Homefront: Not so original?

[Goldeneye103X2]

Y'know, this game is getting a lot of unneccesery slack. I mean, the developers wen through a lot, and they did what they could. Do you guys even know how hard it is to make a politically charged action-packed videogame with a complex and meaningful narrative, whilst at the same time having a wide and strong colour palette?

Spoiler: Not too difficult, really

 

[Netrigan]

the reason red dawn was so significant was that Americans really did believe that the soviets were on the brink of invasion, and they legitimately had the nukes and infantry to fight the Americans.

it was a genuinely scary idea. its not any more.

To comment further on this, its painfully obvious that the writer is just trying to recapture that same feeling by making the enemy North Korea. The problem is that North Korea couldn't possibly take over America in the near future, so the plot is just laughably absurd. He was fixated on using a country that is still an enemy of the USA he didn't care if the plot made no sense as a result. And no, that EMP bullshit does not make it any more plausible.

Homefront is one of the most unoriginal games I've seen in a while. What irks me about it is how the developers act like it somehow isn't.

Some aspects of the premise are frighteningly possible... others not-so-much for exactly the reason why other things are possible.

This is basically a peak-oil nightmare scenario (google it if you don't know what peak-oil means) where oil supplies prevent the United States from maintaining a large military presence and Asia falls to the Koreans, who get hold of advanced military equipment in Japan, then turn it against us.

The peak-oil stuff is probably pretty close to the mark. A lot of us will probably live long enough to see some major global upheaval as we are no longer able to maintain our industrial creature comforts. That's assuming we don't figure out how to harness a renewable resource. America, being the biggest consumer of oil per capita, would not be able to remain a world power and things could get really, really bad if the ball bounces wrong.

But if we're unable to project that sort of power, then it's highly unlikely another country would be able to do it. The U.S. sits on a lot of resources but we're much more physically isolated, so it's highly unlikely an Asian, European, African, or Australian power would be able to justify the resource expense to cross an ocean to invade the U.S. And in the really unlikely event that it did happen, China would be a much more likely suspect, since they could launch such an assault in the early part of a peak oil crisis. The North Koreans may have the fourth largest military on the planet, but they're surrounded by the #1 and #4 (China and India). Russian Federation is #5 so that makes the MW2 invasion even more ridiculous

 

[Saucycarpdog]

What is with all this hate for Homefront. It's just a game thats going for an intersting premise, besides its the developers choice of what the plot will be and if they want a korean invaded america then they can do it. Honestly people, Brink doesn't look that interesting to me but I don't go around making threads bashing the game and its developers.

 

[Netrigan]

What is with all this hate for Homefront. It's just a game thats going for an intersting premise, besides its the developers choice of what the plot will be and if they want a korean invaded america then they can do it. Honestly people, Brink doesn't look that interesting to me but I don't go around making threads bashing the game and its developers.

It's a shooter, there's not a ton of different plots open to it. Escape, rescue, revolution, invasion, etc. Shooters don't tend to have terribly original weapons in the first place and near-modern stories doubly so, but it looks like Homefront is attempting to address some things not typically dealt with in shooters.

If the game can be as emotionally gripping as they want to be, it could be a really good game. I expect the combat will be highly familiar to FPS players, maybe with a slight survival horror aspect to it since you're a small under-powered force going up against a vastly superior military machine. I can't imagine it being revolutionary, but it could be a damn good story.

 

[Nocola]

What is with all this hate for Homefront. It's just a game thats going for an intersting premise, besides its the developers choice of what the plot will be and if they want a korean invaded america then they can do it. Honestly people, Brink doesn't look that interesting to me but I don't go around making threads bashing the game and its developers.

Ah, I wasn't intending to bash the game or it's developers, I was only questioning it's claim to originality. Sorry if it was taken the wrong way!

 

[Mistermixmaster]

Im hoping this will have a similar sorta feel to freedom fighters. Remember that game? It was a real good time!

*Suffers critical hit from nostalgia attack!* Damn, that game was fun Being a plumber with no military training at all, moving through the sewer system where the world changed after what objectives you completed. Darnit, now I want to replay Freedom Fighters >_<

On topic though, I'm looking forward to Homefront nevertheless. I'm getting a bit tired of "unspecifiedistan". I just hope it'll be good.

