Homefront?

[(BG)Patton]

fellow bc2 and future bf3 players,
i am slowly loosing interest in bc2 because for the last 4 months i have been lvl 50 and grinding through endless glod star and platinum pins for fun, but its not fun for much longer

i already own COD black ops and i play that once in a great while when i have 15 minutes to kill but to be honest that game is not enjoyable at all. not even remotely.

so i ask you guys if i should buy Homefront to "hold me over" until bf3 drops

i have been doing some research on the game and i have heard mixed reviews tbh. most say the game is half-done and that the snipers are WAY OP becasue they are ohk semi-auto. i do think think the bp currency system could work far better than the COD one.

so, have any of you played it or are considering buying it? i need a new game and cant wait until bf3!

[Lolyn]

Re: Homefront?

I've bought it, and generally speaking it does feel half finished.

Ignore single player as any pro-point towards buying the game, it'll take at most 4-5 hours to complete and you can happily do it faster. The shortness prevents you from becoming properly immersed even though, God bless the developers, they tried... and it borrows so much from bc2 sp and COD sp's that it's barely recognisable as its own entity through the mix-mash of recycled ideas.

As far as multiplayer is concerned, there's some good points, but also many areas where improvement is needed quickly to prevent an early game death.

If you ever had the misfortune of playing Frontlines Fuel of War, it takes some of the more annoying traits from it. Drones, sound amazing, but quickly become infuriating. Mix the right perks up and some will take more than 1 clip to take down. Costing very little battle points to use (you can re-acquire those easily enough using the drone...), I've been in a few rounds where you'll have a "drone factory", lying down in spawn just churning the buggers out. Air strikes are often unavoidable and far too easy to get (inexpensive in terms of buy points). I'll only say I'm happy to use them when it comes to removing those damned snipers....

The biggest problem is the weapons. You will die very quickly in this game without a flak jacket perk, normally around 1-5 bullets, but that's not really the problem - the counter being is that health regeneration is very fast. Most people are raving on about the OHK snipers (meaning TDM is the largest camp-fest, even with their anti-camping measures in Battle Commander mode). Move into an open area, you get sniped in the toe by somebody who's proned in a bush halfway across the map, probably encamped within their own spawn - you dead. But the balancing problems don't stop there.

The diablo SMG is also a source of much malign due to having very little stopping power drop-out over range. You can 2-shot snipers with it with very little difficulty. And we're talking about an SMG. Stick a red-dot on it and it's ludicrous. I've already played a competitive match in this game and it was basically 5 Diablo's vs 5 Diablo's as everyone had quickly realised its dominance over other guns.

Due to how quickly you can die in this, many public players foster the same mentality that plagued COD hardcore and BC2 hardcore modes. Lie prone/crouch in a corner, wait, shoot 2 bullets, profit. On one or two maps, the spawn points have good view of the capture points and it gives an unhealthy amount of players little incentive to leave their spawn as it's so easy to get kills from spawn. It's something the game doesn't do much but promote, especially on larger servers (24+).

AAAAAAAAND there's hitboxes and texture glitches. Some surfaces next to cars/trucks can't be shot through, but can be seen through. Trees and some fences are similar. It doesn't really advertise that the maps have been thoroughly tested before release as I stumbled across many of these surface detection bugs within a few hours played.

Also, out of the battle scene, you cannot change your kit load-out whilst you're fighting, unspawned or spawned. You can only change your kit (perks, weapons, abilities) during a 60second intermission between maps. Once the game begins, you're stuck with whatever you've applied to your classes. My opinion is that the GC game mode matches are also too short (coming from a BF player), although some may disagree.

Squads? Well maybe I need to look into them more but I haven't seen much point to be honest. They seem to have no where near as much importance as the BF series. You have very little choice over deciding what team you would like to be either, and the intermission/lobby system they have in-between maps is more of a nuisance than anything else.

There's more... like flashes not working half the time, minimal server admin commands, horribly laggy server browser....

