days where developers didn’t mollycoddle players with grenade indicators *at all* and you had to spot them yourself?
Heaven forbid it require skill and attention to detail to be good at something.
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March 27, 2011 at 02:32am
Trouble with that is that in a first person game you don’t have the benefits of peripheral vision, never mind your senses of touch and directional hearing. Unless you’re looking directly at the enemy throwing it (and chances are you won’t be given that grenades are used primarily to flush you out of cover), or the spot where it lands, you won’t even know the grenade has been thrown until it insta-kills you. In that case, avoiding it requires luck rather than skill.
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March 27, 2011 at 04:55am
Eh, grenades barely do enough damage to kill someone in an FPS these days unless they’re literally under your feet, so it doesn’t matter much anyway. I never had a problem noticing grenades when they were thrown at me in games without indicators – like I said, I think they’re just being soft on people. If you get killed 20 times in a row by a hand grenade, maybe you’ll start paying more attention to that sort of thing when you’re hiding in cover. People that will be successful are the ones that adapt to the things that are dangerous and learn techniques that allow them to succeed. Developers are just putting everything on easy street to allow for greater appeal to people that… well… suck.
I can understand it – you’re probably going to sell more units if more people are enjoying the game (i.e. not getting absolutely murdered in MP), but it still irritates me from time to time. More then that, I really feel like it shows. FPS competition used to be pretty good; I really feel like the quality of players has dropped off in recent years, and I’d attribute some of that to the playing field not being as harsh/challenging. People will rise up and get better instead of just stagnating in easy conditions where you get markers all over the screen & a map that tells you where all the enemies are. You used to have to ID targets yourself for friendly fire; now a shiny triangle shows up above everyone’s head – and you STILL get shot by teammates. It’s embarassing.
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March 26, 2011 at 04:04pm
The review was literally on the nose as to my own user review. I guess my problem is that I am not a fan of multi-player, so I put the try it out recommendation for it. Good stuff, Geoff. Good stuff indeed.
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March 26, 2011 at 04:01pm
Playing the Homefront SP gave me flashbacks of CODBLOPS SP, without the good parts mind you. Haven’t given the MP a go, but I know I’m gonna love it because Kaos Studios only know how to make good multiplayer games and this review only reaffirmed that. How can a game be so bad and so good at the same time?
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March 26, 2011 at 03:36pm
I’d like to rebut “no game is worth full price for multi player” then what about TF2? Just sayin. My brother put multi player in homefront like this. BC2 is the filet mingion og fps, Homefront is a 6 oz steak, and MW2 is a hamburger. I enjoy the 6 oz steak but I prefer the filet everytime
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March 26, 2011 at 02:44pm
How can you give a game 5/10, say the single player is terrible and recommend I spend £40 just for the Multiplayer? Are you Mad?
I uninstalled this game after 10 minutes of the single player, and NO FPS game is worth full price for mutliplayer only
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March 26, 2011 at 02:33pm
It’s amazing to me that you can give a game a 5/10 with the recommendation of buy it now.
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March 26, 2011 at 07:52pm
It’s amazing to you that a game considered to be average could be liked by someone?
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March 27, 2011 at 01:25am
No, the score should reflect the decision. If Dragon Age gets a 9.0 and a “try it out” rating, and this gets a 5.0 and a “buy it now rating” it seems a little bit backwards. I understand that he liked it, I also understand that he docked the score immensely because of the single player campaign. The score should be representative of his recommendation of the game.
If he really felt like the game was just a 5.0 and the only redeeming quality was online, that would be a “try it”, for example. Not everyone plays games for the online experience, and there are people who use some review sites just to view the score (I’m not one of those).
I’m not saying all this to be a dick, and I’m not trying to troll. My last comment made me come off as an ass, and I don’t mean it that way.
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March 27, 2011 at 02:13am
The reason we have both scores and recommendations is for precisely situations such as this. Homefront is an AMAZING multiplayer experience that happens to come packaged with an abysmal single player campaign. While the package as a whole rates a meager five, I’d recommend the multiplayer to pretty much anyone, even those like myself who tend to play single-player exclusively.
The reasons for giving it a “buy it now” as opposed to a “try it out” are twofold. Firstly, the game uses THQ’s online-pass system, which means that you can only get to rank 5 on a rental copy. Secondly, with most multiplayer titles, you get the most value from your purchase immediately after launch, so it makes the most sense to buy the game now.
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March 28, 2011 at 03:35am
“The score should be representative of his recommendation of the game.”
It is. It’s an average game overall, which he thinks you should buy. As Austin points out, DA2 appears to be considered an above average-great game in general, but if you’re a fan of the original you’re probably going to get really pissed at it.It’s not rocket science.
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March 27, 2011 at 01:37pm
A 5 is average on the BT scale. Average isn’t bad. I’ve had lots of fun with average games, and would recommend them to people easily. Dragon Age II might be a better game, but it might not be as easily recommendable because it alienates fans of the first.
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Homefront Angry Review
Angry Joe discusses the implausible North Korean Invasion in THQ’s newest military FPS Homefront. If this crazy new dictator, Kim Jong Jo started the third world war would it be any fun to play? Find out!
GDC: Homefront - Home is Where the Hype is
THQ is giving their latest FPS game Homefront a big marketing push with no shame. Is it all hype? Read our demo (and marketing) impression to find out.
Kim Jong Jo? More like Yasser Arafat Jo!
This game was horrible, i barely made it to the end of the first level I was so pissed off, the graphics were blurry, its felt too much like a call of duty game, and i’m not a big fan of those. I would say this is a barely polished turd of a game
sorry about the spelling
1st of joe what you said about the US force’s in south korea they say in the time line that the US pulled out of asia plus there was a small war betewn the 2 korea’s but kim jong un stop’t it and unified both he also won the nobel peace prize and the korean’s could invade the US since the US economy is crashing down from the loss of oil there is also korea annexing several countrie’s gaining force also annexing japan gaining high tech technologie also with the continental EMP cripalin the electronic’s grid with lots of military stuff not protected from EMP due to bean expensive
so i think the korean’s can invade the US in this time line
hmm. homefront. it does look interesting in some aspects but it dont think its the kind of shooter im looking for. crysis 2 is here and brink is right around the corner. might just save up for them instead.
