As much as I wanted to like Homefront, I can’t help but lament its inability to overcome its shortcomings. On the whole, Homefront struggles to differentiate itself from the generic shooter template enough to make a lasting impression.

The red dawn-like setup is a neat idea that’s not been done a lot and it’s regretfully squandered here on an execution too safe and boring for its own good. I can commend the radio transmissions between missions for adding context, and the small peaks into the direness of occupied America can be moving, but it’s all undercut by a cliche cast of characters and a protagonist that may as well be a cardboard cutout. Where Homefront shines is in isolated scenes, both grand and grisly, but those moments are too sparse to keep the player engaged. Not to mention the story ends far too abruptly and with absolutely no punch.

As for the gameplay, Homefront never rises above basic competency. Most of the guns are forgettable, with the exceptions of the special guns like the launchers and snipers. The vehicle control sections are fine, even if they feel more like a met quota than a fun purposeful choice. Beyond some rudimentary grenades and rarely C4, that about does it for your arsenal. Again, while the groundwork exists for something experimental here, Homefront disappointingly insists on offering nothing new, even as a gimmick.

It's like the game was going to be complete but then they gave up. The atmosphere of occupation reflected by the game is nice and pleasant, but when it comes to gameplay, some of the weapon feel is at a level with Modern Combat 5. In order to climb the stairs and pass through a door, you have to wait for the NPCs next to you and whether jumping or climbing is not left to the player. The artificial intelligence is not very smart, but when you run towards them, you die in 1-2 seconds, at least it adds some realism. Despite all these drawbacks, it has some nice places and multiplayer is better than camping.

+ An interesting alternative history setting
- Takes itself too seriously and I can't vibe with it because of it's execution
- Horrible mouse acceleration when aiming
- Campaign is nothing to write home about
- You'll actually forget the characters here after seconds of not playing this game

At its core, Homefront is a pretty bang average military shooter. It does have a couple of neat scenes and sections going for it that can help break up some of the monotony of the mediocre shooting, and the concept is at least somewhat interesting relative to other military shooters. That said, a lot of small faults make it really annoying to play. Friendlies constantly body-block you which can make for aggravating deaths, often times you're railroaded into following behind your friendlies which means standing still for a minute while they catch up with you and open a door or climb a ladder, there's a couple of occasions where you'll suddenly get hit with an RPG out of the blue and have no real time to react, enemies will frequently have higher ground while you're put in an awful position, small things but they all compound to make for a bit of a chore gameplay wise. The characters are also all pretty annoying, there isn't a single one I was particularly fond of and they also repeat voice lines A LOT if you don't immediately do an objective. Not something I see myself playing again, but the gunplay is at least tolerable and the latter half of the game is a bit more fun than the former. If you're keen on military shooters, it might be up your alley, but if you're looking for an especially good tactical FPS game, I would look elsewhere.

I recently played Homefront, a first-person shooter game, and while it had some positives, I have to admit that it left me feeling underwhelmed.

One of the biggest drawbacks of the game is that I was forced to walk a lot, which became frustrating and time-consuming. The dialogue also felt overly long and dull, making it challenging to stay engaged with the story. Speaking of the story, it was pretty average and fell into the "murica!" game trope that we've seen countless times before.

Another negative of the game was the complete lack of directional help. I often found myself lost and left to figure out where to go on my own, which was annoying. The checkpoints in the game were also terrible, setting me back too far and making the game feel longer than it needed to be. The gameplay itself felt clunky, and the gun sounds were repetitive and unimpressive.

On the positive side, the physical setting of the game was decent. I also appreciated that the game chose North Korea as the enemy, as it was a refreshing change from the typical enemies seen in other games. The people hung on towers and buildings throughout the game really helped set the mood, and I particularly enjoyed the helicopter gameplay, even though it was unrealistic and strange.

Overall, while Homefront had some positive elements, the negatives outweighed them, leaving me feeling disappointed in the end.

Homefront is a fine enough FPS. It was made during the over the top era where people were actually scared of North Korea made during 2011, which sort of followed until 2016, until people realized that North Korea can't be take seriously as a threat since their armies use outdated weaponry, their soldiers are barely fed, their people live in terrible conditions, and their over all technology is so outdated they essentially chat shit but can't bang.

