Homefront

 

 

 

 

 

Developer:  Kaos Studios; Digital Extremes (PC version)

Publisher:  THQ

Release Dates:  NA - March 8th, 2011; AUS - March 10, 2011; EU - March 11, 2011; JP - April 29, 2011

Platforms:  Windows PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, OnLive

Genre:  First-person shooter

 

 

There are a host of huge, anticipated, AAA titles coming out in 2011, but quite a bit of them are sequels to already-established franchises rather than original IPs. But one title that has been getting a lot of buzz around the industry this year is in fact the latter. Homefront from Kaos Studios is a near-future shooter which takes the current tense and volatile state of North Korea and studies what might happen in a worst-case scenario situation. It also incorporates the possibility of a continued economic downfall in the US and how that could facilitate these occurrences.

 

 

Just another war shooter in a sea of them? Not necessarily. While companies like Infinity Ward, Electronic Arts, and Treyarch are busy restating history, Kaos Studios is concentrating on building a potential tomorrow. One of the biggest key points that makes this game worth anticipating is the amount of attention put into the narrative. The game is written by John Milius, who earned his name co-writing Apocalypse Now and writing Red Dawn. The writing also had the help of CIA consultants who specialize in potential attacks on the United States. Tae Kim, a former Field Operations Officer with the CIA, has played a major role as a consultant to Kaos Studios while crafting the game. In a June interview with GameReactor, Kim gave some thoughts regarding the studio's attention to detail when crafting the backstory to Homefront: "We went to a very rigorous, academic research process to make sure to not only look at North Korea's current state but to look at historical examples how things could parallel and turn events. History repeats itself. From today to the day invasion starts in the game. If you combine everything, the odds are very very slim this becomes true. But when you look at the storyline step by step, every step is a coin flip but a plausible step. So once you get there, it's plausible. And from there the next step is plausible as well. Even though the whole thing is fictional, it comes with plausible baby steps."

 

Let's talk about those steps that lead up to the first moments of gameplay in Homefront. For a quick overview, take a look at the game's first trailer which outlines the events starting from 2011 all the way to 2026, a year before the gameplay begins:

 

 

From this trailer, here is a breakdown of the events:

 

 

As Kim states, the probability that all of these things would occur concurrently is extremely slim. However, they are not impossible, and that fact alone makes the narrative intriguing, and also creates a fantastic setting for a game.

 

Kaos Studios is still a young developer, releasing their first game Frontlines: Fuel of War in 2008, which scored Metacritic averages of 75 on the Xbox 360 and 73 for the PC version. But while that game was heavy on combat and short on narrative, Homefront promises to be a more cinematic, character-driven experience. In an E3 2010 interview, G4TV spoke with David Votypka, the design director for the game, where he stated that the gameplay will be based around guerilla-style tactics inspired by Valve's ground-breaking and standard-setting shooter Half-Life 2. Borrowing inspiration from a source such as this makes particular sense in this case, as the backstory to Half-Life 2 also involved pitting the player in the role of someone whose homeland had been invaded and occupied by a foreign power-hungry force.

 

 

While the single-player campaign of Homefront looks to be significantly different than that of Frontlines: Fuel of War, the multiplayer component is expected to have much more in common with Kaos Studios' first title. Whereas the single-player campaign begins in 2027 after the Greater Korean Republic has already invaded and captured parts of the US, the multiplayer component takes place in 2025 during the first days of the invasion. Consequently, rather than guerilla-based combat, this gameplay will feature large-scale 32-player vehicle-based warfare. A distinct difference between Frontlines: Fuel of War and the Homefront multiplayer component will be the Battle Points system, which acts as a currency used for purchasing weapons, gear, and vehicles. Since players will earn points by taking objectives and getting kills, this sounds very similar to the currency system currently employed by the ever-popular Call of Duty: Black Ops.

 

 

Amongst all of the current hype surrounding Homefront, publisher THQ still has additional plans to promote the game, and apparently across other media. A tie-in novel has been announced, written by John Milius along with Raymond Benson, who authored several James Bond novels from 1997 to 2003. Due out before the game's release, the novel is intended to set the stage for the game itself, focusing on a journey of a group of reporters making their way across America during the early days of the occupation of the US by the Greater Korean Republic.

 

Homefront is set for release on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Windows PC in North America, Australia, and Europe in March of 2011, with a Japanese release to follow in April.

 

Matt Buckley, NoobFeed