Erm woah, from what I saw of the multiplayer footage it takes some of the greatest aspects of the online from Frontlines, I loved using those little robots in the matchs and they made it more dynamic at least.
Also, I’m not sure about this whole ‘completed in four hours’ thing that you seem to be doing often – the day me and my brother got Halo: Reach we completed it in around 3 hours almost four just because we were hyped as hell.
It really can depend (the length of a game) on things like if you’re paying closer attention to things however I can see where that might not matter if… lets say, there isn’t anything to pay closer attention to.
I may consider getting this later on, like you said, when the price is lower.
I used to live in South Korea. I even visited the area near the DMZ. Military service is compulsory there. They have a relatively strong military. South Korea is locked up tight, and if the North ever tried anything, America and its allies would intervene much in the way that they did during the recent turmoil there. North quickly taking over the South is preposterous.
Was not a fan of this game at all.
First game I went and returned since…I can’t even remember the last game I returned before this.
Like Joe said the SP is very lacking while I don’t mind short experiences, I want them to at least be worthwhile. Which did not happen with this. I agree completely that by the end you really don’t care at all of what’s going on. The MP I didn’t like very much since it’s to much like COD, which were starting to see all to often in FPS’ now.
While Medal of Honor was lacking in the MP front, I found the SP far better than this.
However I am still interested in a Homefront 2, it just needs a lot of work. Not to mention I won’t be buying it Day 1 when the inevitable 2 hits. Going to wait and see just how much work they put into it.
It seems to me that single player is becoming more and more an after thought.
Very good review. Personally I’d like to say that I found your review interesting, especially in light of how much you’ve researched the situation in North Korea. I think I may have to watch a few of those documentaries.
Now, I haven’t researched the situation in North Korea as much as you have, but I will say I found the game’s premise merely highly unlikely rather than implausible. Highly unlikely that it creates a situation that would have to happen exactly as planned for things to work out, and the time-table for the events to occur is a little tight for things to fall out so easily.
I think what people forget when they dismiss the premise is they imagine North Korea, as it is currently, invading the US, as it is currently. However the game’s premise outlines a situation where the USD has fallen flat, the USD stops being the world’ s reserve currency, and North Korea quickly grows in strength during this period. The US that North Korea invades in the game, with the help of a satellite to knock out US communications and infrastructure, is already on the verge collapse.
Again though, I say highly unlikely, because it is. Everything right down to the satellite attack would have to work absolutely flawlessly with absolutely no setbacks for such a scenario to occur. It is however not entirely implausible because events just as unlikely have occurred before (Japan’s empire comes to mind) but even if the events happen perfectly in North Korea’s favor, I still think the amount of time they’ve written in for the events to occur is woefully to short. Japan’s dramatic rise to power still took much longer than North Korea’s in this game.
But even in that scenario, North Korea actually choosing to invade the US seems pretty silly. In addition to being impractical, I just don’t see the logic in it. I also doubt South Korea would fall to the North so easily even without US aid. I don’t think the game even explains how Jong-sun does it.
Great review as usual. Anywho I have to say that online passcode BS is excatly why I buy almost all my non-nintendo games via my PC and Steam. I’ll always have access to those games and all the DLC even when I upgrade to a new computer or visit a friends house that doesn’t mind me downloading a game for a few hours :3
Joe, you ever think about giving games two scores for reviews? One review for the single player and one score for the multiplayer. That way, people that are only interested in campaigns or playing alone can know what to expect, and people that like to play online deathmatches or co-op campaigns can know what to expect. It would probably look better for games like Homefront that would have like a 3/10 single player experience and like a 9/10 multiplayer experience instead of just combining it and calling it a “mixed bag”. Would definitely help BT stand out from other game review sites as well.
It’s pronounced “E-Rahn”, and “new-clear” not “uh-rahn” and “new-kyu-lur”.
Joe, this was one of the funniest, sincerest, well informed reviews I’ve seen in what feels like forever and I thank you for it, it was great.
I feel like I should ask where you got such high quality footage of that ceremony/parade at the beginning of the video. I wanted to assume it came from a movie within the game but I knew it’d eat at me if I didn’t ask, the quality was almost TOO good.
It’s also cool to know more about your interests outside of gaming, I wouldn’t have pegged you for someone who would be interested in things like the ins and outs of North Korea. Your a man of many mysteries, Sir.
Thank you for the review, Joe.
I have been watching your show for a while now and it seems our tastes are similar.
I will avoid this one.
I really HATE people bitching about the scenario. Do you prefer Russians? Chinese? AGAIN???
Here we have North Korea. A small nation now but this game takes place 20 YEARS IN THE FUTURE. In this timeline North Korea becomes the most feared enemy in the US, live with it. it’s not realistic today, I can understand this. but it’s FICTION. fiction is rarely realistic.
Your patriotism and nationalism about how “uninvadeable” the US is SUCKS. the US is a country with many problems since many years, but some people seem to forget that. look at your economy, look at your debts, look at your election system. You have 2 parties fighting each other to death making reigning the country impossible for both.
But to be honest Joe, your review is far better than Sage’s. He whines about the scenario half the time.
True. Except when you base it off real-life you still gotta consider the things that happen within that reality. This isn’t just some fictional earth in which super heroes and super villains exist or zombies are rising from the grave, no this was more along the lines of “Enemy nation invades, do something about it.” In which case you still have to be able to apply enough logic and thought for it to make sense, otherwise it comes off as ludicrious. If there were other factors within this fictional story, whether it be from a past made up just for this story, then perhaps this whole thing would be plausible. Instead it just jumps into the future, with everything based off the now.
I don’t deny the problems everyone has, but don’t forget that other countries exist besides the U.S. so even if we can’t do anything about this fictional problem, someone else would likely do something too.
i was very much looking towards this game i still want it but the price drives me away if there is a homefront 2 i’d buy it if the polish it.