 

[Nocola]

It's a gray scale FPS...

IN 'MERICA!

But not like those other shooters than were also in 'MERICA!

Because...um...

My thoughts on it exactly. Homefront doesn't look like anything new. I'd wait on games like Bulletstorm, Brink, and Duke Nukem Forever for a change in the standard FPS formula.

you had a point till you brought up DUKE. Theres a good reason we left behind that style of game, it wasn't that good.

But yeah OT its a vaguely original setting but that means nothing if the storytelling is terrible, which we won't know till a review comes through.

I would recommend waiting due to the HUGE amounts of shooters being released this year. (the noteworthy ones being Battlefield 3, BRINK and rage)

True, true... Myself I'm a huge fan of Battlefield so that's my AAA title for the year.

 

[EightGaugeHippo]

it just looks like those couple of levels from MW2 execpt stretched out for a full game.

 

[Defense]

I'm really skeptical of this game. It'll take me a lot to throw down $60 for a game that seems as formulaic as they come. The story is interesting at least, but story alone won't do it for me.

I can't find anything remarkable about the game.

They keep throwing about Half-Life 2 in interviews as a point of influence, but all I've seen so far makes that seem a bit of an insult to Valve.

How so is it an insult to Valve?

Because one's HL2 and the other is a rather unremarkable looking shooter. I could be wrong and it could be the second coming, but right now? Nada.

As much as I agree that Homefront looks unoriginal and is probably going to be unoriginal, Half Life 2 doesn't exactly revolutionize anything at first glance. It's a game about a mute with a superpowered suit killing aliens to save the Earth. It's just executed really well. Execution is much more important than concept.

 

[Ranchcroutons]

Im hoping this will have a similar sorta feel to freedom fighters. Remember that game? It was a real good time!

*Suffers critical hit from nostalgia attack!* Damn, that game was fun Being a plumber with no military training at all, moving through the sewer system where the world changed after what objectives you completed. Darnit, now I want to replay Freedom Fighters >_<

On topic though, I'm looking forward to Homefront nevertheless. I'm getting a bit tired of "unspecifiedistan". I just hope it'll be good.

You might as well do it. the game only takes about 5 hours to play through and its still playable, just takes getting used to.

 

[luckshotpro]

I've been reading/watching the developer diaries, trailers and news about the upcoming military FPS shooter "Homefront". One of their main selling points is the originality of the game, which in a market so saturated of bland military shooters, is essential. (Links to these developer diaries will be posted below.)

At one point, they talk about opening on these huge expanses, they show a crashed civilian plane from when the EMP went off and a developer say's, "It's kind of like this moment where you're like, this is really something different, it's really spectacular." Now, I don't know about you but I find crashed planes have been done to death. Modern warfare 2, Left 4 dead, as well as movies like War of the Worlds, just to name a few. Also the concept of an occupied America, was that not the big "shock" moment of Modern Warfare 2? And they even mention they took inspiration from movies like Red Dawn. As well as being an underdog fighting against a greater power, that's been done to death too.

Another thing they talk about is characterization, but they later say that your character is a lone, silent type. Who, I expect is also an expert in all types of weapons and vehicles, (then again, he is a pilot so let's at least let him get away with being able to fly a helicopter) and absorbs bullets like a sponge.

I don't know people, I just feel like it's advertised as so different and original when really it's just another gray scale FPS. What are your thoughts, will you be buying it? Discuss! Here are the links to the developer diaries.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNpS9Ovc6-c&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAbckubkPuk&feature=relmfu

EDIT: I just noticed they never mention Canada, and when the EMP goes off it shows it doesn't effect Canada.. anyone want to speculate what they plan to say about that, if anything?

Personally, I don't care about Homefront at all, cold hard speculation on my part tells me that It'll be the Washington D.C. missions from Modern Warfare 2 stretched out into an entire game, which doesn't scream originality by any means. Also, to any players outside the U.S., the title of Homefront is going to be both meaningless and flat out wrong.

 

[Ironman126]

But, unfortunately even though they are "civilian freedom fighters" they plot will play out the exact same as if they were spec-ops douche-bags, especially considering your character has a military background, which in this case means you are basically indestructible.

