The first formal mission of the game depicts setting up an ambush on an enemy convoy with other resistance fighters, but after that much of the game is very much a one-man run and gun show.
As soon as a section is secured, resistance fighters are out in the open in such large numbers that it becomes questionable as to why a full frontal assault isn’t possible.ĭespite being advertised as a game about guerilla warfare, there seems to be very little of it. For Homefront, this mechanic seems contradictory of what the game is supposed to be all about.
The premise is very similar to that of The Saboteur in which doing enough damage to the German occupiers in France would return color and control to your surroundings. Each zone is also split into sections that are controlled by key enemy locations known as Strikepoints and Strongholds, and taking control of these leads to regaining a section of the zone. The amount of friendly support you can expect depends on how much you’ve won over the “Hearts and Minds” of each zone, by completing acts of sabotage, destroying armored units, and spreading the message of the resistance radio. It's the vast numbers of resistance fighters who take more of an active role against the Korean occupiers, and whom regularly engage in firefights.
And vice versa, rioters never seem to have an impact other than meaningless actions like beating cars with bats and other minor nuisances. During the moments when citizens happen to be rioting, it really breaks the immersion that Korean soldiers often just stand by and observe. While things do look bleak on the surface, there is very little AI interaction no matter what the circumstance may be. American citizens have been reduced to living in broken down homes and shanty communities, and roam the streets with no real sense of direction other than avoiding confrontations with Korean soldiers. Disheveled streets are scarce of any life, buildings are destroyed, looted, and left to wither away, and the city of Philadelphia seems to be stuck in time as war rages on throughout it.
Free from the shackles of chopped up linear levels, the open-world of The Revolution more accurately depicts a ravaged environment. What’s worse about the story’s lacking is that the atmosphere is one of the game’s better features. Frankly, it was an awkward experience when the story tried to be emotional and there was just no reason to give a damn. Each of their personalities are defined by over exaggerated stereotypes that make them all extremely hard to relate to or care about. The main cast of revolution leaders surrounding voiceless protagonist Ethan Brady don’t do much to improve matters.
The Revolution is plagued by the same issues that its predecessor had that more emphasis is placed on over-the-top, eye roll-inducing action movie nonsense than portraying a dark and gritty war-torn America. Unfortunately, the narrative only goes further downhill from here. It’s hard to believe that a major superpower would supply their entire military with foreign products, and even harder to believe that no one would ever catch a failsafe. The decision to ditch the original storyline is a strange one, especially since the new explanation of North Korea’s occupation is a lot more convoluted. With the country defenseless, North Korea uses that opportunity to invade under the pretext of offering humanitarian aid, which leads to the eventual occupation. Plagued by ongoing war debts and a failing economy, the US is eventually forced to default on their debt to North Korea, and in response, APEX utilizes a secret backdoor protocol to shut down the entire military. Instead of continuing on with the story established in the original game, The Revolution starts anew with an alternate history depicting the 1970’s digital revolution taking place in North Korea rather than California’s “Silicon Valley.” Thanks to these technological advancements, the APEX Corporation became a worldwide leader in digital products for eager consumers, and eventually expanded into futuristic weaponry that the American military heavily invested in.