Kim Jong Jo was funny as hell. I might pick this game up once it drops in price. And it probably will sooner than later. Great review Joe. Love from Denmark <3
Yep. I’d have gone lower on the rating scale.
First as a political sciences student, because the scenario is completely LUDICROUS! You said it well, even if there are even more points of complete impossibility. At least with CoD, they had the “decency” to not pretend and didn’t put any scenario in their game…
Seriously, FPSes must stop to take us for complete idiots and have a credible and interesting storyline…Apart from the first Bad Company, I can hardly think of any with a good one in recent years…
Second, it’s juste so uninteresting…Go gown the hallway, shoot three evil koreans, progress…Before you even notice the game is over. It’s just boring…
The multiplayer does not save the game in my opinion.
I read that they’re actually gonna release two DLCs for Homefront.
One will take place directly after the game’s ending and will put you in the shoes of Robert Jacobs and the second one will have you play as an as of yet unknown SAS soldier who with his squad is on a mission to free Hawaii from the Korean army’s grip.
This might actually breath some life into the short and rather shallow single player mode.
And here’s another surprise.
The game sold a total of 375,000 copies in North America alone on its release day, this was apparently thanks to some game stores lowered the price on the game to capitalize on the release.
Infact according to THQ, about 2.4 million copies of the game have been sold worldwide.
Hopefully this means we’ll get a sequel that improves all the flaws that the previous game had and have more well developed characters.
Infact, I’d like to see the sequel take place up here in Scandinavia.
I mean we have so many american heroes in video games these days, so I think its about time we get something different like a swedish main character for example.
Why should a customer, after having paid $60 for the main game, have to pay an extra $15-$30 just to get the rest of the unfinished single player campaign?
DLC of this type is the WORST kind of DLC. It’s Corporate again, milking gamers for every cent they’ve got.
Also, Corporate has a name. It’s “Bobby Kotick”. The guys at THQ are just following his lead.
Sadly enough, I bought homefront on pre-order. One plus side on this is that I got Metro 2033 with the pre-order.
To be honest, the game is a tutorial. If THQ was smart, they’ll say with homefront 2 “buy homefront 1 is you want a tutorial”. At the end I was screaming at my monitor. I couldn’t believe it was already done. When the end came I felt empty and really disappointed.
I have yet to play the multiplayer, because the pc that I currently have doesn’t run it. Yeah, that’s the weird part to me. The singleplayer ran almost flawless. I had to turn the graphics a bit down, but that’s not really an issue. In mutliplayer, even on the lowest graphic possible, it didn’t ran. I’ve tried everything, even playing in a room by myself and it didn’t run. So.. I don’t know anything about the multiplayer.
Final verdict, 50 euro’s wasted… At the same time I bought Mafia 2, a completely different game for 10 euro’s, run like a charm and looks amazing! If you’re really into shooters, you may enjoy it, but you better play 4 hours of call of duty and you will have more fun doing so..
You’re in my way sir
Personally, I’m still holding out for Duke in May. 4 weeks people!
May? Duke’s been postponed till June man.
san someone pacify that infant GOD DAMNIT!
Can*
Homefront reeks of Corporate Commander’s Influence, the ridiculous setting, massive marketing and sequel bait ending. Then putting all the effort into multiplayer because that is the safe bet to keep the game somewhat relevant until they make the sequel. Also they can just keep it in the sequel adding nothing except new gear, maps and maybe a new game-mode.
John Milius probably started to write it, then the editors came and exchanged China with North Korea (can’t loose chinese market), cut the story after the first act (sequels) and probably took out everything in between except for one or two scenes so they can spend the time and manpower on multiplayer. After that John stopped giving a shit and who can blame him. Huzzah for wild speculation.
My guess is that the sequel will be out within a year looking pretty much the same with nearly identical multiplayer but a full length singleplayer with slightly more effort put into. And it will probably still be bad because nobody can remember the singleplayer of the first game by then.
About the multiplayer thing: You can probably call it the CoD Effect. Since Online Multiplayer is the real time sink for most players on FPS games, of course they are going to spend a good amount of time on the online part. However, letting the single player mode suffer really is an insult. Although, I have to admit I am guilty of it.
I bought several Rainbow Six games to play the multiplayer modes, and didn’t give too much care about the single player mode. But, I did play out the entire single player mode for CoD 4 on the Wii.
Four hours? Damn that’s long for this game. It took me 92 minutes. Just one sit in. I was pissed off.
Anyone know where I can get that music they were dancing to and the song at the end?
To be fair while the campaign is short, it does look like a lot of fun and maybe with some polish we can see a sequel. I really think THQ has something here and they just need to grab hold of it and just make sure the sequel has a 8 to 12 hour campaign. With that then we might see what this company has to offer in the fps market. But do not change multiplayer, with the exception for the “Battle Code.” As I said the premise sounds really interesting, even if it’s more than a little far fetched, but with the graphics looking out of date, a really short campaign, and forgettable characters I’m scared to think that this will die before it gets a chance to shine. Kaos and THQ if a sequel is on the way, please for the love of all gamers make the campaign longer, have more emotional moments in the story, characters that memorable, and get rid of the “Battle Code.” Over all this game is disappointing, but has the potential to be great and finally remove call of duty from the top of the fps market. But if all else fails there’s still Battlefield 3 and maybe that will remove it.
FOUR HOURS!!?
Yet another game with only four hours of single player storyline? I was honestly expecting a 4/10, but I guess that the multiplayer must be damn-near perfect to outweigh the single player problems.
I don’t own a 360, but I’m a big enough gamer to try and keep tabs on everything on the market. This is the first time I’ve heard about this online release code thing. It personally makes me sick to my stomach, as I know I’ve enjoyed games which have been hand-me-downs or that I’ve bought second-hand. I don’t see why gamers should be punished for buying a game which may be “previously enjoyed”.
