Homefront: Not so original?

[Nocola]

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?

Cause canada is filled with igloos and polar bears o.o they dont got none of those fancy technical thingamajiggers

Correct! I myself am currently operating this computer with a generator hooked up to a treadmill, powered in turn by my polar bear... Steve.

More likely, Americans cease being concerned with Canada after they're conquered. It's a perfectly legitimate reason.

Too true, however just because the Americans in the game cease being concerned with Canada, doesn't mean they just disappear. You know what I mean? It's just irritating that (and of course I'm just speculating because the game isn't out yet) the second largest country in the world is just not in the picture, considering they talk about how this is a global event.

 

[Spade Lead]

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

That was exactly the game I was thinking of when everyone started bitching that it was unoriginal and naming off current gen games.

So what if the premise has been done before. It will have a unique and original storyline, precisely because the author of Red Dawn has done this type of story before. I think it will be good, but I still won't pick it up right away. Money is tight and I want my flying fix with Ace Combat 7...

 

[SyphonX]

I saw a preview of it the other day, and it looked exactly like Call of Duty. Same shooting style, camera perspective and UI elements.

There didn't seem to be any "guerrilla warfare, trying to survive features that were present. Total knock-off and uninspiring, and comes across as an overly patriotic war-propaganda piece. Not on my radar anymore.

 

[gentleben]

I want to see a game where you play as a small group of guerilla fighters from an invaded country fighting against the American invading force. Realism-wise, any game where you're playing as America being invaded by anyone is too far fetched. On the other hand, an invasion by America of a country with an inadequate military force (even if only in numbers, like Australia or England) presents a far more believable backdrop, especially if the countries are currently allies, leaving room for the equally technologically advanced but smaller country's army to be taken unaware.

I get that Americans are sometimes the highly nationalistic type, but would anyone be truly averse to a game where America was the bad guy (even if it was established that actions of the country were wrong)? I assume the American media would strongly protest against the game (I think back to the Medal of Honour taliban fiasco), but does anyone think that it would prevent the game itself from being commercially viable in the US?

 

[Jazoni89]

Im loving the fact that everyone shoots Koreans, and noone doesn't batters a eyelid, while if someone shot a American in the game there would be a uproar.

I hate everything this game stands for, and that is the whole patriotic bullshit crap.

Plus it's so fucking far fetched it's unreal. All America would need is one nuclear missile to end that war.

China however...

 

[SyphonX]

... but would anyone be truly averse to a game where America was the bad guy (even if it was established that actions of the country were wrong)?

No, that would be too realistic.

Besides, America doesn't invade other countries, or imprison people without trial, and it certainly doesn't have an empire with a propaganda-arm they like to call the "media".

I don't know where you get your information from, but I've already reported you to one of the newly founded American defense agencies.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I assume the American media would strongly protest against the game (I think back to the Medal of Honour taliban fiasco), but does anyone think that it would prevent the game itself from being commercially viable in the US?

The game, taken in a vaccum, would probably be commercially viable. However, taken in context of the pressure any Publisher would find themselves under for attempting it would make it a completely different scenario.

 

[Sandjube]

Edit: Thanatos, you're crazy. HL2 is amazing, and I'm 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

(NOTE: Minor grammar edits were made in the above, just because they're pet peeves of mine.)
I'd posit that I simply have a different taste for games than you. Among the things which killed the HL2 experience for me were:
No Iron Sights/Precision Aim system, short of a few specialized weapons
Labyrinthine maps
Uninteresting, faceless antagonists
Uninteresting protagonists
Uninteresting PC
Ill-handled tropes in feeble attempts to push the plot forward.

Not to mention hugely overextended driving around in a hoverboat or a car. I hated that so much.

 

[Dethpixie]

I do not know that for fact, it's just a trend in modern games that I didn't necessarily expect Homefront to break from. I'm open to being pleasantly surprised if it does I just don't expect much in the way of innovation.

I actually recently picked up Shadow of Chernobyl and I absolutely love it despite how thoroughly it kicks my ass. I guess what I'm saying is I'd like more games to take a hint from STALKER's design choices.