Maybe that will be true, maybe not. Unless you have actually played the game, which you haven't, unless you work for Kaos Studios, which i seriously doubt you do, you have no way of verifying your claim. So, we'll just have to wait for March 8th to roll around and play the game to find out. Worst case scenario, it's a MW2 knock-off with a better plot and more interesting (that doesn't mean better) multi-player. Best case, it's freaking awesome and everything we've been promised. Either way, we still have to wait to tell.

 

[Woodsey]

I'm really skeptical of this game. It'll take me a lot to throw down $60 for a game that seems as formulaic as they come. The story is interesting at least, but story alone won't do it for me.

I can't find anything remarkable about the game.

They keep throwing about Half-Life 2 in interviews as a point of influence, but all I've seen so far makes that seem a bit of an insult to Valve.

How so is it an insult to Valve?

Because one's HL2 and the other is a rather unremarkable looking shooter. I could be wrong and it could be the second coming, but right now? Nada.

As much as I agree that Homefront looks unoriginal and is probably going to be unoriginal, Half Life 2 doesn't exactly revolutionize anything at first glance. It's a game about a mute with a superpowered suit killing aliens to save the Earth. It's just executed really well. Execution is much more important than concept.

I think the concept goes a little bit further than that - there are several layers to the game's plot, and it's not just an alien invasion force for the sake of it.

Maybe Homefront is really interesting and I'm wrong, but they've not got it across to me yet - as for it being set in America, they don't seem to be picking anything distinctly American (such as Crysis 2 and NY - and yes, clichéd on the surface but there's more to it then that, which they've made apparent), and I couldn't tell you the difference between the locations I've seen in the game and half the ones I visited in Modern Warfare.

 

[ImprovizoR]

I can't handle anymore military shooters. Why doesn't someone make a cop shooter or a street gang shooter or basically a crime organizations shooter where you can be a Yakuza or Triad or Italian or Russian mafia etc? That should be fun. This is getting pretty annoying. Army this, marines that and now army again, but in the future! Go to hell already!

 

[Netrigan]

I can't handle anymore military shooters. Why doesn't someone make a cop shooter or a street gang shooter or basically a crime organizations shooter where you can be a Yakuza or Triad or Italian or Russian mafia etc? That should be fun. This is getting pretty annoying. Army this, marines that and now army again, but in the future! Go to hell already!

Military shooters make it easy to explain why you're killing everything that moves and it's fairly easy to remove civilians from the equation.

There are quite a number of third-person shooters that follow cops or detectives (Max Paine, Stranglehold) and the same game mechanics tend to pop up (shoot everything that moves with realistic weapons) and you suddenly have to ignore the fact that these environments are suspiciously devoid of civilians. So I think military shooters get the nod because it better fits the game conventions, as civilians do tend to flee war zones.

It's sort of why they don't tend to make sandbox games starring proper heroes. They know players are going to run around doing very bad things to civilians, so they pick a premise that can't be undermined by their actions.

 

[Ashcrexl]

this game isnt original! it's basically half-life 2! with n. koreans! curse this industry's unoriginality!

 

[cjbos81]

How the hell can so many of you have such a strong opinion of this game this early?

And who is to say that all of those other games mentioned won't end up being shit as well.

Is this "prescient fanboyism" or is everyone just talking out of their ass.

 

[Thanatos5150]

I can't find anything remarkable about the game.

They keep throwing about Half-Life 2 in interviews as a point of influence, but all I've seen so far makes that seem a bit of an insult to Valve.

How so is it an insult to Valve?

Because one's HL2 and the other is a rather unremarkable looking shooter. I could be wrong and it could be the second coming, but right now? Nada.

Half Life 2 is a rather unremarkable shooter in it's own right, it just gets unduly hyped up because people love praising Valve. Good studio, yes, but a fan of HL2, I am not.

 

[Vykrel]

Modern Warfare 2 didnt really involve an occupied america so much as an invaded america just for a little while. Homefront is well into the Korean occupation. 2 years, actually

and its from more of a civilian resistance perspective, kind of like Half-Life 2. youre not gonna be getting orders from some general to go assassinate an enemy leader. you are just trying to survive and possibly drive enemies out of your home

Edit: thanato, youre crazy. HL2 is amazing, and im not that much of a valve fan. also, i first played the game only a couple years ago. a 2004 game managed to be incredible even by todays standards