As a graduate student studying International Relations (and specifically East Asian security), I appreciated the interest you seemed to take in North Korea. You brought up all the right players and your analysis was good. Whoever thought of putting the DPRK in as the aggressor just…didn’t get it. I had actually heard somewhere (correct me if I’m wrong) that the aggressor was originally meant to be China. While still not being realistic, that would have been nowhere near as far-fetched.
And to Iskra:
What happened after WWII is unfortunate for Korea, but the circumstances called for little else. They had been occupied for years by a colonial Japanese government and, as a consequence of Japan’s unconditional surrender, the fate of Korea fell into the hands of all the Allied powers. With the US and the Soviets the big dogs, what did you think was going to happen? So the Soviets forced socialism and Kim il-Sung on the North Koreans, whether they wanted it or not–something even your Bruce Cumings points out–and the U.S. tried to prop up the South.
And speaking of Cumings, I’ve read him as well and he is well-known throughout academia. But I cannot say that he is the be-all-end-all of opinion on North Korea and East Asian politics. While he’s made a few good points, he is considered a mixed bag and is often outright rejected by other academics. Personally, I’m not a fan. Basing your knowledge on his opinions alone is laughable.
In your haste to absolve the Kim Dynasty of their culpability by pinning the blame squarely on the shoulders of the U.S., you forget some basic facts of history. Even before the Korean War, Kim il-Sung was already causing chaos: he purged thousands, and encouraged the slaughter of tens of thousands of rightists as he fought for total control. As for the Korean War, you forget that it was the North Koreans that invaded, and that South Korea went through the same trials the North Koreans did. They were just as devastated. Their infrastructure obliterated. And where are they now? You can’t even compare the two. Trying to excuse the last 60 years of Kim rule with your logic is a dangerous game of moral relativism. At what point can they be held accountable?
And the National Lawyer’s Guild report? The one that said that the DPRK’s “lack of a death penalty was seen by the delegation as a sign of a civilized nation.”…THAT National Lawyer’s Guild report? If you’re using Bruce Cumings and the Guild report as your bibles on North Korea, then I suggest you start looking elsewhere.
To start with, being invaded by anyone would have been interesting for a game if the writing and execution was good. Of course I can’t expect 100% realism but seeing this on Youtube, there was a bit of effort into making it seem like this could happen. I guess it wasn’t enough to really convince you, but then again the idea is to set up a game and give you a reason to play it.
Now I don’t mind them putting in things like story, emotion or what not, cause in a game like this it could have added to everything going on. Like the beginning to me felt like something that can happen in a war. But as far as your main characters are concerned, it’s not like you can really like them. Given the length in the game, there isn’t enough time to like everyone. You’d think they could extend the gameplay enough to where you could get to know everyone though, especially given how one tragedy occurs just after going on one mission and…well you know, it’s heart-breaking but not enough to make me care for everyone involved.
The Goliath and helicopter stuff looks fun though. If I were playing multiplayer I’d be using that thing the chance I get *assuming you could*. Seeing it in use it’s like, “That thing’s invincible!” …and at the same time I wonder why the Koreans in the game never use it until later.
For the points you’ve made, I can see why it comes off as a disappointment. I feel as if they’re reducing the main game just to cater to online modes. That shouldn’t be the case, since someday that game will suffer from barren multiplayer modes *unless you play with a friend, not through online modes* and you’re stuck with a game that can be finished within a day. Isn’t it better to have long story or campaign modes in addition to the awesome multiplayers? Why can’t they do that? They’d make a lot more money since people would…oh wait, they know how to do that, through online passes. I mean seriously? You gotta pay for those too?
But yeah, I enjoyed what you did Joe, it was a well-done review.
I can’t help but agree with pretty much everything. This was the number 1 game on my 2011 list, and I had huge hopes for it story-wise. In the end, it was an utter disappointment. Though I never had the AI’s getting in my way problem or having to type in a battle code, but maybe that’s because I play it on PC. This game was a waste of money, and though the multiplayer is fun, it’s not worth the money.
I’m sincerely hopeful that for the sequel they’ll learn from their mistakes with this.
And I disagree with reviewing Crysis, although the graphics are shiny, it was an even bigger letdown than Homefront.
you should have reviewed Crysis 2 Joe, a shooter that gets everything right and a much better use of your time then this generic garbage
I agree with what you said on Homefront, I hated the single player campaign and how much it tried to force emotion out of you. They took the “show don’t tell” thing a little bit too far, just to get your American testosterone going into overdrive in order to make want the Koreans dead… it’s practically a brainwashing game to make you into a Korean hater, which in my opinion is stupid, just because the Koreans hate us, doesn’t mean I have to hate them.
Also… COME ON GUYS! All this marketing and we get only 4 hours?! Jeez, how bout you follow Crytek’s example and go for 10 to 12 hours?!
Speaking of which, are you gonna review Crysis 2 Joe?
I saw in an article that home front plans on making a sequel with a better campaign and they are putting there ears to the audience. It’s as good a chance as any to see if they will deliver a game worth making a franchise over.
I was expecting something like this to come out of it. Ah well BC 2 is gonna keep me entertained until BF3 hits the shelves.
The dance in the end reminded me of the end credit sequence in Tropic Thunder.
It seems like you share the general opinion on this game Joe. The single player is lackluster while the multiplayer is quite good. Personally, I don’t buy many FPS games unless they really stand out and, as such, I don’t think I’ll be picking this one up.
Nonetheless, that was quite an entertaining review Joe. It’s a shame we had to see the return of “4 HOURS!?” but at least it was funny to see you say it. Good work.
So wait. . .You don’t care for the lack of realism in the set-up, but wish the game had more “Red Dawn awesomeness”? Uhhhhh. . .
And the online code isn’t for server costs. It’s to partially recoup the perceived loss of income from sales of used copies of the game. I had decided to watch this review because I though it would be entertaining somehow, but instead I see you’re still going for this self-entitled, machine-raging, “people’s gamer” angle.
I guess that makes me the fool for thinking you’d somehow become a little more grounded.