That's true. Even Bad Company 2 didn't deviate too far from the CoD path, tho it is a much better game than MW2 or Blops. Actually, it's a bit like STALKER in that you can only survive a few bullets and you have to tape a med kit to your face to not die, at least in multiplayer. But it still feels like just another samey shooter during the single player. At least it has some more colors besides brown, grey-brown, and slightly greenish-brown. I imagine that Homefront will feature a lot of brown, grey, and red (blood).

If you liked STALKER SoC, you'd really like Call of Pripyat. It takes what SoC did and improves on it vastly. It's a more balanced, more terrifying, more atmospheric game. The biggest improvement is the Heads Up Display, the armor and weapon systems, and the medical system. Best realistic shooter i have ever played.

Dunno if you played it, but you might also like Metro 2033. It's a lot like STALKER, but i hope you don't rely on stealth too much cuz Metro's stealth system is shot to hell and back.

I prefer the Battlefield games over CoD by a wide margin. There is definitely something much more intense about being left at 10% health after a firefight and having to find a medic, or having to relocate after popping off a few sniper rounds for fear of a tank spotting you. The single player in Bad Company 2 was very generic though, would have been nice to see some of what made the multiplayer so awesome translate.

Yeah, I plan to pick up Call of Pripyat after I finish SoC, it's a great series.

Metro 2033 looks really cool, alas I'm poor so I'm waiting on it to come down in price before I pick it up.

I think it'd be cool to see the STALKER style of mechanics implemented in a modern (or modern-ish) shooter. Play as a soldier in a rebel army, that is again NOT AMERICAN, utilizing ambushes and raids to fight against a occupying force or oppressive government. I think this would be a cool idea that very few (if any) people seem to have tried. Almost all modern shooters seem to turn into hyper-macho bulletfests and very few require any thought. Though it'd probably get "Six Days in Fallujah'd" for some bullshit reason.

 

[Ironman126]

I prefer the Battlefield games over CoD by a wide margin. There is definitely something much more intense about being left at 10% health after a firefight and having to find a medic, or having to relocate after popping off a few sniper rounds for fear of a tank spotting you. The single player in Bad Company 2 was very generic though, would have been nice to see some of what made the multiplayer so awesome translate.

Yeah, I plan to pick up Call of Pripyat after I finish SoC, it's a great series.

Metro 2033 looks really cool, alas I'm poor so I'm waiting on it to come down in price before I pick it up.

I think it'd be cool to see the STALKER style of mechanics implemented in a modern (or modern-ish) shooter. Play as a soldier in a rebel army, that is again NOT AMERICAN, utilizing ambushes and raids to fight against a occupying force or oppressive government. I think this would be a cool idea that very few (if any) people seem to have tried. Almost all modern shooters seem to turn into hyper-macho bulletfests and very few require any thought. Though it'd probably get "Six Days in Fallujah'd" for some bullshit reason.

There is a reason so few devs have gone the STALKER route. It isn't what sells. Tell me the average Xbox live user would rather play a combo of Battlefield and STALKER over a boom-fest like Halo or CoD? CoD is accessible, easy to play, and provides hours of mindless "entertainment." A game like that is also easy to make and there are plenty of games to copy the design of. A dev may have a great idea for a game, but the publisher wants something that will sell for sure. Thus, we end up with 6,000 CoD/Halo styled games and only five or six STALKER/Battlefield styled games.

On topic, Homefront is definitely not the most original concept for a game, but perhaps the gameplay will make up for it. I sure wouldn't mind playing as a rag-tag American freedom fighter if i actually got to play like a rag-tag freedom fighter (ambushes, booby-traps, hit-and-run tactics). I'm also not in it for the singleplayer. In my experience, the campaigns of most games are terrible compared to their multiplayer (exceptions being Half-Life 2, Frontlines (another KAOS game) and most RTS games). If the multiplayer for Homefront is like BBC2, then it'll be a well spent $50. And it is looking like it will be similar. I even think the buildings/terrain are breakable

On STALKER/Metro. Metro is a good game. It starts out good, gets really dodgy half way through (stealth mechanics are to blame), then finishes marvelously. STALKER Call or Pripyat is a lot of fun, but frustrating. Not in the SoC "get your ass handed to you a lot) way. More of the "You're making me grind tasks and find artifacts that never spawn to pay for travel" way. Later, ammo and guns are free, but only in limited amounts. And you have to pay to travel between zones to win. Makes the game drag less, but if you are like me and must own every unique gun in the game, it gets annoying. But, i'll spoil no more for you.