Good points though, hit registration on the whole seems pretty good, maps are reasonably diverse although some are clearly better than others (AVOID ANGEL ISLAND - unless you LOVE snipers), lots of different kit options and there's always an infantry mode for vehicle haters (although it doesn't eliminate drones or airstrikes).

So should you get it? Maybe, it has its winning moments, but often falls short and gets infuriating; that said it's much easier to find faults than truly standout points. If it counts for anything, I've had some fun playing it. Although I'd say it's worth waiting until it either drops in price, or see what the first patch fixes up before making a committal.


--- edit

Just came across a server today, it had 2 hackers on it, one after the other. Unsurprising there's hacks out already, but this was just abhorrent.... I'm talking 60 kills in about 2 minutes. The only way they were dying was air strikes, but one had a speed hack too and just dodged them.

[(BG)Patton]

Re: Homefront?

thanks lolyn. i actually gave in and bought the game about 20 minutes after i posted lol

all of your points are spot on for anyone else wondering what Homefront mp is all about.

i would like to add a few things though, the weapon damage is actually very similer to BC2 hardcore mode. the m16 is single fire mode which i actually LOVE. the SCAR L is a 3 round burst and it is bugged or something becasue while firing quickly it seems sometimes it dosnt fire when you click and it is the most frustraiting thing i have ever came across in this game. its true the snipers are insane and the thermal scope for the second sniper is just way to simple to abuse.

the good things are as you said the hellfire missles and other BP "rewards" are very effective at taking out snipers. the hit detection is quite well, but for some reason you can not shoot through any walls or fences so any COD players might find that angering. vehicles seem to be balanced ok, but the apache has very little to fear from the ground other than an AA drone which nobody has equipped.

all in all i would say this game is worth a buy if your jonesing for a new game, but you might want to wait for the price to drop or a patch to come out. i am having fun with it for now and i am glad i got it.

[Lolyn]

Re: Homefront?

No problem ^^ ended up being quite a thorough review

I forgot the mention the "gun jamming" bug. Happens with some guns more than others (the scar and TEAK are bad for it, sometimes the AC-R too). But you are spot on, nothing more infuriating than coming up against somebody, firing and only one bullet coming out, feels very much like being caught with your pants down.

The apache is a beast, I've only actually used it today hence why no adequate mention was made prior, and quickly got 40 kills uncontested. It auto-repairs whilst flying... and countermeasures help you escape those AA drones too. Too easy... and then you end up getting a second seat gunner....

My ideal fix for the developers would be to take drones out of infantry only mode though, played against a clan full of drone + drone perk abusers earlier and got boring only ever seeing those damned trundling guns-on-wheels or those stupid whizzy rocket-spamming choppers. Man up and use your guns!

[(BG)Patton]

Re: Homefront?

i have only piloted the scout heli so far and it seems to do ok agains the enemy becasue its cannons have a little splash damage to them. i havent flown the apache for very long the other team actually had the AA drone out to get me.

the wolverine drone is becoming my favorite toy right now becasue i have all the perks for it and so i send it in at the beginning of the round and flank thier tam to kill all of the snipers with it. i was 16-0 and 11-0 on two rounds at the beggining with it lol.

i just hope a patch nerfs the semi auto sniper so its 2 shots without flak jacket and 3 with. thats about all they need to do other than update the anti cheating software!!

[Cyrukh]

Re: Homefront?

can't stand black ops myself

[Vreki]

Re: Homefront?

Thanks for the warning, I think I will stay clear of this half-baked mess.
The reputation of Kaos studios is starting to look a bit tainted. First FFoW and now this. I am in no rush to buy their next game.

[Kylee!]

Re: Homefront?

Yea this just sounds like Black Ops with drones..

[(BG)Patton]

Re: Homefront?

its actually a decent game for filling the gap until bf3. the new patch that was supposed to be released a while ago will improve the game significantly by nerfing the snipers and diablo smg and improving the fps and performance.

if you have $50 laying around mind as well pick it up i say...

[Vreki]

Re: Homefront?

No offence, but I am considerably more interested in what patches have done than what they allegedly will do