Whhhaaatttt?
How is expressing my displeasure with Online Pay Passes “Self-Entitlement”. Do you not think there are others out there that don’t like this practice? Oh give me a break with this “people’s gamer crap”, its a freaking show with a premise of Angry Joe vs. Corporate Commander don’t take it so seriously. I only assume to give my own opinion and speak for those that have similar opinions to me. I dont have to preface every single thing I say with “This is just my own personal opinion” that would be unreasonable. Its a show.
“Perceived loss of revenue” why is it the gamers responsibility to pay twice for something because gamestop and other companies choose to resell their games. how it is the gamers fault, how is it your fault? Answer please.
I dont understand why people are so butt hurt over this “Joe thinks hes a champion” thing. Its a freaking show, in my show im a superhero, I went with this because I thought it was fun. Calm the hell down. Why do i need to explain this?
Joe, it seems some people don’t get the premise of a role character. It is a show after all. For the people that keep complaining about it, I think they just are too anal to have a sense of humor while watching a review. Tough luck for them. More entertainment for me.
Just keep doing your thing. Most people appreciate it.
Look Joe, don’t waste your time to try explaining to these type of people who having a hard time to know what a “character of the show” says and does. Always remember this Joe, there are people who understands the premise of a material like yours, and there are others who don’t. It’s not worth for you to deal with this kind of problem. Seriously, they are, when you come down to it, wants to make an event for other commentors to read comments from the people who are convincingly dumb and retarted.
Just goes to show you they got no sense of humour. Too bad for them. Just do what you do best Joe.
You don’t need to explain it Joe, but I think its great of you that you did, even if it was frustrating for you to do in this context.
I think the butt hurt people get comes from not knowing what they’re getting, and that people don’t know if your playing a character or your really this character you portray (you know, aside from the lightning spewing Joe, or the Roman Joe, ect).. This could be for any number of reasons but mostly because its possible that they haven’t been following you long enough to realize it and calm down from the heartbreak that your not the maniac they obviously think/hoped you are. On a site (sites, if you include TGWG) filled with people who (mostly) seem to be themselves talking about random things some people take the prospect of a guy calling himself “Angry” could be anything other then that face value. And it’s their loss really.
As someone who didn’t get it himself for a while I have to say that once I started to see it myself and come at it with you at that angle, I now enjoy your reviews even more then when I didn’t, and even when I disagree with them. If this doesn’t get those who still don’t understand what your doing to come around then I say screw’em, they either will one day or they won’t and will hopefully go away, so ignore them.
Either way, I personally respect what your doing here and I’m behind you.
Did you just imply that squashing the used sales market is in some way the players advantage or interest?
I kinda expected more from the writer of Apocalypse Now (unless there were some serious edits and deleted content, then the developer is to blame). I’ll give this one a pass, spend my money elsewhere.
But one thing I will say Joe, is that there is a reason for these online pass codes that publishers like EA are bringing out. The reason is that the profit for used copies all go to the store, ZERO percent goes to the publisher or developer. Take for example a game that cost 30-40 million dollars. The game will need to sell more than 1.1 million copies (estimate) to get a profit.
Now I’m not saying that it’s a good thing, but I can understand where they’re coming from when they do this sort of thing. They have to make a profit so they can make more games that have higher production values. And trust me, there are far worse ways they can rip us off. *cough* Iron Man 2 *cough*
The used copy thing is not entirely true. Used copies of a game are still copies that were sold at some point. Why in the name of god should a publisher earn two times for one copy?
But here’s something to consider:
If I buy a game that’s good, I tend to keep it. I will play it again eventually (and in the case of a great game, I will play it over and over). I’ll only sell one of my games back if it’s not that great to start with, or if I’m totally strapped for cash.
So here’s my thought: a game company should strive to make games that are so good, people won’t want to sell them.
So, yes, a game company will lose revenue off used games (and, as we all know, the gaming stores will rake it in big time with their huge markups). But it sort of serves them right for not making the game great enough to keep the gamer’s interest for longer than one play-through.
And Phoenix has a point, too: why should a publisher make twice as much profit off one unit?
But then again, as Two Guys on a Couch pointed out, why not just buy the game new? If you know you’re going to have to pay more for online play, why settle for a used one? You already know that a huge chunk of that goes straight into the game store’s register, anyway. Point is, the choice is yours: pay for the use of the product or don’t.
Sorry, it doesn’t matter how good the game is 1-2 weeks after launch I will be able to find a used copy at a Gamestop/amazon. Seriously name a game that is so good that I would not be able to find it.
Second this is one of those fence lines were people are going to attack that the companies make a profit on resales or defends it. However, this is for the most times attached to the multiplayer aspect of the game with a few exceptions such as Starcraft 2. I think the publishers came to two choices on this idea.
1. charge people for an extra key after the game is traded in or exchanged for the multiplayer access
2. After the person uses the key that is it for that unit, and you cannot get an extra key making it where when you buy it used all you get is the original single player experience.
For me it really does not matter since I buy new to support the devs, However, I do play demos, and research before making a leap into a game.
I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again. Very few (if any) writers for video games have any sense of politics and there are just a precious few that have a good sense of strategy.
On another note, for all these games supposedly about ‘resistance’ forces I keep seeing conventional military. Why isn’t there one where you rig IEDs or launch attacks to get the public to turn against the ruling government? Seriously, we have popular board games where you can play as the Nazis, nationalist Japanese and Soviets but not as insurgents?
I borrowed a copy of Homefront from my best friend and i got caught by that stupid pass code system. Yeah, i only borrowed it after he beat it so i could play multiplayer and my first thought was ‘meh’. There were a lot of things that the multiplayer got right, but there was still a lot to be desired from the multiplayer mode, especially since there’s a stupid level cap. Hopefully they realize that the whole pass code system is broken and scrap it, but i’m sure they’ll keep it going to make money.
I like how this game really, REALLY hates doors, every damn level there’s a scene where there is a person kicking in a door, every now and then he/she opens it normally, but most of the time it’s KICK THE BASTARD, weird how that is the most memorable part of the game, for me anyway!
