I originally played Homefront back in 2011 when it first released and playing it again in 2023 I can say that the story is actually more interesting now then it was at launch. With various ways the world has changed it seems more possible then it did in 2011. The story is well done but could have done with more fleshing out at times. I loved finding old newspapers that give backstory and the intro cinematic is simply fantastic. Sadly the present day parts of the story are a bit thin. You’re given the bare minimum in explanation about what your objectives are and how they help the resistance overall. Also the ending seems very abrupt. You’re not shown if the battle you were just in had much of an impact on the occupation overall and there is no epilogue to shed light. You aren’t even teased with a cliffhanger, it just ends. The game play is pretty fun. There are a variety of weapons you come across that differ in many ways such as having suppressors; scopes; different sights; etc. Also the game does a good job of making switching weapons realistic as just because you come across different rifles doesn’t mean the magazines would work nor would they be the same calibre. The game also does a good job of varying up missions as some require stealth; others put you in vehicles; some are straight up firefights; and more. One downside is the game holds your hand very tightly and it is slightly annoying. In many cases you are told exactly when to move; exactly when to shoot; etc. For a shooter it has fun shooting sequences so the meat of the game was enjoyable for me. The AI was terrible though. Often times you have multiple squad mates and they were constantly getting in my way; not being a help in taking down enemy soldiers and some times getting stuck in doorways. A further issue was that it felt like the enemy AI would hyper focus on me and sometimes ignore my squad mates so I couldn’t even use them as bait or to take the pressure off me. The voice acting was decent but the dialogue was a little lame. The music was pretty well done although was better when actual songs were used versus orchestra. The graphics were solid for there time. Everything from object detail; faces; hair; lighting; shadows were all good but not great. They hold up even now as not being an eye sore but they never wowed me even in 2011.
I played Homefront on Linux using Proton. The game never crashed and I didn’t notice any bugs. There is an FOV slider that goes from 60-110; two AA settings; four AF settings; an AO toggle and ten other graphics options. The performance was fantastic but given the age of the game and the visuals I would expect this. You can change the difficulty at any point. The game sues a checkpoint save system and you can only have one save slot. Many of the checkpoints were spaced decently but a few were downright annoying and felt too far apart. Alt-tab didn’t work.
Graphics Engine: Unreal 3
Game Version Played: 1.5.500001
Disk Space Used: 12.9 GB
Input Used: Keyboard and mouse
Graphics Settings Used: 2560x1440; 4x AA; 16x AF; motion blur and depth of field off; everything else at highest
GPU Usage: 1-100 %
VRAM Usage: 1922-2310 MB
CPU Usage: 4-15 %
RAM Usage: 4.6-5.7 GB
Frame Rate: 83-140 FPS
Overall if you enjoy FPS games then I recommend Homefront. The game play isn’t groundbreaking but it is very polished, if a bit linear, and fun. The story was fantastic in lore and atmosphere but struggles with mission details. I finished the story in seven hours and twenty four minutes on hard difficulty, in 2011 I finished it in three hours and fifty four minutes on normal difficulty. I would say it is very worth it’s current price tag of $21.99 CAD.
My System:
Intel i5-12600K | 16GB DDR4-3000 CL15 | XFX RX 590 8GB Fat Boy | Mesa 23.1.1 | Western Digital Black SN850 500GB | Garuda | Mate 1.26.0 | Kernel 6.3.9-zen1-1-zen | MSI G2730QPF 2560*1440 @ 165hz | Proton 8.0-2