Homefront was made by THQ and in general it's a fine enough FPS, it's a interesting what if over the top scenerio that in general is fine enough in terms of what it's trying to deliver as an FPS.

The story is a bit quick as it makes you think it's bigger than it really is, the segments within the game are fun to play through, though I always recommend playing FPS games on the hardest difficulty for actual challenge.
For the most part the campaign is fine though I do think the ending is sort of abrupt in how it ends, it feels really disatisfying that you don't fight a boss or a last stand against waves of enemies that then leads into the ending we get.
I'm not saying the game shouldn't have ended the way it did, just I think the game ended in a way that's like... "AND WE'RE DONE THANKS FOR PLAYING GOOD BYE, GET OUT!"

I'm not saying the game needs a boss fight, and while you do fight tanks in a giant fast driving turrent tank. I just wish the game had a last stand similar to say HALO REACH or RYSE SON OF ROME or CRISIS CORE FINAL FANTASY, where you have to fight endless amounts of enemies until the very end. If a last stand part was added to the final mission, and then leads into said ending presented the game would be more satisfying ending wise. I do know this leads into Homefront the Revolution, so that's why the game's doesn't have a happy ending, because the idea here is that at the end the WAR has officially commendence with the US now pushing North Korea out of the US and defeating them once and for all.
I haven't played HOMEFRONT THE REVOLUTION yet, so I have no clue whether this mini-franchise ends in a satisfying manner or sets up a never to be resolved cliffhanger like say... AHEM XENOBLADE CHRONICLES X.

The weapons, the shooting all feel fine enough, I think the biggest reason why people hated this game in the past was because it was released during a time in which Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Halo remained as the supreme 3 of FPS that anything new that came along that didn't have unique things about them fell wayside. Not saying this game is underrated, I think it's a generic FPS, I never got to play the online since I played this this year in 2024, but I will say Campaign wise it's fine enough.
I do think the gameplay is solid, but I also felt like some parts dragged a bit in the story, even if the story is short, I also think the introduction of unneccesary parts was dumb like the intro camp that sets up the game as if every new mission you'd go back to camp until eventually the climax. But instead the game introduces the camp and a mission later 1 the main characters is killed, and the camp is destroyed along with every residence. I like the part where you go to a Internment Camps in Colorado, though you only get to see a portion of it and never actually enter.
I think 1 thing I might understand people having an issue with the story is that you never really get to see anything apart from bland delipated cities, military facilities, and occassionally see interesting locations like the baseball fields full of bodies, or areas where there are raiders with essentially crazy American Rednecks.

I have to say it's fine, nothing special, I do like that the game lets you control the giant tank via arm remote control.
I do find it weird I played this this year in 2024, since that's when the game takes place, weird coinsidence in general.
Do I think the hate given to it is warrented? Probably, I think 1 big thing I heard when multiplayer was active was that there were a lot of bugs, and even if some deathmatch games were fun, if the game makes you question it's existence by making you say "why don't I just play Call of Duty since this is just a clone of it" then maybe the game should've done more unique things instead of trying to ride the coattails of COD.


I'll be honest with you—I couldn't care less about Homefront or its sequel, Homefront: The Revolution. The only reason I snagged a copy of Homefront 1 was because I bought Homefront: The Revolution solely for the sake of playing TimeSplitters 2, even though I don't have a personal connection to the TimeSplitters series, they're a great franchise and Homefront: The Revolution features a 60FPS version of TimeSplitters 2. I just have this thing where I don't like buying a sequel without having the other entries, you know? So, despite not caring about Homefront at all, I ended up buying it because I happened to buy HOMEFRONT THE REVOLUTION. Really it's just for the sake of wanting to have experience the complete trilogy of TimeSplitters games. I bought PS2 copies 1 and 3: Future Perfect, and Homefront the Revolution happens to come with a version of TIMESPLITTERS 2 that runs at 60fps. I will buy a physcial PS2 copy of 2 in the future, but the HOMEFRONT THE REVOLUTION version is enough, only thing that sucks is that I'll have to input a code anytime I want to play it, but eh you win some you lose some.

Overall... eh I wouldn't say I wouldn't recommend Homefront, just if you're interested play it, if not, don't.
Thanks for reading.