I do think there is a problem with recommending multiplayer when the game drops in price. As multiplayer on these types of games (FPS/TPS) are usually only used for a couple of months, before the next game like this comes along, and takes its place, and everybody and their dogs starts playing that instead. Let’s just say it takes 4 months for the price to drop to half price. How many do you think will play it then? Not a whole lot. Because it is not a classic, and therefore doesn’t hold the interest. So I say either you buy the game instantly and play the online, or you wait and play the offline. Because I reckon finding people still playing this in 4 months is going to be a bitch.
I guess you are getting better at editing, but all the cuts you make are just so jarring that the only way I can “watch” your videos is to have them playing in a separate tab as I read the news and check forums at such -_-
You’ve gotten better, but it seems like you could say so much more during a cut, or even just use more game footage so you have to worry about that kind of thing less.
Homefront has zero chances against Call of Duty and Medal of Honor. Those have more than just good multiplayer.
HIS HEAD IS LEAKING!!! NO TIME TO CRY, ONLY TIME TO DIE!!! WELCOME TO THE LAND OF FREEDOM, BITCHES!!!
Rated R for retarded.
Lol @ the oppressive battle code comment. That’s the quality calling out I respect you for, Joe.
What does the online code have to do with the quality of the game? While the total number of people on the server never exceed the number of retail copies of the game, how are servers supposed to be maintained for a long period of time when the number people on the server greatly outnumbers the number of new game sales because of the existence of used game sales?
Really, how does anyone expect a company to make money and maintain a persistent service if they neither employ methods to obtain persistent income nor attempt recoup potentially lost new sales from used sales?
What’s it going to take for game enthusiasts to stop seemingly expecting so much for so little? Do we need another industry crash? Will that wake people up?
“What does the online code have to do with the quality of the game? ”
If the online code costs $10 to activate it devalues your purchase by $10, meaning you just paid extra for the exact same quality. That’s pretty elementary, miss.
“how are servers supposed to be maintained for a long period of time”
I’ve never asked for servers hosted by the publishers. Not sure why you even brought that up. Since you did, my position is that dedicated servers are superior in every case (both player and publisher side). This of course does not apply to Xbox games, since in that case everything has to go through MS.
“when the number people on the server greatly outnumbers the number of new game sales because of the existence of used game sales?”
What the hell kind of screwed up maths is that? How can someone B, who has bought a used copy off of someone A, add to a total greater than the number of new purchases, given that someone A can no longer play it online?
“Do we need another industry crash? ”
An industry crash would be one of the best things that could happen for gamers at this point.
The short campaign and fanatic multi player is the way console gaming seems to be going. Nothing revolutionary there but developers see the success of the CoD franchise due in large part to its multi player not its campaign so they continue to focus on mulit player and stories suffer. Which is frustrating for people like me because while I enjoy online I would much rather have a very long and fantastic campaign when I am spending 59.99 or whatever the cost is.
good review n.n i guess it’s a good thing i’m not into these kind of games then if it didn’t turn out that good lol
and thats one of the mist extreme advertisements i’ve seen for a game lol.
also nice dance there at the end Kim Jong Jo XD
With regards to this review, and this game, you seem to be spot on.
That being said, I feel I should discuss something that has been bothering me with some of your reviews, and that is the seeming lack of scale with your review scores.
I’m tempted to point to one of your more recent reviews to make my point, but I feel I wouldn’t be able to qualify it without a great deal of effort, and so I’ve decided to compare this review to one of your older submissions, Halo Reach.
To start off with, let’s compare talking points gleaned from your reviews.
Homefront
Absurd premise
Cliched story with paper-thin stereotype characters
4-hour campaign
Out-dated graphics
Frustrating enemy AI
Excellent Multiplayer
Team AI is alright
Final Verdict: 6/10, “Can’t recommend at full-price”
Halo Reach
Short-ish campaign (8-10 hours) does not develop characters enough
Does not have multi-player space combat or persistent war modes.
Frustrating team AI
Polished, highly detailed graphics
Campaign is fun and challenging
Really fun space combat
Multiplayer is a “complete experience”
Final Verdict: 8/10 “Worth every penny of its purchase price”
In both quantity and degree, Homefront is vastly inferior to Halo Reach in every category, save possibly for the multiplayer and team AI. In fact, as you put it, the only thing holding you back from giving Reach a perfect score was the fact it didn’t have multi-player space combat or persistent-war modes (not going to get into that).
So how is it that Halo Reach is only two points above Homefront? I realize the criteria by which you judge is subjective, and that aspects might not scale properly, but when there is such a vast gulf between these games in terms of quality, I was expecting a greater difference than two points.
I’m not complaining about your scores. I’m just confused by them.
You do have a point there, Mysterious Mythman. I thought the 6/10 was rather generous of Joe, given that he benchmarks average games at 5/10. I can only surmise it’s because he felt the online gameplay made up for enough of the flaws of the single-player mode. I personally would have given a lower score, as online isn’t nearly as important to me as single-player, for various reasons. I did suggest that he should have given separate ratings for online and single modes.
The thing is, 5/10 in Joe’s rating system is average/mediocre. A 6/10 squeezes in just above average/mediocre. An 8/10, though, is leaning quite a bit further into the excellent range. And Joe tends to give a lot more 9′s to the top-notch games than 10′s (in fact, unless I am mistaken, I only recall one 10/10 from Joe, and that was on Red Dead Redemption).
So, in summary: (1) Joe was generous to Homefront, (2) it was barely above average/mediocre on his scale, and (3) the game you’re comparing it to was way closer to the excellent range according to Joe’s rating system.
For a much better portrayal of a possible second Korean conflict, check out Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. Although the setup is rather convoluted in that Tom Clancy sort of way, and although the game does kind-of fall apart toward the end, becoming about as ludicrous as an episode of 24 in the last few minutes of the bathhouse level, the gameplay is challenging and absolutely solid, and the atmosphere really sells the whole experience.