 

[XT inc]

Im just glad to see a shooter that isn't in the desert, and I guess its as close to red dawn as we can get to a game since freedom fighters.

 

[Dethpixie]

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There is a reason so few devs have gone the STALKER route. It isn't what sells. Tell me the average Xbox live user would rather play a combo of Battlefield and STALKER over a boom-fest like Halo or CoD? CoD is accessible, easy to play, and provides hours of mindless "entertainment." A game like that is also easy to make and there are plenty of games to copy the design of. A dev may have a great idea for a game, but the publisher wants something that will sell for sure. Thus, we end up with 6,000 CoD/Halo styled games and only five or six STALKER/Battlefield styled games.

On topic, Homefront is definitely not the most original concept for a game, but perhaps the gameplay will make up for it. I sure wouldn't mind playing as a rag-tag American freedom fighter if i actually got to play like a rag-tag freedom fighter (ambushes, booby-traps, hit-and-run tactics). I'm also not in it for the singleplayer. In my experience, the campaigns of most games are terrible compared to their multiplayer (exceptions being Half-Life 2, Frontlines (another KAOS game) and most RTS games). If the multiplayer for Homefront is like BBC2, then it'll be a well spent $50. And it is looking like it will be similar. I even think the buildings/terrain are breakable

On STALKER/Metro. Metro is a good game. It starts out good, gets really dodgy half way through (stealth mechanics are to blame), then finishes marvelously. STALKER Call or Pripyat is a lot of fun, but frustrating. Not in the SoC "get your ass handed to you a lot) way. More of the "You're making me grind tasks and find artifacts that never spawn to pay for travel" way. Later, ammo and guns are free, but only in limited amounts. And you have to pay to travel between zones to win. Makes the game drag less, but if you are like me and must own every unique gun in the game, it gets annoying. But, i'll spoil no more for you.

It's sad that mindless sells, there are great opportunities to make atmospheric or even thought provoking games getting choked out by the need for mass appeal and the pursuit of guaranteed sales.

I would love to play a game from the perspective of a rag-tag freedom fighter, that's kind of what I've been talking about here, ambushes, hit-and-run, that sort of thing. I feel as though Homefront is aiming more for the CoD market though, and that we aren't going to get much in the way of innovation. I would also prefer if it were set somewhere other than America and featured a non-American protagonist. It would be cool if they set something like that in a Central or South American country or somewhere in East Asia for a couple of reasons:
1) These are more colourful settings
2) The idea of guerrilla warfare and rebellion is much more real in these settings
3) I'm just getting tired of playing Americans
4) I'm Canadian and don't have fond memories of watching Red Dawn as a kid

 

[Ironman126]

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It's sad that mindless sells, there are great opportunities to make atmospheric or even thought provoking games getting choked out by the need for mass appeal and the pursuit of guaranteed sales.

I would love to play a game from the perspective of a rag-tag freedom fighter, that's kind of what I've been talking about here, ambushes, hit-and-run, that sort of thing. I feel as though Homefront is aiming more for the CoD market though, and that we aren't going to get much in the way of innovation. I would also prefer if it were set somewhere other than America and featured a non-American protagonist. It would be cool if they set something like that in a Central or South American country or somewhere in East Asia for a couple of reasons:
1) These are more colourful settings
2) The idea of guerrilla warfare and rebellion is much more real in these settings
3) I'm just getting tired of playing Americans
4) I'm Canadian and don't have fond memories of watching Red Dawn as a kid

It IS sad that the mindless are the ones buying the games. But that's the way everything is. For example: CoD4 was good. So what did Infinity Ward do? They said "fuck it" and made another CoD4 after "improving" the gameplay. Guess no one ever told them that making the gameplay worse is not innovation. The Treyarch copied MW2.

Ah. You're not American. That changes things a lot. Personally, i don't mind playing as an apple pie-munching, red-blooded, God-fearing A- Oh, Christ, i can type that with a straight face. I really want a game where i can play as someone who isn't a bar-code representation of my countrymen, too. I had really high hopes for the new Medal of Honor game. I was even going to buy it despite the awful multiplayer just so i could play as the Taliban. Then DICE got soft and changed "Taliban" to "Op-For." Fuckers. At least that would give a different perspective on the game. At least Battlefield: Bad Company 2's Vietnam expansion lets you play as the Vietcong.

