Homefront: The Revolution Hands-on Preview
Two massive armoured trucks, at least three flying drones and scores of enemies have me surrounded in the top floor of a building. Having grabbed the generator I needed to power up the computer system at another location, I have been spotted and re-enforcements have been called. My fellow rebels are trying their best to fight off the mass of Korean enforcers but it’s starting to look dire. Then, on the minimap I notice an icon I have seen before, and sure enough as I look out of the window I spot it: a dirt bike.
Stealthily I climb out of the window unnoticed and sprint for the bike, jump on and start to drive off. As I turn a corner I am met by another armoured truck and 4 guards. I put my foot down and smash into two of them, knocking them out of my way and presumably killing them before riding off amid a hail of gunfire. Bullets really hurt in Homefront: The Revolution and health regen only comes in the form of med packs, so I needed to lose my pursuers as quickly as possible. A wooden plank presents itself as the best way out of danger. I ride up it and across some containers, and the gunfire stops.
After taking a moment to heal up, I jump back on the bike and make my way off the containers and back onto the roads, but am again almost instantly spotted by one of the flying drones, which in turn alerts some nearby guards. Despite being clearly outnumbered I pick off the drone and a couple of guards, before realising that the horde of enemies that had me trapped originally were just around the corner and coming my way, so again I jump on the bike and ride as far away as possible.
During my brief 15-minute demo of Homefront: The Revolution I think I ran away from more fights than I won. Staying in one area for too long will eventually bring a near unbeatable wave of enemies your way, making retreat the only option. However, this is clearly intentional, in order to enhance the small resistance group storyline you’ll be playing through.
Set in Philadelphia four years after the Koreans have invaded, Homefront: The Revolution casts you as part of a resistance group, who are trying to force the Koreans out of the city and ultimately the country. However, the Koreans have the entire area under control, the streets are full of guards and the resistance is forced to stay out of site, hitting the enemies hard and fast before disappearing. If you are looking for a Call of Duty-esque “one man versus 100 enemies” deal, you will be disappointed.
At the beginning of my demo me and three other members of the resistance sprung a barrel trap onto an armoured vehicle, picked off a few other foes and legged it before they had a chance to realise what had happened. Then once given the freedom to roam the incredibly well built open world, fights were mostly me running away while trying to take out foes in my way without them noticing. This is far from a stealth game, but there are more than a few hints of it throughout.
Fortunately, when a fight did break out the shooting mechanics felt great. Bullets actually feel quite powerful, only requiring a few to take out an enemy, and the customisation options are phenomenal. Out in the field you can add optics, change attachments and turn a shotgun into a grenade launcher on the fly, with just a few quick button presses and without ever having to go into any menu system; just tap the D-pad, select the area you want to edit with a button press and select the attachment with another and you’re good to go.
The bike, which seems to be a fairly core component of Homefront, handles surprisingly well. Usually I suck at driving in an open world but here I don’t think I missed a single turning, ramp, anything. Littered across the city are multiple ramps, jumps and narrow pathways clearly designed for bike traversals, and some areas do feel almost like a full 3D Trials level, something which the developers pointed out was their aim.
There is certainly a long way to go before Homefront launches and there is also a lot we don’t know about yet – however, from my brief time with it I am happy to report that the early signs are good. The world seems genuinely interesting, packed with things to do, the shooting mechanics are solid and fights are quite different to the standard first person shooter affair. Where Homefront could fail is in its story and mission design, something that I didn’t get to see too much of. I also feel like the bike will be a very divisive area, but only time will tell on that. I for one am excited about Homefront: The Revolution, though not completely sold just yet.