After some missions in Colombia, Panama and New York, the player infiltrates a missile battery within North Korea. Shortly afterward, Seoul is invaded – overrun, almost – as open war breaks out. The next few missions take place in the city sometime after the initial invasion; this is easily the game’s high point. The game was developed before many of the recent events escalating tension between North and South Korea, so the potentially disturbing depiction of a potential war is handled tastefully. (as opposed to, say, ‘No Russian’ from CoD:MW2) The player’s only goal is to reach a certain destination in the city, and must sneak through active warzones, occupied sections, the burning rubble of high-rise buildings destroyed by aerial bombing runs, avoiding highly trained soldiers on both sides, armed UAV drones, and armored vehicles, with propaganda loudspeakers and sporadic gunfire in the background. The experience is rather haunting.
For me, the game was a huge disappointment. They said that it will focus on the emotional side, but no, THQ YOU FAIL!!!! And about the “North Korea offences”: guys, it’s fiction, don’t be offend by it, deal with it, it just a f*ck*ng game. I’m catholic and for years people make jokes about Catholics, and you know what, I don’t give a sh*t, in fact, I always joke saying that Haruhi Susumiya is hotter that my god, and you know why I don’t care… Because it’s f*ck*ng fiction
I’m just glad someone else can see the spark behind the game like I do. It’s pretty much all I’ve been playing online these past three weeks.
Thank you Joe.
I don’t mind THQ’s online pass so much, it’s EA’s version I have a problem with. I can still use THQ’s servers to play The Outfit (great game BTW) on 360 and it’s six years old. Whereas I pay my 800 points to EA and they close their frickin’ servers down 18 months later. So I’ve wasted all that money. But you could argue it’s also based on others playing it too, if noone else in the world is online, it’s still a waste of money.
well TBH homefront isn’t a terrible shooter, it’s just not a great one either
however, there is a foundation for a good shooter franchise here, i just hope that this game gets a sequel with a better story line along with more maps and modes, and FFS give us battles that have up to 128 players next time, i’d love to see that
@the review
only one thing i want to point out, homefront’s major multiplayer mode take more from frontlines fuel of war’s only multiplayer mode then BC2, just thought i’d point that out
and, as guru larry said, it was supposed to be china but it had to be changed to NK at the last minute, blame political correctness for that BS folks
i was hoping youd look at crysis 2….
The reviewer should learn a little bit about the DPRK or North Korea before making brash and naive statements like “they hate America”. If a country came over and bombed your country, massacred over two million of your people, and destroyed all of your infrastructure, what would your opinion be? What about if you lived there and the worlds largest superpower in the world put an economic blockade on your country, pressuring other countries to end trade with you and making progress very, very difficult? What would your impression of that country? Not to mention that North Korea doesn’t even hate the U.S. The minority in power in this country who make political and economic decisions are the people that the northern Koreans dislike. I’ve known people who have been there and never received any scorn (Hmm. I wonder why).
Put down the ridiculous, sensationalist documentaries (and yes, I have seen all of them) and read the books of Bruce Cumings who is an actual academic and professor on Korea. Although, reading may be too much to ask of the reviewer.
Also, Kim Jong Il doesn’t even “control” the country. Look up the Supreme Peoples Assembly, they have elected representatives from the three parties, the trade unions, womens groups, etc. To say that one man holds all the power in North Korea, is absurd and revealing of your lack of insight regarding North Korea.
I guess my point is, to all reviewers (and future reviewers), actually know what the hell you’re talking about when you make idiotic statements like AngryJoe did. “I saw a bunch of documentaries” isn’t proof that you have any gauge of understanding either whatsoever.
So stick to reviewing videos games and save yourself the embarrassment.
Also, the National Lawyers Guilds 2003 report back from North Korea should put to rest some concerns you may have had with the country. I’d most certainly recommend that.
Yours truly,
Iskra
Iskra,
I’m sorry to say this so frankly, but you need to save yourself the embarrassment, not me. You are upset that I find the situation with North Korea fascinating and you are offended that I recommended a few documentaries for people who could care less about North Korea.
You clearly havent seen any of the documentaries I listed. “Crossing the Line” In particular shows what life is really like in North Korea from a proud North Korean who loves his country and shows what its really like to live there, without political commentary. And some of those also even address the very issues you bring up. I understand why North Korea arent allies with the USA (even hate us in most cases).
So please, don’t get on your high horse and tell me that I dont know what the hell im talking about – because I didnt give my complete views on who they are, I didnt say anything other than they have a dictator who rules the country (as if he has no input and has never made a decision, ya right) its interesting, and if others want to they should look into more materials on the country.
You can deny that a dictator rules through fear, but how then do you explain the concentration and detention camps throughout the NK currently? Perhaps you would like to dismiss these real peoples stories and label them as “sensational”, what is sensational about them? Most of us are intelligent enough to make our own decisions.
Respect my right to tell people they should look up more information for themselves.
Also for the record I plan to read what you suggested, I enjoy the subject, but you make big assumptions about what I think of their situation.
Respectfully,
Angry Joe
I must kind of agree with both… Since the cold war the Nkoreans has clearly been Stalinists and Maoists, Soviet Union allies and under the dicatorship from the Kim ”dynasty” since Kim Il Sung, who has been ”elected” Eternal President of the Republic, and got this huge statue in Pyongyang where the Nkoreans prey the dude like a God. he was also the Secretary of the Communist party (understand in socialist dialect : the boss), in Nkorea named ”Worker’s Party” and Supreme Leaders, posts took by his son.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Paying_Their_Respects.jpg/763px-Paying_Their_Respects.jpg
As far as I remember huges basics of old time stalinism still in use in Nkorea like singing at work, propaganda song heared at radio, a propaganda Ministry and a ”peoples” militia who serves as an army and a higher cast. the access to internet is the lowest one in the world, and the childrens since their youngest age, like Kindergarden, learns the life (like we learn the life of Jeezus at sunday’s School) of the Supreme Leader and his father the eternal president. We are also considered (Americans and Europeans) in the collective mind as a dangerous invader and the government promote this fear by stocking food and prepare to battle any time because we ”want to destroy their people’s country with our imperialism”.