But that isn't enough. We need a game where we have a SINGLEPLAYER campaign against the US or a game that doesn't have the US in it at all. Maybe, something like you said in South America. Hell, it could even be rebels vs. dictatorship for all i care. Why? Cuz it isn't dealing with the US. You know what, Brazil never gets any shit. Lets play as a revolutionary in Brazil who helps overthrow the government only to have the new one become a dictatorship! Then you can fight to overthrow the shit government you fought to install! That sure as hell beats another CoD.

 

[Daggedawg]

I doubt any game can portray an invasion/occupation of the United States by a foreign military in quite such an awesome way as Freedom Fighters did.

 

[Dethpixie]

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But that isn't enough. We need a game where we have a SINGLEPLAYER campaign against the US or a game that doesn't have the US in it at all. Maybe, something like you said in South America. Hell, it could even be rebels vs. dictatorship for all i care. Why? Cuz it isn't dealing with the US. You know what, Brazil never gets any shit. Lets play as a revolutionary in Brazil who helps overthrow the government only to have the new one become a dictatorship! Then you can fight to overthrow the shit government you fought to install! That sure as hell beats another CoD.

Pretty much this exactly. It touches on themes of power and corruption all without relying on the characters being relateable just because they're "a red-white-and-blue blooded apple pie munching American good old boy", that's the lazy way out. With this a developer has to work to make us care about someone who's in a setting and situation we've never found ourselves in, who may see the world completely differently from ourselves. We also get to experience something that is happening (or has happened) in the world all the time.

"Cruel leaders are replaced only to have new leaders turn cruel"
That is my favorite Che Guevara quote and I'd love to see a game run with those themes of power, greed, and corruption.

 

[Korten12]

I call it "World In Conflict:FPS Edition".

Oh god, I LOL'd at the Developer Diaries.

"We wanted to use real brands because it's part of the American fabric"

Not about product placement at all hey?

What disappoints me is that they sound like they are trying to develop an amazing narrative through cutscenes.

*sarcastic clap*

Because clearly thats the reason why? God I am sick of these stupid claims, do you work for the developer? No so you can't say they didn't choose it to be like that.

 

[ArcticSquirrel]

My question is how so many people find the idea behind this game SO OVERLY UNORIGINAL. Name me the last time a game had a MASSIVE invasion on America. And don't give me Modern Warfare 2, this "Invasion" was resolved in about 2 to 3 days. It wasn't even truly occupied, there was just a bunch of guys dropping from the sky and a bunch of guys who took over Washington.

Another thing is the people who kept on saying "Oh, if you were just a regular citizen, this game would be fine, BUT NO, you just have to be a guy with a military background."

Heres the point, if you were a regular citizen, you would not know how to fly a helicopter. Anyone can shoot a gun, it takes a man with experience to fly a heli. Let alone a military chopper.

The game taken in an "Unoriginal" place called America because more players can relate to it. Tell me, could you imagine what you would do if you were dropped into the Byzantine empire. If some king from there died, could you feel sorry for him. If the world was burning around you and invading forces came in, swords swinging, would you think for more than 2 seconds about what was going on. Most people would just go fight those men because they know that is the objective. But when a game is done right, the player would think "Holy Crap, my town is being attacked, I need to defend this place to my last breath." There becomes this intense time where you feel submerged into the game.

Problem is, most of us could not relate to the Byzantine empire. We could not imagine the look on the citizens faces, the clothes they wear, the food they eat or even the color of the water they drink. We would know nothing about their way of life, we would feel like we were dropped into another fantasy world. But being dropped into something that we all know of is a whole different idea. We recognize the day to day things we do. It seems natural. Now lets put an invading force into the mix. What do we get? Something that is shocking and scary. Why? Because it is a disruption of something that we find is normal. That, or they take normal things and twist it into something new and weird. Something we can relate to. THAT is why it is taken in America.

I need some water...

 

[Enigma6667]

I've been trying to wonder what the big deal with this game was too. Apparently the big deal seems to be...nothing. I was right all along. My powers of clairvoyance continue to amaze me.

Technically, shouldnt you already know that your clairvoyance is gonna work, so in effect you shouldnt be amazed as you knew it was going to happen...just like you knew i was going to write this.

We think alike, you and I. Now excuse me while my brain implodes.