But it’s true our countries are a bit assholes with ‘em. we block their leader and ambassadors to use any kind of air transport and lock them in their place. we also block them from using some money their government possess in Swissland and, like Cuba, destroy anything who want to leave Nkorea by sea. If they had access to outsider’s money like Cuba does (Cuba get a lot of canadian invesments in tourism and industrial development) they may have a higher life quality.
So technicaly you can basicly compare Nkorea to the Imperium from Warhammer 40k, the real leader is a dead guy, they prey him and learn about him, and of course they fear an ”Heretic” force to destroy their utopia. it’s of course much complex than that but its still better than the Nkorea in Homefront.
Yours Canadianly,
a Dude.
Ah more intelligent commentary from the Blame the West First crowd. Don’t you Leftists ever get tired of letting other people do your half assed research for you? You really make blowing your horse shit points right out of the water too easy when you rely on the same, tired lies. Let’s torpedo yours, shall we, Iskra?
Bruce Cumings – There is a whole section of his article on Wikipedia that states this man is a known pro North Korean leftist who smears the US and the west at every opportunity. (Historian Allan Millett has argued that Cumings’ “eagerness to cast American officials and policy in the worst possible light, however, often leads him to confuse chronological cause and effect and to leap to judgments that cannot be supported by the documentation he cites or ignores.) So respected historians have looked at Cumings lies, dissected them, and proven them to be a crock of pants-on-fire garbage that they are. Typical far leftist glossing over the bad parts of his favorite dictators to make freedom look bad and slavery look good. Next~
National Lawyers Guilds 2003 Report – You know what is funny? Typing this in to Google returned an interesting little website associated with this Guild (http://www.nlginternational.org/com/main.php?cid=5). This websites goals seems to be the Reunification of North and South Korea in the name of “peace”. Now isn’t that interesting. They practically tell you they are biased towards reunification right on the front page! Great source there, buddy.
Tell me, Iskra, did you honestly not think anyone would Google this shit? I am spending my time on a website watching some funny asshole talk about video games, for fucks sake. I have shit loads of time, my boy! I have all the time in the world to look stuff up. Did you really think everyone would just accept your diatribe without calling you out on your sources? Creationists have more proof that the Earth is 6000 years old than you have proof that North Korea is a misunderstood Utopia being held back by the big bad Americans.
Better luck next time, kid.
(PS: When I say “Leftist” I am not referring to Liberals so you Democrat/Workers Party types keep your underwear on and relax. I love you guys. I am talking the extreme left wing. Extremes on either side are bad and just because I had a few vicious reprisals for the leftist in this one doesn’t mean I am a balls to the wall right wing fascist)
Sounds like Joe feels the same as I do about this online pass crap.
It’s weird, that a game that seemed to be marketed for it’s single player content, that they spent more time and money on the MP.
Yeah, and that bothers me. Don’t advertise a game purely on its single player if you clearly only cared about the multi-player. :/
I looked forward to playing this game on the PC, but I heard a lot of bad things about it, so I kind of went into it with mixed expectations. You could say I got none of the good I was expecting and most of the bad.
Some parts of the campaign just felt plain stupid! *SPOILER ALERT* Why do I have to hide in a pile of corpses (a segment which triggered no form of emotion in me what-so-ever, by the way)!? Who came up with the idea to use white phosphorous in those kinds of tight quarters (well, Connor, obviously, and again, I didn’t give a crap when my allies were slowly burning to death)!? And why the HELL couldn’t Connor just throw the goddamn flare (good riddance, though…)!? *End of spoilers*
Oh, and having to wait a minute for someone to open a goddamn door must be on some kind of list called “what NEVER to do in your action game”. Oh, and not being able to shoot a guy until about ten seconds after you’ve been told to shoot him. That’s also a load of bullshit. Just saying.
THQ could of taken the FPS story-mode genre into a whole new realm perhaps? Yes, 4 hours for single player mode blows and THQ should of realised this. How to extend on that, by at least another 4 hours, and give it a fresh twist? After completion of the US story-mode trying to fight off an invasion – play the part of a N. Korean soldier who is taking part in the invasion.
What did we get instead? This…
THQ, I disappoint son.
Hey, I’m a Texan & don’t have a big belt buckle.
….
……
WHY DON’T I HAVE A BIG BELT BUCKLE?!?! %$#&!!!!!
Because deep-down you know you don’t belong in Texas. I don’t have a big belt buckle either.
simply can’t take this game seriously, LMAO n. korea. what a joke. oh, and gameplay….might as well call it cod n korea.
I agree on your verdict, Joe.
This game was a huge disappointment for me, because I mainly bought it for a strong Singleplayer campaign. Red Dawn is awesome and I was so sure Kaos could deliver it in video game form. . Maybe I thought if Crysis had North Koreans in it and could be very good, then Homefront has to be awesome too. I was dead-wrong
I did get some enjoyment out of the Multiplayer though, maybe because I’ve never actually played CoD online, but after being killed by snipers over and over again I lost interest in it completly.
this game is forgettable… it had some great background element and some good Gameplay bases, all screwed by the bad background element, some shitty characters and of course this fuckin’ Corridor fest ! Good rental for the solo mode, very bad game.
That part where you were explaining how your teammates make it difficult to open doors, did anyone else think that would be a good spot for a Spoony clip: “You’re in my spot, sir!”?
I think this would have been a review to give two separate rankings: one for the story mode, and one for the online multi-player mode.
I honestly think any game with two separate components should be judged with two separate scores, thus one can weigh whether what they want to play out of a game is worth buying the full game.
Aww, it’s O.K., Joe; When North Korea steamrolls the U.S. with little resistance, you can come live with me in Australia. We’re quite obnoxious too, so you’ll fit in quite well.
Very good review Joe!
that was the best they could do with a korean stroy? Seriously?